ORIGINAL: xd9x19
This is what concerns me about getting into muzzleloading. With 3 school-age kids, I don't have a lot of time to spend at the range trying endless combinations of loads.
How much time can I expect to spend at the range in the beginning finding a load that will shot accurately enough to put a deer down at 50 or 100 yards?
Your ML may only need one trip -- butmay also need more than one. No way to tell until you get out there & shoot it. Provided the bore is "factory-smooth", the easiest loads to develop between 50-100 yardsare around 80-90 powder grains with a T/C-packaged bullet weightbetween 240-300 grains. Buy two varieties -- perhaps one hollow-point(Cheapshot) at 240gr - the other an aerotip at 300 grains (Shockwave). Stay away from seasoning your barrel - use Windex or alcohol to swab after every 2nd shot with a bore brush & large patches.
Get out there & have some fun. If the bore needs more time to break-in, return as often asyou can - even if it meansnot using an ML this season. Waiting until the lasthours before hunting seasonto break-in - then sight-in a new ML is not good.