I shoot 100 grains BH 209 and Hornady sst 250 grain bullets. They work great and good groups. I've found most muzzleloader can only handle around 110 grains of powder before they start going all over the paper. Good luck 👍
I have the optima V2. 100gr Blackhorn 209 w/Hornady 250g ballistic tips. Dropped a 220lb 11pt buck this month. Ironsights at 65 yards. Fantastic combo. 🎉
We shoot our CVA OPTIMA with 2 pellets (777) and the Hornady 250 gr. Sabot , 2" groups at 100 . Have shot up to 4 times without cleaning and they shoot good and remain easy to load
That is why I like mil dot scopes. You can zero the scope at 100yds and then use the mil dots for longer range. Some scope companies have bullet drop for the mil dots or you can figure them out for yourself.
This will take a lot of work, use measured mix of Black powder and start at 60 grains and do a couple of shots then do 70 and so on until you reach 150. It would be good to chronograph this also.
Every gun shoots different, there are a thousand variables with a muzzleloader. No one can give you perfect advice as to what powder charge or bullet to load. His shot best with a two-pellet load, yours may not, it might like three much better you have to shoot your gun until you see what it likes and go from there. Yours may shoot one bullet great with two pellets and lousy with three and with a different bullet, or type of powder it may love three pellets. I've got two, they both love the Hornaday SST sabot bullets in 250 grain weight with three Starfire Tripple 7 pellets, which is 100 grain equivalent, and shoot equally well with four pellets but eight inches higher at 250 yards. With a LOT more recoil by the way. My point is, shoot your rifle, see what it likes and go from there.
Hello from Alabama. Just need to try different loads, my encores do well with 3 pellets of triple seven pushing 250gr sabots. Thanks for your bible verses, may God bless you
Depends on the weight of your projectile. I am taking it the you shot the same weight projectile with 2 pellets as you did with 3 pellets? The projectile that you are using may not be heavy enough for the magnum charge of 3 pellets but if you changed to a heavier projectile, your accuracy may be much better at 200 yrds.
Thank you for the comment, I am using the Hornady harvester 240gr, I hope to have more time this winter and try different combinations of powder and bullets!
yes projectiles will spin differently i use ballistic tips and they work well with magnum charges, but pistol rounds like the 44xtp i can only go up to 80 grains blackhorn any higher i loose accuracy
i'm new to muzzleloaders. just got a remington 700 MLS. came with lots of ammo and 3 boxes of powder pellets. they are 60 grains per pellet though, so it's packing 120 grains per shot. i've only shot it a little bit so far, but i really wanted to try it at 100 grains, to see if it changes the accuracy. will have to get some 50 grain pellets.
I would mess around with it and try different loads and combinations, also try different bullets. You will find something that works awesome if you put the time in behind it
Yep but you have to make sure your gun is blackhorn compatible. They have to have a larger breech plug hole. My TC Pro Hunter factory plug was to tight and during hunting season I would get hang fires.
@@jonfisher9960 I was told by Blackhorn to shoot magnum 209 primers and then they sent me a modified breech plug for my muzzleloader. I was a pretty early adopter of the blackhorn powder and my kids muzzleloader actually uses a breech plug made from the factory for blackhorn. Blackhorn requires a larger primer hole as well as a tighter fitting sabot. There are also breech plugs special for pellets because they have the flat base and the cone shape on some breech plugs will cause the pellets to crush.
Read about real flintlocks and percussion rifles. Half the weight of round ball or cover ball n ur hand and that is max load or close. U r pushing ur sabot or mini ball type faster than it can grip rifling. Same with modern gun bullets. To much powder in case to fast for bullet to grip rifling. Take loose powder like pellets u r using and start at 70 grains and work up. I bet groups will tighten up more than what u had at 100 grains around 80 grains. Keep bore clean. Been shooting and hunting with flintlocks repro’s since 1976. Good luck and don’t ever use modern powder n that muzzloader
I don't understand why anyone would want to shoot pellets in the first place or shoot sabot pistol bullets. Cast lead bullets shoot great, yeah I know the commie California law you can't use them. Scopes on a muzzleloaders is another issue, it's supposed to be a primitive hunt and a challenge. Hunting isn't hunting anymore with all these trail cameras and ATVs.
