Favorite Loads and Accuracy

Just looking for some thoughts from other Muzzle Loaders. I have harvested two with my T/C Hawken 50 cal, open sights. It seems the only accurate load I have found is 85 grains with 200 grain T/C Shockwave Sabot. Problem is I ran out of them and could not find anything. All I could find are 250 grain sabots. I bought up 4 boxes of Hornandy SST 250 grains. After a three or four trips to the range, finally got it decent to where is was about 1.5 inches high at 50, but with a massive drop of 4 to 5 inches at 100 with 100 grains of Pyrodex. I really don't like that much variance between 50 and 100. All of my kills have been at 70 so I guess it should be about spot on, but I just have a full six inches of variance over 50 yards. Does this sound normal? I plan on stocking up on all the 200 grain Sabots I can find once they become avaiable. Seems like I get a much flatter trajectory.

Bonus... I brisket shot a doe with a 250 grain yesterday at 50 yards and lost her. Oddly elevation wasn't the problem, it was windage and it was 100% my fault. Just sick over it. Feel like I spent so much time over the last 2 weeks getting the elevation on a new load figured out that I lost my overall skill on shooting open sights. I love muzzle loader, but all the tweaking just because I can't find one particular sabot and have to shoot another is killing me.

Try some maxi balls they shoot great in T/C guns also a patched round ball is all you need for deer size game

I shoot an CVA Optima V2 LR. Ever since I got it I have shot W209 primers, 100gr (two pellets) of Hogdon Triple 7 powder, and 295gr Powerbelts. I have not shot any deer over a hundred yards with it, all of my shots have been under 70 yards and they have all ran about 30-50 yards and piled up (save for one really ornery old doe I shot in Oklahoma last year).

When I sighted it in at a hundred yards last year for my trip to OK i was getting a 2 inch group at 100yards with the aforementioned combo being what I still use to this day. The 'crud ring' you hear about with Triple 7/W209 Primers is absolutely real and a PITA, but with the scarcity of BH209, I just clean it well after shooting and take care of it. I am looking to switch bullets soon to the Hornady Boredrivers FTX 290gr as I have seen very good reviews and groupings on them and want to try something different once I run out of Powerbelts.

Crusher rib sabots and XTP’s are great and give me accuracy in any gun I’ve tried. I’m also a huge fan of the Lee REAL bullets, but you’ve got to be setup for casting to diy those ones.

I shoot 300 gr Hornady SST bullets with 150 grain of triple 7 pellets out of a knight KP1 and get really good groups at 100 yards. I havent tried sighting it in past 150 yards but with this load I feel good out to 200. With some extra practice and shooting loose powder I think 300 would be an option.

I dont get much drop out to 100. Must be the 150 grains of powder.

Yes this seems to me something. at 85 grains I could hit at 50 yards and not even be on paper at 100. I read the max load for my rifle is 110 grains. I got no idea what these people are doing with 50-60 grain loads.The only think I can come up with is they are shooting round balls or lighter sabots. I just don't lilke that much drop and don't think I can or want to load it up with 150 grains. going 40 grains over the max recommended.

I am thinking of trying round ball next season like Small game mentioned. I just initially was having a lot of trouble getting them down the barrell and enjoyed the ease of sabots.

Muzzle loading has felt like a part time job this season.

I had a knight wolverine years ago that I shot 250gr barnes bullets (maybe spit fires) out of and 100 gr of loose powder by volume. It was open sights and I believe I was only getting 4 inches of drop between 40 yards and 100 yards. I dont believe I ever shot that gun over 120 yards, so I could live with that kind of drop.

Round balls are fun to shoot, but I have never seen a person be accurate with them past 75 yards in a hunting situation.

Thanks for the info. That is pretty close to the drop I am getting. I just want to hear if anyone else has a similar drop. I really don't like that much and it's much less with a 200 grain Sabot.

110 grain BH209 and 300 grain Harvester Scorpion will absolutely get the job done
Made kills with this combo in my Knight Mountaineer out to 250 yds

110 BH209 under a 295 bore driver FTX

About 12, yrs ago I started shooting Barnes spitfire T E-Z
290 gr Bullets out of my T/C .50 cal Encore when I was looking for
a heavier bullet for my first elk hunt. I got it dialed in to where I
Felt confident with it out to 200 yds using 100 gr of Blackhorn 209.
I killed my elk at 150 yds. Its still my go to deer.

Barnes 250 gr hollow points, I think they call them MZ
MMP 12 sabot
60 grains BH209 (weighed on scale)
CCI magnum primer

Shoots great and those Barnes are rough on critters!

I have shot probably 9 different bullets and for my ML (Traditions Nitrofire) the Hornady BoreDriver was the most accurate. The BoreDriver also was the easiest to load and had the most consistent muzzle velocity. The Hornady SST was a close 2nd.