Explorerinil
Observer
For deer season this year I’m moving from a shotgun with slugs to a Thompson pro hunter fx. I can’t wait to give muzzleloader hunting a try, anyone else into it? Any tips on figuring out what loads and bullets work best?
Any muzzleloader hunters here?
- Thread starter Explorerinil
- Start date
SoTxAg06
Active member
I muzzle loader hunted when I lived in VA and AR. I can here in TX late season, but haven’t since moving back. Currently, I own a TC Impact. The book recommended pyrodex pellets, so that’s what I used. My load consist of three pyrodex pellets and a 250 gr shock wave bullet in mag express sabots.
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robert
Expedition Leader
Older T/C Hawken .50 percussion- not a fan of the modern style muzzle loaders even though the T/C isn't really classic either, just my preference. As noted in the first post, you'll need to do some shooting to figure out what works best in your gun. A round ball over 95-100 grains of Pyrodex is plenty accurate enough in my gun for hunting and will work fine on deer. I get best accuracy out of round balls then Maxi-hunters then Maxi-balls; I haven't had good luck with sabot rounds and wouldn't use them for hunting. When hunting, I carry a small possibles bag with an inline capper, a reload, a bullet starter and a ramrod accessory kit.
I've carried my Ruger Old Army hunting but never had what I considered a good opportunity to use it on deer. It's really accurate and plenty powerful though.
One of these days I'll get around to finishing and assembling the old CVA 12ga double barrel shotgun kit I've go stored. I've even got a spare barrel for it that I planned to chop down to like 12"; black powder isn't NFA so it'd be my poor man's SBS. I need to find someone who can checker the stock for me since I have neither the tools nor the skill to do it myself.
I've carried my Ruger Old Army hunting but never had what I considered a good opportunity to use it on deer. It's really accurate and plenty powerful though.
One of these days I'll get around to finishing and assembling the old CVA 12ga double barrel shotgun kit I've go stored. I've even got a spare barrel for it that I planned to chop down to like 12"; black powder isn't NFA so it'd be my poor man's SBS. I need to find someone who can checker the stock for me since I have neither the tools nor the skill to do it myself.
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Explorerinil
Observer
Finally got around to sighting in my pro hunter fx, I used 250 grain hornady SST with 3 50 grain pyrodex pellets. Today we had a wind advisory of 45 mph winds. I put the pro hunter in the lead sled, set the target at 25 yards, was off to the left and low, cranked the scope over a tad. Next was at 100 yards, pretty good being we had sustained 20 mph cross wind with 45 mph gusts. This target was the last 2 shots fired. Today I fired a total of 4 rounds. Muzzleorders .com did an awesome job getting the scope bore sighted, it was pretty much dead on.
Explorerinil
Observer
I’m gonna shoot it with no wind and see where it’s at then I’m off for deer season! I can’t wait, I’m now a muzzle loader fan.
robert
Expedition Leader
Be careful, it can be addictive. Next thing you know you'll start buying revolvers then more traditional looking guns. Stay away from places like https://www.trackofthewolf.com/ 
waveslider
Outdoorsman
You may want to consider an alternative to the lead -sled. It is not uncommon for them to alter the point of impact and/or group size unnaturally. Even shotguns are susceptible to it as well as Muzzleloaders. Just a thought.
Explorerinil
Observer
Yeah I know, and you are right. I’m going to finish zeroing it in on a non windy day them I will double check it without the sled. I’m not goin for perfection just deer killing performance to 100 yards.