Load questions

[jaybez101099]

What is the smallest load you have shot and what's the largest. Can you shoot more than 150g's? I am so by the book 3 pellets-250g shockwave PHunter... 2 pellets and fpb in Genesis... Boring to most but I don't have the time to play around with odd loads. It's sad.. I know...

[nchawkeye]

My hunting load is 90grs of Goex FFF and a 250 Shockwave...I tried up to 120grs but my groups went South...

[bronko22000]

jaybez - in my 45, I've shot as little as 50 gr of Pyrodex P. The most I've ever poured down the barrel is 110 gr of Goex FFFg in my 50 cal. but backed off because of poor accuracy.
Frankly IMO 150 gr (3 pellets) is probably too much in a 28" 50 cal barrel. I would surmise that, althoughit is safe in your rifle, you are blowing some unburned powder out the bore. (or its is still burning after the bullet leaves the barrel).

[Semisane]

I don't have a gun in which the accuracydoesn't top out at or below 120 grains - usually somewhere between90 to 105 with Triple 7 and 95 to 120 with Pyrodex or GOEX.

If I put 150 grains in the Mustang I'd better be shooting at a moose, because the group will be too big for our little whitetails. Anything over 110 grains of T7 in my short barreled Omega X7 is a waste of powder because velocity starts to drop off at 115 grains.

[lemoyne]

In my custom made 54 Hawken I shoot 140 gr RS because thats the most accurate load for it.
In most of my guns I use 90 to 120 gr always what shoots the most accurate. Lee

[cayugad]

My nephew once shot a whitetail with 50 grains of 3f and a patched roundball. The doe was broadside about 35 yards out. I told him to aim for the top of the heart. He shot all the way through her with that load. She walked a few steps and fell over dead.

I normally shoot between 70-110 grains of powder depending on which rifle I am shooting that day.

[Powerfisher]

My T/C Omega likes 100gr T7 FFg and a 250grain T/C Shockwave.I dont want to use the S/W or the T7 for hunting so I have a BH209 load worked up that I will use for hunting. 110gr BH209 and 250grain Barnes TMZ. 120 grains is sposed to be max for BH209. Im gonna play a little more withit though. I started at 90gr and bumped up 5gr per 5 shot group. I never did try an 80 or a 85 grain load.

[Powerfisher]

I would like to add that I have never shot a deer with either one. This year will be mt first ML hunt. I have heard a lot of negitives about the S/W either going thru & thru with no blood trail to disintegrate on close shots andno penetration and just wounding the deer. I have not heard that about the Barnes. I know your qustion is about loads but they do change depending on the bullet your using.

[lemoyne]

Powerfisher
Most of use use 80 to 150 gr I personally am of the opinion that when you get over 135 gr the rest of the powder just provides a cushion for the bullet, which some times can help accuracy it also adds to both recoil and pressure [ it adds to the pressure in the same way as a heavier bullet.
You can hear many different stories about a lot of bullets, I think the truth is bullets get blamed for buck fever a lot.
I have used SW's ever since they came out,I use the regular 250 gr and the 200gr 40 cal in a 50 cal sabot only use the bonded ones on elk size animals, I must admit I like the 250 Gold Dot best but the SW is still what I use in two of the places I hunt where I might have a 200 yds shot. The only bullet I have had a problem with is a cast bullet which penciled through the middle of one lung and the front 1/8 of the other I had to track that deer farther than any other except one I did not hit quite right with a bow.
As far as theBarnes and the other expensive bullets go they are very good and very expensive[I must admit to keeping some 260 Nosler partition bullets handy for tracking boar if necessary] but the truth is accuracy is what is important and you need to worry about how accurate a bullet is out of the gun you are going to use it in first.
Those cheap Gold Dots do the best job of dropping a deer on the spot I have ever seen, there are many other good bullets out there, but dead is dead and you can not get deader.
As far as it goes I used XTP 250 gr for many years and never lost a deer but they ran 40 yds or so with the same hit that a 250 Gold Dot drops them on the spot, I believe that's true of a lot of bullets with a good hit the difference is how far they run. As long as you don't use full metal jacket or hard cast they are for very big and dangerous game.

[Buck Hunter 1]

82 grains loose T7 for my Wolf, I started with 2 50 grain pellets befre I knew any better and learned for the Pro's here. Using 2 pellets it was horrible keeping it on paper. I went to a low and slow and under 100 yards (my limit w/ that gun) it is inside the inner ring of a paper plate. I listened to some guys who had a Pro Hunter o here and started 110 grains BH209 and was shooting 1 -11/2" groups. I sue 80 grains 3f Goex BP in my Lyman Deerstalker Flinty!