muzzleloader charge?
Question:
I have just started shooting a muzzleloader…I have a T/C Hawkin 50 Cal iron sights…I am shooting round balls with pyrodex…I am trying to get a load worked up for deer season….I shot 80 grains which is the optimum load according to the book/ but of course my gun never read the book and was all over the paper…At 90 grains same story…now at 70 grains it was punching out playing cards at 50 yd(didnt have time to shoot at longer distances)…now my question is…does 70 grains have enough power to bring down a deer at a reasonable distance or should I keep working at it? I dont expect to work miracles with this load. Any help would be appreciated. Toby Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
# I have just started shooting a muzzleloader…I have a T/C Hawkin 50 Cal # sights…I am shooting round balls with pyrodex…I am trying to get a # worked up for deer season….I shot 80 grains which is the optimum load # according to the book/ but of course my gun never read the book and was # over the paper…At 90 grains same story…now at 70 grains it was # out playing cards at 50 yd(didnt have time to shoot at longer # distances)…now my question is…does 70 grains have enough power to # down a deer at a reasonable distance or should I keep working at it? I # expect to work miracles with this load. Any help would be appreciated. Toby 70 grains should be sufficient. Remeber though, this is a primitive weapon that does not develop the same power and speed as modern firearms. Any shot taken should be much closer than what you’d do with a standard firearm. I’ve been hunting bp for 5 years now and I won’t take a shot over 50 yds. this way I assure a clean kill. I shoot a 50 cal with 75 grains. Have taken two good sized does with this load. Had bucks I could have taken but the Wis. dnr says antlerless only in my area during bp. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
# 70 grains is fine. I have killed many deer on 80 grains of 3fg and I # have never recovered a ball because I’ve shot clear through the animal # each time. The load was too hot. # # I have a friend who killed a 280 pound black bear using a 60 grain 2fg # charge. Shot taken from 60 yards. Exactly. I have found over the years (25 shooting muzzleloaders) that a lower charge produces more accuracy. I have seen some people load up to 110 grains. While that isn’t going to blow up their gun, you get all sorts of strange things happening to the trajectory. In some instances they are producing a bigger cloud of smoke, but usually they are just blowing unburnt powder out the muzzle. I use FFFg up to .50 caliber. The FFg was intended for the bigger muskets ( like .58 springfield ) and small cannon. Fg is canon grade. I guess that is why I never switched over to pyrodex, because I could never find it in the finer grade. I tried the FFg grade equivalent they had, but ignition was unreliable. That was the late ’70s, and I never went back. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
#I hate to disagree but 70 grains of powder is to light for deer size #game. 70 grains is fine. I have killed many deer on 80 grains of 3fg and I have never recovered a ball because I’ve shot clear through the animal each time. The load was too hot. I have a friend who killed a 280 pound black bear using a 60 grain 2fg charge. Shot taken from 60 yards. Check out the muzzleoaders Message Board. You can get to it from here: http://www.li.net/~semencic/blkpwdr.htm Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
I killed one deer with sixty gr. in a .45, the deer was close (30 ft) and shot right through the boiler room though(it traveled about 20 yards and dropped dead as julius ceasar). Keep experimenting though, many rifles will produce with more than one "pet load". My TC .54 wants 100 or more grs. of powder, any less and it shoots pretty bad. Try conicals, TCs have frankly too fast a twist to make a good round ball gun in my opinion, and are fairly touchy about pet loads with balls. Try blackpowder too, it may give you a load your gun likes with more oomph than the 70 gr. pyrodex, try 2f first, 3f may cause too much breach pressure in higher loadings, but I know one fellow who uses 3f in a .62 with good sucsess, just don’t exeed the maximum loadings given by TC. Even 1f may give you the load your looking for, but it’d probably cause a fouling problem in a .50, the slower burn would sure keep your pressures down though. — Good fishing, Matt Moore Visit Matt’s Severum World at: http://www.virtualseeds.com/matt.html Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—– Hash: SHA1 I hate to disagree but 70 grains of powder is to light for deer size game. Using the T/C Hawken as a example with a 28 inch barrel firing a round ball and 70 grains of powder. At the muzzle your energy is only 1065 fps. At 100 yds is drops to 377 fps. The rule of thumb for deer size game is not to shoot at a range where your fps drop below 1000. So I would suggest working up a hotter load for your gun. Pick up a Blackpowder Loading Manual, in most of them they will tell you the different uses for each load. As well as muzzle velocity and foot pounds per square inch. Mike —–BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE—– Version: PGPfreeware 5.5.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> iQA/AwUBNecoqGz42ok4f2PfEQJJ/ACgkBaeOKjV5kKy/HmwCW1k7cx9GLQAn33Y u5×745Fn8KzgaljMp6iPXCWh =Z/E3 —–END PGP SIGNATURE—– Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
…does 70 grains have enough power to bring # down a deer at a reasonable distance or should I keep working at it? Yes and Yes. You define "reasonable distance" after as much shooting as you can do! A 50 caliber hole through both lungs will definitely put meat in the freezer. Please respond by e-mail. Programming Utilities home.sprynet.com/sprynet/beanpole Reports indicate that 5 out of 4 people have trouble with fractions. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
# I have just started shooting a muzzleloader…I have a T/C Hawkin 50 Cal iron # sights…I am shooting round balls with pyrodex…I am trying to get a load # worked up for deer season….I shot 80 grains which is the optimum load # according to the book/ but of course my gun never read the book and was all # over the paper…At 90 grains same story…now at 70 grains it was punching # out playing cards at 50 yd(didnt have time to shoot at longer # distances)…now my question is…does 70 grains have enough power to bring # down a deer at a reasonable distance or should I keep working at it? My short answer to this is ‘yes’. There are many variables regarding muzzleloading charges and bullet weights, but a good rule of thumb is that if you use less of a charge you will be more accurate. I don’t know if you reload, but all the reloading manuals usually tell you to start off with 10 percent less powder than the stated charge, and work your way up. I’ve learned the same with black powder. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