Most people aren’t looking for a primitive hunt. Most people get into black powder rifle for hunting because many states have a early muzzleloader season that starts before general firearms. Also a lot of places do not allow high powered rifle hunting but do allow muzzleloader hunting. I would imagine a lot of people just like myself do not really care for muzzleloading all that much but also will not pass an opportunity to get in the woods earlier. If I had to choose between general firearm season in a muzzleloader I would never even own one but the way our hunting season is structured I get two more weeks of hunting by having one. Also scopes are pretty primitive at their core the first scope was put on again around 1800 so that’s plenty primitive for most people. If hunting as primitive as possible is what you were after you might want to try a recurve bow or something along that line even modern archery is more primitive compared to old muzzleloading firearms Although you seem to be on a high horse I’m guessing you do not ride one to the hunting grounds. I wouldn’t get too hung up on pretending to be primitive in a non-primitive world. Why people hunt the way they do is not for you to understand
I hunt in muzzleloader only areas that are frequently very open and a 250-300 yd shot routine…. I’ve had to just sit and watch a really nice buck feed at 250+ yds, because he wasn’t moving closer and there was no cover between us…. Very frustrating hunts, those areas are, but full of mature bucks…
Stop using pellets. Use loose powder for the best accuracy and fps. Those pellets are junk for people too lazy and too dumb to care. I never understood anyone shooting that garbage.
Tom, thanks for the comment. I have received several comments from people on the topic of loose powder. Yours being the most friendly, I figured I would respond. Correct me if I’m wrong but I always assumed the goal was to kill the said Animal one is after. I have, and know of countless other people that have achieved this goal with using these despised pellets you have such an ungrounded hate for. Let me speak bluntly, if it is lazy and dumb to use “garbage” then I guess that would be 90% of your fellow hunters, and I am honesty saddened by this fact. If I can shoot a sub 2” group at 100 yards, and the kill zone on a whitetail is approximately 8” or so, I feel that is plenty of accuracy to get the job done. When you say best accuracy and FPS that has a different meaning to every person, and by going from a 2” group to a 1” group, is just not worth messing around with the inconvenience for the average guy. I’m sorry we disagree, it is ok to have an opinion, and I would love to have a discussion, but to say your way is the only way and belittle people for having a different way of achieving a goal is just plain wrong. Have a great day Sir, and good luck to you this fall!
@@straightshooter7354 I have been muzzleloader hunting since I was 9 and when those pellets came out even as a 10 year old I knew it wasn't a good idea. The consistency isn't there and why shoot something with 2"+ groups when you can try different loads to get sub 1" and know it will always be that way? The first box of those o tried many years ago would break when searing the barrel and the consistency was more inline with your reported 150gr loads. Also the grain amount isn't correct. It is far lower speeds than the same gr amount in the same loose powder. Yes the point is to harvest an animal but I just don't understand shooting something that is worse and more expensive on purpose.
@@straightshooter7354 also you have the exact same muzzleloader and with blackhorn 209(100gr) and a 250gr saboted bullet I consistently get 1/2" groups. The bullets are just pistol bullets coupled with a cheap sabot you can buy in bulk. So you are paying less and getting better accuracy.
Tom, I don’t disagree in the point of you can shoot good groups with loose powder for long range accuracy. To say I cant shoot consistently with pellets for under 200 yards is just not true, for the simply fact that I have done it. To follow up my point from reading your comment it sounds like you haven’t used pellets since they first came out many years ago, I think if you went and grabbed a few and tried them you might be pleasantly surprised at how far they have come in the modern area of accuracy and consistency. Just to answer your question for the average guy, convenience. In the time we now live in we are all about convenience, from something as simply as a climate controlled house to having the ability to do almost anything you can dream off the phone in your pocket.
@@straightshooter7354 I tried them in my son's muzzleloader because he was shooting a reduced charge due to recoil. Two pellets gave us paper plate sizes grouped at 100. The FPS was 400fps lower than the exact same grain weight charge of 777. The pellets were also 777 and we had the pellet breech plug in. I tried them off and on in my knight MK85 because I thought they would improve over time. 4 muzzleloaders in my house with three different brands all shot huge buckshot groups with pellets. Switch to loose powder and 1" or tighter immediately. I am not saying that you can't kill a deer with pellets I am just saying they aren't any more convenient, shoot less accurately, lower fps for the same grain weight, and are more expensive. They come out with stuff like this to get gullible hunters to pay more for a lesser product every year. They should put the as seen on TV sticker all over them.
