If you want to try new combos for fun and sport great, but I shoot 90 gr 777 with a 348 gr powerbelt aerotip and get 3" at 100 yards. I guarantee you that combo will have devestating performance on any deer that walks the earth and will be plenty for an elk. When I get up to 110 gr 777 with this bullet, the recoil starts effecting my accuracy. Also, with my bullet 2" high at 50 yards, it is dead on at 100. So the trajectory isn't a problem for distances beyond where you are now.

However, the other side of the coin is that if you use a smaller bullet, you HAVE to make it fly faster to get the same results as the bigger bullet.

Remember, for muzzleloaders, foot lb calculations don't cut it. Look at the Taylor index to judge the killing power of muzzleloaders: http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/July02.htm

I realize I am not helping to answer your question, and I hope others with experience do, just wanted to challange your assumption that you need more powder to get good terminal results.

Good luck with your experimentation.