MLKeith,

I took a quick look at the ballistics, take a look at the two links, we are both close enough to be right, my point was that inlines are real close to 30-30's. BTW, the Remington site has the 30-30 zero's @ 150 yards and the PRbullet site has them zero'd @ 100 yards, if the 30-30 was zeroed @ 100 the drop would be considerably more. I really like the 30-30 but consider it some sort of sin to scope a levergun..LOL

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/ballistics/comparative_ballistics_results.aspx?data=R30302

http://www.prbullet.com/drop.htm

Doug
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The point I was trying to make is that a 30-30 can and will outperform my muzzleloader for distance (especially if handloaded). I understand that some of the heavier bullets have a lot of drop (in fact what Toby was trying to say is that the older black powder cartridges with heavy bullet in .40 and .45 caliber are very close to present day muzzleloaders and I agree although as soon as you allow them it is very easy to improve the performance). I can make my Badger barrel Rolling Block 40-65 shoot a lot farther and flatter than my .50 muzzleloader as I can run smokeless rounds through it and it really kickes them out. The action is from an original Remington but one of the 7X57 caliber ones so the strength is capable of smokeless loads. Consequently I still believe that muzzleloaders with exception of possibly Savage (which is illegal in several states at least with the smokeless powder) and the Express rifles being made on Howa and Remington actions for about $2000.00, cannot compare with cartridge rifles. Even these cannot compare with a 30-06 or stronger cartridge for flat shooting and energy at the end of reasonable shooting distance.