ORIGINAL: RiverBottomBowHunter
1)Does a lighter bullet lose momentum quicker than a heavy bullet?
2)Also, With equal charges of powder, which one goes faster? Does the light one go faster due to weight or does the heavier one build up more pressure and come out faster?
1) Yes!
2) Lighter one out of the muzzle due to less weight
... Heavier one has more downrange power/energy
You want a lighter, high ballistic coefficientbullet (missle-shaped) for 200+ yard shots ON CALM DAYS ONLY. It's difficult working up enough volume to deriveaccurate powder loadsfor a heavy (400+gr.)ML bullet "flat" for 200+ yards. A few sabots will get it there thou - but odds decrease with size & gun conditions -- which vary from gun-to-gun.
Either the recoil is too heavy or blowby, sabot or conical base-areadamage occurs. Sometimes leading occurs - but mainly inaccuracy with the heavies.... etc..etc. They stay flatter longer than the lightweights, but starting them out of the muzzleto go straight is the main problem most times.
I'm no guru on longbullet flight. Best to stay with the lighter ones thouand learn to be restricted on non-nice weather days for reaching out for250 yard shots. Don't even try to get it there without any rainbow trajectory. If you want less rainbow, buy an Ultimate Muzzleloader that uses 200 grains or a Savage Smokeless ML-10.