My first muzzloader

[Oldschool280]

Just picked up an mti 97 whitetail hunter (doc white design) stainless with a nice laminated stock for 130 bucks! It had a scope on it , which i gave to my 12 year old son for his pellet gun. I went to the local indoor 100 yard range and set the target at 50yds. First attempt with 90 grains of pyrodex and 250 grain sabots from a company in canada yielded unbelievable ( to me ) accuracy with open sights. It actually bugholed. I then let my son shoot and he also added to the bughole! I cant imagine it took me 42 years to try one of these. I’m hooked. Where could one find the easiest chart regarding energy if i were to know the velocity and bullet weight? I’d like learn more regarding my loads and they're realistic capabilities. Thanx gang

 

[Tra3]

I’ve had a ton of fun muzzleloader hunting! In MN we get an additional season for them.
Do you have a ballistics app? Try Ballistic AE. The only problem is that it can be hard to find the correct BC for the bullets. Randy Wakeman has written a lot on the subject.

Also, if ok for your gun, try blackhorn 209 loose powder. Less cleaning involved.

See ballistics section:
https://www.chuckhawks.com/index2h.muzzleloader.htm

 

[Eric Anderson]

Real black powder burns much dirtier, but can be stored for years.

 

[Hogpatrol]

The Barnes website has data on their bullets using BPS.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/load-data/

 

[CAustin]

They are fun to shoot and both is it a thrill to bring down an animal with one.

 

[Shootist43]

Muzzle loaders are a blast. They bring a lot of meaning to the phrases "aim small, miss small" "one shot one kill"
"you need to make the first one count."

 

[Lee M]

I’ve had a TC renegade flintlock .50 cal since mid 80’s and took quite a few whitetails with a patched roundball. Always good accuracy that exceeded the reasonable range that you could shoot with the rather crude square open sights. Enjoy! 90 grains of AA was the ticket.

 

[Hogpatrol]

My first plains game hunt in Africa was with a muzzleloader, albeit a custom smokeless one. Took one black wildebeest, one gemsbok, two blesbok and two springbok with it. Longest shot was 330 yards. With a BPS version, good results would likely be limited to 200 yards. One shot really forces you to be on your game.