Muzzleloader against Centerfire Rifle!!!
I've been off work for awhile now and have been watching a lot of hunting and shooting. And a lot of it reminds me when I was younger and using CF rifles. I mainly used a 30-30, 270 and 30-06. I was not into testing guns and bullets by any means. My primary bullet choices back then were Remington and towards the end Hornady light magnums.
And just like now on tv, I very rarely had a Deer drop in it's tracks. I've watched 35 Whelens, 300 weatherby magnums, and many more shoot Deer, Bear, Elk and Moose. And none of them kill like my Knight Disc Elite and a 200grn Bloodline. I mean honestly not even close. And while I'm writing this, the CVA scout I just bought comes to mind. I bought a 45-70 and had it converted to a ML. I'll mainly shoot a light load of N120 and it will increase the velocity on this bullet as well. Which will create even more energy.
But is energy really that important? I understand you need it but how important is it? I would bet a 270 would have almost 2800 foot pounds at the muzzle. My ML is no way near that. But I know for a fact I'll clean its clock on game at 200 yards and under. I don't doubt the CVA will extend that range but I don't have any experience to back it up yet. I really believe the bullet is every bit as important as energy if not more important.
I've shot many many many different bullets out of a ML. One bullet you can't push to fast, one bullet you need to push fast. But none of them are even close to what I use. I actually shot two Deer with a Lyman DeerStalker Flintlock with a 200grn Bloodline with 100grns by volume of black powder. Talk about enemic load that's it. But got the same results if I was shooting it with 130grns of BH209 out of an inline ML.
I'm real excited about the new copper bullets that Lehigh came out with to compete with the Brass Bloodline bullets. http://www.lehighdefense.com/collections/muzzleloader/products/452-controlled-fracturing-muzzleloader-265gr-bullet?variant=28146206856
And I'm looking forward to testing the soon to be out .40cal bullets to see how they compare with the current Bloodline bullets. The 265grn Copper bullets have done very well for me and others that tested them. But the .40cal bullets will be the key with me. Just harvested a lot more game with those.
So in the mean time I'm honestly convinced, not only am I using the best ML bullet in the world!!! I'm just using the best bullet in general you can buy. And I would really like to see this concept in CF bullets for hunting.