Muzzleloader Bullets and Powder

It’s almost that time again. What is everyone using for muzzleloader bullets and powder? Maybe mention what muzzleloader you use with your combo.
DT

Although I likely will spend the season fishing and not hunting I most certainly prefer Barnes T-EZ &MZ in 250

With 150g behind it

Cva optima.

Mz pack in tight as can be and the ez can be packed in on shots two and three.

Amazing ballistics.
Bullets hold together and flower just as pictured.
Last time I used them was two seasons ago on an 11pt buck.

DT
Have you ever tried Blackhorn 209 it is a loose powder but can be cleaned with conventional solvent based cleaners. Outstanding clean powder.

Im still playing with bullets abd have come to no conclusion as of yet. Im shooting a Thomson Contender Triumph
Bob

385 grain Hornady Great Plains bullet over 105 grains Goes FFG genuine black powder with Remington cap on a T C Renagade with Green Mountain 54 caliber barrel.

If I want to stay traditional it a tc black mountain magnum 54 cal, 80 grains ffg and patch and round ball. Otherwise it’s a cva accura with 245gr xtp sabots and 80 grains of blackhorn 209 (50 cal). Really like that blackhorn powder, and the gun is a track driver. It shoots ok with more powder but I get tighter groups with 80 grains and I don’t intend to shoot farther than 100 yards, if that far. Tried the power belt hollow points but the sabots again seem to pattern better.
I’ve been using the foaming bore cleaner and that stuff works pretty slick in the cva.

BH209 is the ticket………100gr w hornady 250gr sabots. Tack driver & awesome on whitetail.

The Renegade comes apart with one trunion wedge then its into a bucket with hot water and Dawn. I then wrap a cotton patch around a brass brush and pump away. Rinse with hot water and dry, a light coat of gun oil and she’s good to store. This gun shoots 3″ groups at a hundred yards using a peep site always within a few inches of the very center of the bull.

This will be the first year that I will have my own ML. I have always used my buddies backup. It was an Encore Pro Hunter. I just purchased a T/C Pro Hunter FX. Stopped at Fleet today and only saw Pirodex and 777. Would the BH209 be by the other powders or with the ML stuff? My buddy always used Shockeys Gold. I would rather use something this year that I can buy locally. Looked like my bullet choices were Powerbelts or Hornady SST’s.
DT

They also had the T/C Shockwaves
DT

T/C Renegade, .54 cal. T/C Maxi-Ball, 420 grains. 80 grains Goex ff. Hoping to find a Green Mtn barrel 1/66 someday so I can shoot round balls as accuratly as the Maxi-Balls

I have a T/C Impact. Simple smoker but accrurate with the Nikon prostaff 2X7.

I use two 777magnum pellets a Hornady sabot and a 300 gr. XTP Magnum. The XTP magnum allows for nice expansion at the higher velocity. The bullet’s jacket is a little heavier and they won’t come apart in a deer.

This is an accurate load without the scope too.

DT, don’t buy powerbelts bullets for a TC. Trust me, I and several of my buddies have tried them and they spray all over the place. No idea why, but when I called TC about it they said our guns are designed to shoot TC bullets. I went to the shockwaves and they are spot on accurate and very consistent.

I just sighted in with the TC hollow points last week and had the same result. Very accurate and consistent. I use 100 grains(2 50 grain plugs) of 777 powder. Pyrodex powder is very very dirty from my experience.

I shoot the TC Omega

Powerbelts with 100gr 777 pellets. TC Omega

sticker wrote:

DT, don’t buy powerbelts bullets for a TC. Trust me, I and several of my buddies have tried them and they spray all over the place. No idea why, but when I called TC about it they said our guns are designed to shoot TC bullets. I went to the shockwaves and they are spot on accurate and very consistent.

I just sighted in with the TC hollow points last week and had the same result. Very accurate and consistent. I use 100 grains(2 50 grain plugs) of 777 powder. Pyrodex powder is very very dirty from my experience.

