I don't have much to add to the previous posts (which by the way contain decades (if not centuries) of wisdom learned the hard way often). However I would like to stress:

1) It is much, much better to use loose powder as opposed to pellets, and it's doubtfull that you'll need more than 120 grains of loose powder for any load you work up.

2) Depending on the design of the ML and what kind of load you are shooting, the recoil can be pretty stout. As already mention, it's more of a "shove" than a sharp kick. The point is, make sure your scope has plenty of eye relief. I had a bruised nose for a week once when shooting a stout load with scope that had limited eye relief.

3) Don't worry about the killing power of a ML with the right load. If you check back over the last year or two on this forum and look for "after-action" reports of us hunting, you'll find that probably more than half of the time we get "boom-flop" performance on game with a well-placed shot.

4) I would add that muzzleloading is more than habit-forming- it can be highly addictive as well.

Enjoy!