I've spent the last few weeks reading the archives of this forum and soaking up the all of the information. It has really had me thinking about where muzzleloaders have come from and where we are going.

I have to admit, I am a nerd when it comes to ballistics. I try to read every single thread or article on bullet performance that I come across. One thing that I have read a few times on this forum is that BC isn't as important to us as it is to centerfire guys. I would tend to disagree... A guy shooting a 300 win mag with a comfortable 200 yard zero doesn't have to think about what his bullet is going to do in most hunting situations. bullet drop isn't issue for him until 400-500 yards, far beyond the range of most hunting shots. Even for the guy shooting the best of what modern the black powder world has to offer, bullet drop becomes an issue at 150ish yards. Replace that slick jacketed 45 cal bullet with a 50 cal hunk of lead, and inches of drop can become feet. BC is very important for black powder guys.

If anything is less important to us than centerfire guys I would have to say that it is sectional density and expansion. A guy that shoots a deer with a .243 and has no expansion is going to have a worse day than a guy that shoots a deer with a .452 with no expansion.

I think that the next step in muzzleloader development will be smaller, more aerodynamic bullets. I don't know why a manufacture hasn't made a fast twist (1-15" or so) .45 muzzleloader. There are some great .358 bullets made for the .35 rem (that need a little faster twist) that have a BC in the .3-.4 range and mmp makes a .358/.45 sabot. I've seen where guys with .45's have been pushing 180gr bullets in the 2400-2500 ft/s range. That is getting close to modern centerfire range!

I also wonder why nobody has tried making a "bottleneck" chamber. If you look at centerfire cartridges you'll see that the biggest jump in performance came when they went away from straight walled cartridges. Short, wide columns of powder burn much better than a long, skinny one. Why not make the barrel a few hundredths bigger at the breech plug?

I think the greatest limiting factor in muzzleloading performance in the future will be DNR regs (as some states have found), but that doesn't mean we shouldn't push the envelope whenever possible.

Where do you guys think we are going?