Originally Posted by
yeoman
I was unable to ethically take numerous shot opportunities this season with my open sight Hawkin due to darkness and distance, including a 140 class 8 point @125 yds, on two separate occasions. The second time he had an unusable front leg. As well as a doe @75 yds and again @125 which also had an unusable front leg. As a result, I have my first scoped inline on the way. This gun uses bare 209 primers. I have lots of loose powder and will be working up loads, now that I've joined a local skeet club with a 100yd range which members use at no extra charge. Any recommendations for a starting load combination? Any preference in 209's? I will want my hunting round to be effective to 200 by next Fall. Guess I'll have to go to the old range and pay $20 to do that a few times. Here's a photo of the deer I settled on in the last 1/2 hr of the last day of firearms. I did not think he had a point on the left beam or I would have opted for one of the does he was with. Oh we'll.
You have just purchased one of the best plunger style inline muzzle loading rifles made!!!! That was really easy for me t say not that I carry any kind of credentials that make it 100% true - but I believe it.
The MK is hunter accurate with just about anything you want to shoot from it and I would bet that would apply to all the different powders that are available. The one exception, and not in accuracy but in safe operation, is BH-209 which must be ignited with a 209 primer or duplexed.
I use to use 209's all the time thinking I was creating something really good and positive. When I was using 209's I did use the W209 and another primer that you can not even get anymore a Remington 209-4. A very mild 209 primer built for the 410 shotgun.
You did not say whether your ignition system was the plastic jacket system or the bare 209 primer system, in either case they are really more than I needed. I switched back to #11 Mag primers and T7-3f for all of my shooting.
My hunting load for either deer or elk is a Lehigh/Bloodline .458x275 grain bullet in a MMP Orange sabot, with 110 grains of T7-3f, ignited by a RWS Dynamit Noble 1075+ cap ( a CCI #11 mag cap will work very well also) . But for the most part it really doesn't matter the MK is a beast of a gun and will shoot most often what you want to shoot.
This is one of mine...
