I always have a backup ML with me when deer hunting, its sighted in and ready to go. Most of my Knights have no more recoil than a 30-06 shooting a 180gr bullet, another kicks like a 404 Jeffrey or 375H&H. The majority of my "fun" loads kick no more than a 25-06. My scopes hold up surprising well but i do buy brands with good lifetime warranties.
Some of Ron's long range posts, hunts and videos are very enjoyable. I can assure you he is no novice to the sport or the hunt. He has spent many hours in bitter cold just to bring us a few minutes of reading pleasure and knowledge. Amazingly he shoots better than many of us with far more expensive equipment and smokeless custom MLs. His loads are most often quite typical and common vs extreme examples.
One of these days i will turn him to the darkside even if i have to loan him one of my babies.
I would encourage you to stop in Doug's message board sometime if you would like to see affordable custom builds that can far exceed the performance of MLs from only 10 years ago. Some of them are near duplicates of the mighty 416 CFs in energy, trajectory and accuracy at 500 yards or beyond. I limit my shots to about 225yards only because that is as far as i can practice in a hunting type setting. I need more practice.
Typically my shots are under 100 yards and only about 65yards max if i use a peep site.
Feel free to browse without registering if you prefer.
http://dougsmessageboards.proboards.com/
Or checkout Modern Muzzleloading if you are more interested in quality mass produced rifles such as the OPs. The OPs DISC Extreme is quite capable of ethical 200yard plus shots with practice and a scope. VERY VERY few people are skilled enough for the same level of confidence with a good peep site.
You would need to register for this one
http://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/forum/
BTW our ML season is gone and the old one came after firearms season anyway. I can sympathize, we don't even get additional tags for the "Alternative" season. There was very little incentive to use more traditional designs THEN and even less incentive NOW that they allow CF pistols.