I am going totry some new bullets this year. I have been using powerbelts 245gr., but want to try something new. I dont like the rainbow effect. I was wondering if you could suggest what has worked well for you. Please include the grain also. Thanks
I use the 250 T/C Shockwave, with 90grs FFF Goex and sighted in 2 1/2 high at 100 yards, I'm 2 1/2 inches low at 150...I've killed 8-10 deer with and a buddy has killed 5-6 more.
rainbow affect? I use a 225 grain aerotip powerbelt and sight it dead on @ 100 yards and am only 4" low @ 150. Rainbow affect is when you're using a heavy bullet such as a 370+ grain bullet. Thats when you really notice the rainbow.
I used to use the 245 grain HP powerbelt with 120grains pyrodex rs and i sighted in 2" high @ 100 and was dead on out to 150 yards.
I am going totry some new bullets this year. I have been using powerbelts 245gr., but want to try something new. I dont like the rainbow effect. I was wondering if you could suggest what has worked well for you. Please include the grain also. Thanks
Bullets, what a topic---my favorite--they are the thing that do the work/killing. Do some reading on the web for the bullets you intend to use, especially the Cabelas and Midway Product reviews. You will get a sense of "bullet performance". If ya really wanna learn a lot more about this important topic buy this book:
In Knight and TC, 300g Nosler Partition HG Protected Point, .451 diameter (a pistol bullet), crushed rib sabot, 100g of loose 777 powder, winchester primer. Your mileage may vary based on tightness of your barrel, and the sweet point of your gun. Most guns shoot between 80 and 120g of 777 very well, you should start at 80g of loose and work up in 10 grain increments shoot group of 3 or 5 at 80, group of 3 or 5 at 90 group of 3 or 5 at 100, group of 3 or 5 at 110 same at 120. Look at your groups and note when they start spreading out,select the load right below where they started spreading out. Work it upor down 5 grains.
Another good bullet is a Speer Gold Dot 300g, I shoot that out of my TC FlintLock. Tried it with 100g of Goex BP, but when I shot there was some buring powder on the ground in front of me. So dropped the charge to 80g and took 4 more shots, sighting it in at 13 yards for windage and 50 yards for elevation. I shot two inches right at 50 yards open sightswith the GD in the FL, that will be my Penna ML season load this year. I don't hunt rifle in Pa, only FL---it is a lot of fun. If your gonna shoot PB, shoot that at about 70g of Pyrodex, do not push them hard, if so they tend to fragment, not every time, but some times and you don't want that to happen on the "big one that got away".
In my Savage ML, I use a 275g Parker Ballistic Extreme. I tried 8 different bullets with the supplied sabot. See here for the bullets I tested in the Savage, shooting 44g of 5744 (the manual recommended load for 250 and 300g bullet).
Iwas looking for long range accuracy, 200 yards, since the outfitter said I had to be comfortable shooting 200 yards at elk off shooting sticks. I am not done with my testing yet for an Elk hunt in Colorado in 2008, first rifle season. I plan on using the Savage for that. I would prefer to shoot a Barnes, like the TMZ, 295g, but they are not as accurate as the SW and the Parker, see the above web page for different shooting I did with the different bullets. Best Wishes on your bullet selection.
Chap
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Chapman Gleason
Purcellville Va
http://www.the-gleasons.com
In my oppinion it is HARD to beat barnes bullets. I have shot many deer with them and they are devastating. I have fired them out of many different muzzleloaders and I have yet to find a muzzleloader that doesnt shoot them well.
In my oppinion it is HARD to beat barnes bullets. I have shot many deer with them and they are devastating. I have fired them out of many different muzzleloaders and I have yet to find a muzzleloader that doesnt shoot them well.
Agreed it is HARD to beat them, in fact I don't know of a bullet that beats them in penetration, and 100% wight retention. Bryce Towsley says this on one fo the freeBarnes DVD's "The Barnes bullets is about as near a perfect bullet as there is". That says a lot to me, since he hasnearly 40 years of ML experience and has written the chapter on MLer bullets in the book I referenced above. Randy Wakeman loves Barnes also, and he is a Shooting Editor for ML hunting, again with a lot of experience.
As for your statement that you have yet to find a ML that doesn't shoot them well. Here is my shooting of the Barnes Spit Fire TMZ from my Savage at 44g of 5744 (a book load from Savage):
I do NOT shoot the supplied sabot in the PBE, too loose in the Savage. I shoot an MMP-12, just right for bore tightness.
I settled on the PBE because I couldn't find any negatives about it (fragmentation), and it was a very accurate bullet. I have killed a couple of does so far with the bullet and it was boom/blop or a 30 yard death run. Nothing hard to track. All with complete pass thru.
Bottom line is ProStreetCamaro, that Barnes are HARD to beat on penetration, bullet construction, expansion and design, they are EASY to beat in accuracy, at least in my Savage, they tend to creep up the paper, that could have been barrel heat up. I have downloaded the Barnes Bullet Chart:
and plan on looking into their .458 rifle bullets to see if it will shoot in my Savage, will have to play with the sabot--MMP, Harvester, TC etc. I plan on doing this in Feb and March when it is cold weather so heating up a barrel is not an issue. I do note also over on Doug's Savage board, most of the people over there like XTP's or Barnes. There are some PBE users, like me, but not a lot. That are a lot of Barnes believers over on that board, folks with a LOT of experience and knowledge in Savage.
Chap Gleason
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Chapman Gleason
Purcellville Va
http://www.the-gleasons.com
I used to use Powerbelts but after seeing their performance on deer I quickly switched to TC Mag Express Sabots240 grain XTP Bullets over 100 grains of Pyrodex...I've killed 3 deer in 2 years with them and the bullets performed extremelywell...Complete pass thru's with a lot of internal damage and massive blood loss.
The Powerbelts never seemed to expand...I hit 2 deer with well placed shots behind the shoulderand luckily found them with no blood trail...The first deer was 20 yards away and I got no pass thru, the second deer was 50 yards away with no pass thru...Their chest cavities filled up with blood so they didn't leave a blood trail...The internal damage was basically a bullet hole through the lungs with no devistation like I get with the XTP's.
I started shooting muzzleloaders as a boy with my grandfather and I am 70 + and still going strong, I have tried most, everything I could get my hands on, most of them have done quite well for me, I believe that putting that bullet in the right place is much more important than which bullet,but using the right bullet on the right size animal really does help.
The right weight: Deer, 40 cal 200gr gives good BC, Velocity and SD there for the 200gr Shock Wave and XTP
45CAL 250 gr in SW, XTP and especally the Gold Dot[ all the deer I have shoot with The Gold Dot have been bang flops
The 300 gr open to slow for me to use on deer I am very careful about where I shoot them and the 300grs have been leaving nest round holes in and out and have to track the deer, but they are excellant for elk moose or bear.
I have used the conical and the will do the job if you are where the law requires them the pb's will do ok but you need to keep the load under 90 gr for them to get the mushroom depenably, The SaborTooth is a much better design and is more dependable with heavy load that get away from the rainbow trajectory, if I have to use a conical with out plastic I use real bullets. Good luck and good shooting. Lee
Deciding on bullets...Help please