I shoot the TC Omega

That’s Funny. After trying almost every bullet out there in our TC’s, myself and almost all my friends keep end up back shooting the powerbelt bullets. They are by far the most consistent bullets we can find. I could not tell you how many other bullets we have laying around. I know one buddy who has to have over 100 of them. We do all shoot the Platinum series. Not sure if that makes much of a difference. It may just depend on the gun I guess.

sticker wrote:

DT, don’t buy powerbelts bullets for a TC. Trust me, I and several of my buddies have tried them and they spray all over the place. No idea why, but when I called TC about it they said our guns are designed to shoot TC bullets. I went to the shockwaves and they are spot on accurate and very consistent.

I just sighted in with the TC hollow points last week and had the same result. Very accurate and consistent. I use 100 grains(2 50 grain plugs) of 777 powder. Pyrodex powder is very very dirty from my experience.

I shoot the TC Omega

How is the cleaning and loading of those Shockwave going for you? When we tried them the cleaning was a big hassle. We also found trying to load the 3 of 4th one without a total cleaning almost Impossible.

I switched to Blackhorn 209 powder this year and will never look back. You don’t get the sludge ring at the bottom of the barrel like you do with the Triple 7 pellets. I shoot that with the TC Shockwave bullets as well and they are very accurate out of the two TC muzzleloaders I have. Put a Nikon BDC scope on it and you have a solid 200-250 yard gun.

Now we just need MN to start allowing scopes during the muzzle loader season!

fishthumper wrote:

How is the cleaning and loading of those Shockwave going for you? When we tried them the cleaning was a big hassle. We also found trying to load the 3 of 4th one without a total cleaning almost Impossible.

I just shot 5 straight last week without cleaning and no problem, then I cleaned it and shot 4 of the TC hollow points with no issue.

That is weird as heck, I couldn’t hit a 4’x4′ piece of plywood more than once at 15 yards with the powerbelts. Guess it depends on the gun. If you gave me a truck load of powerbelts yesterday I would have run them right down to the landfill, now I know where I could sell them

One thing to note, you may need a different breech plug with the BH209 powder. How much I really needed it I’m not sure, but didn’t want to take chances when I bought my accura and just picked up the bh specific breech plug when I bought the gun.

Spendy stuff but it shoots very nice and clean up isn’t near as much of a bear as other powders I’ve shot thru my tc.

big_g wrote:

Powerbelts with 100gr 777 pellets. TC Omega

X2 – same setup for me

CVA buckhorn, 100grains pyrodex and TC 250 grain. They have so many different names for all the sabots with the same bullets not sure exactly which they are.

Have TC and used powerbelts. Extremely accurate but have had 2 occasions now that deer was shot and did not leave any blood trail. Daughter shot one at 40 yards this year and we had 5 people looking for blood and not a single drop found searching for over an hour. found the deer 2 days later a little over 100 yards from where it was shot. Could not tell shot placement due to coyotes feeding on it. Hard to track let alone know if you hit it with out blood trail. People in our party switching over to a Barnes bullet for this reason. Just personal experience

i wont be out this wkend, i was lucky enough to tagout during Reg Firearms but i did use my ML.
CVA Optima
my 1st season i used powerbelts 295gr HP and got a deer with it, however no exit wound and bullet broke apart inside
2nd yr used CVA SlickLoads 300gr, also got a deer with it but didnt get any expansion from the bullet

i now use Hornady’s LowDrag Sabot 300gr SST pushed by 2(50gr) pellets of 777
very good groups had 3 touching at 50yrds and 3-3.5″ at 100yrds

This yr during the gun season, I got a big bodied 6pt at 78yrds and he never took another step. Looked as though his legs were cut from underneath him. The shot was a pass through, the entry was the size of a quarter and exit the size of a golf ball . It was hard to tell apart the difference between the lungs and liver. Flipping him over was like dumping out a 5gal bucket. I am glad to say I am VERY HAPPY with the bullet performance and might stick with this setup for a while.

good luck

Does anyone use Shockey’s Gold?
DT

knight big horn green mountain barrel 50 cal 245 powerbelt hollow points 110 grains shocky gold, I know that you can not use a scope during muzzle loader season but i scope it for shotgun season and 150 to 200 yard are possible in the right conditions, the powerbelts are accurate and easy on the shoulder and the shocky powder cleans up nice and dont have to swab after every shot.

I can hold 3″ groups at 80 yards with Powerbelts and 100gr 777, open sights… and I love venison sticks too