sighting in new muzzleloader
 

I am sighting in a new muzzleloader. At 25 yards should hit 1 inch high. 50 dead on and 100 yards one inch low. is this right?

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

It would depend. Here's a link http://www.mega.nu:8080/traj.htmlwhere you can calculate trajectories. What will your load be?

Phil Glasgow

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

i sight in at 13 yards,with open sights, dead on.usually, not always that puts bullet 2 inchs high at 50 yds and about dead on at 100.i dont think i killed any bucks pass 80 yards in 36 years using a muzzleloader.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

I think your numbers might be a little off. Also it would help to know what kind of bullet you're shooting and how fast the bullet is moving. A large heavy conical for instance will drop much more then a 200 grain XTP with a large load behind it.

The best way to learn your rifle is to shoot your rifle at the differnt distances. While a balistics chart is all fine and good and are actually very close to real experience, nothing can beat putting in the range time and seeing what really happens in the real world...

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

deerhunter1224,Depends on what you are shooting,with 50/40 200 gr Shock Waves and 150 gr app I cross up the line of sight at 25 -2 inches high atr 50 3 @ 85 back across the line of sight @ about 130 or 135 and 2 inches low at 150. at least that about what I figgered out from putting the the target at different ranges.Lee

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

i am shooting 245 grain powerbelt. 80 grains of charge

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

sighting in a 13 yards with open sights is real nice.also gets you on paper quick and i feel makes you a more confident shooter.when you sight in at 25 or farther, you get a lot of wander with open sights.i see it all time at range.then they get mad, shoot up 30 bullets,curse gun ,and leave. today, you cant offer any advice to young kids.i always figured the reason they cant shoot is they are always looking at brass on my hawkins.hehe!

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

That is a good load in my Staghorn. I think you have to look at how far you feel your longest shot will be, where you hunt. At 13 or 25 yards (what ever you feel comfortable with)it will put you on paper. But lets say you might need to shoot out to 125 yards. Well then you need to go to a 100 yard range and sight in dead on there. Then move back and figure out the amount of drop you are going to have.

From what my friend with a Beartooth Magnum told me (as that is the load he used on deer last year) he said the doe he shot at about 35 yards last year, never took a step after being hit. It just dropped. Good luck with the rifle..

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

I prefer to be 2" high at 50 yards & again at 100 yards using 80 gr. 777 with similar grain bullet. I would try "dead-nuts" at 25 yards because most-times -most bullets are still rising between 25-50 yardswith your load.

Between 25 & 100 yards, you may end-up doing more-expanded windage adjustments than vertical with your load.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

deerhunter1224,

I'm assuming that is 80 grains 2FBP. 1575 fps is a reasonable avg velocity for 80 grains and 245 PB. Below is a trajectory chart for your load and open sight. You'll cross the line of sight close to 11 yards. You could sight there like sproul man before moving out to get you in the ball park or sight 1" high at 25 yards like cayugad before moving out. Either will work.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Pglasgow

deerhunter1224,


wow,that is neat info. on our high power hunting rifles,like my favorite, 250-3000 sav lev action .with scope we used to sight in at 25 yards at 1 inch high like cayugug said. on OPENsights, i use dead on at 13 yards.i agree too, you will do more windage adj. farther out, it seems.remember, SQUEEZE.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

With that load, if you are dead on at 50 yards, you will be closer to -6" or so at 100! After a bullet drops below the line of sight, it goes down almost twice as fast as it does when above the line of sight.....

With that 80-grain load, which is pretty light, your MV will be about 1500 FPS, and you will have a midrange trajectory if zeroed dead-on at 100 yards of about 2.5" or so. So zeroed, it will hitabout 10.5" low at 150, and be -30" at 200 yards.....

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

You should rely on eldequello's estimate of MV. I've not chronoed anything with 2F BP and it was my best guess. Of interest, I chronoed an average of 1614 fps with 65 grains Pyro RS and 245 BB Ballet from my Sidekick. I've notchronoed 245 PB's but have the 295's.From this experience,I have the sense that lubricated conicals of identical weight will exit at highervelocities than the PB's, at least with small charges anyway. I say this because the lighter 245Ballets had greatermuzzle energies than the 295 Powerbelts.

Happy Hunting, Phil

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

The copper Powerbelts would chronyhigher since they are not solid lead. Only the downrange Ballet energy wouldsee higher numbers.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

I did my chronoes on a new barrel. On the first day of shooting I shot only 295 PB's. The barrel was pretty rough. The next day I decided to shoot both the PB's and 245 ballets. I noticed an enormous increase in velocity by the 3rd ballet. Enough so, that I decided to try a few PB's next to see how they compared to the previous days shooting. They chroned an increase on the order of 45% in muzzle energy.

When I returned from the day's shooting the barrel was still rough with burrs. I evaluated the two and found to my surprise that the energies were higher at the muzzle with the ballets. I expected to find energies higher with the heavier PB's because they exit at lower velocity allowing more time for breech gases to more efficiently accellerate the projectile. But then the opposite was true. I suspect that the PB's offered more resistance in the bore along their bearing surface thus reducing the efficiency of the charge resulting in lower muzzle energies.

Regarding the downrange energy, I would expect the 295 PB's to overtake the 245 Ballets for a couple of reasons. First, the 295's PB's are ballistically superior to the ballets, having a greater BC. Second, the PB's exit at lower velocity thus reducing the air resistance forces.Greater air resistance forces resulting from increased velocity and lower ballistic coefficient act to reduce the velocity of the lighter Ballets at agreater rate than the PBs.

Happy Hunting, Phil

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

Sproulman,

I also sighted my flintlock in at 13 yards, I was just given a copy of a Penna., Game News from a cople of years ago that suggest sighting in at 13 yards. I will dig it out & paraphrase the story.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

PS, Sproulman, I would also assume you are from North Central Penna, I used to own land next to Sproul State forest in Clinton County.

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

yes, i also have land in kettle creek that borders stateforestland.its near shepard rd.area

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

I did a lot of fishing up there, along with Young Woman's Creek. KettleCreek (lake) isa great place to teach the kids how to fish,

RE: sighting in new muzzleloader
 

kettle creek lake is getting like deer situation. wiping out fish.i tried to get them to put a 7 inch size on perch and bluegills.now, out of town people like yourself come up,no fish in dam.i tried to get slot limits on bass,18 inch and under you cant keep, lost that one too.tried to stop catching bass thru ice and keeping them, lost that too.i told fish commission i will pay for 1,000 fingerlings minnows so fish have something to eat.they said, nooooooooooo.i did get them to put a light a boat luanch but bass clubs helped pay fopr that.it seems that our state groups dont care about future of fishing/hunting anymore.its TOURISM now, watch elk take aleak.oh, there goes yellow belly sap sucker,oh my.