Hey guys I was going to sight in my muzzleloader today. I am going to start with 80grns of 777 with a 240grn xtp. now my ? is should I find a powder charge that groups well before I adjust my scope?

yes id say get on the paper and close to the bullseye and then tinker with charges. when you find a good grouping one then you can fine tune your sights or scope...no sense in fine tuning when you will may find your gun like 90grs better and shoots it a little diffrently. fine tune after you find what your gun likes. make sure you clean between shots and load the same every time. same charge...same loading pressure etc. good luck

I would agree. As long as you're on the paper, I wouldn't bother changing the scope at all (unless it's really close to the edge).
And I would add to start at 25-30 yards. Don't try to start at 100 yds or you may find that you're not hitting the paper at all, and it can be difficult figuring out which way you're missing. Get it on the paper at 25, get your good group, then adjust your scope so you're maybe an inch high at 25, THEN move out to a longer distance.

SaskBushMan

Me, myself, and I would go ahead and site it in at 25 yards to hit somewhere about and 1" high on the bull. Then shoot a group and see what type of group you get... then start increasing your powder shooting groups (normally 3 shot groups)... as you increase you powder charge the pattern should start climbing the target. When you get to the power level you want or like - site it in 2" high @50 - thenmove out - thisreally should put you really close @ 100 yards

Here is a ballistic chart for a moderate load on a 250 grain bullet that will give some idea about what it is doing... The 250 SW has a higher BC than the XTP so this info is not in stone.

Good luck - remember this is just me & there is more than one way to skin a cat...

mike

I agree totally with what Sabotloader suggested, though I would also do this. With each grouping I would seek to get the center of the next grouping in the horizontal center of the target. I wouldn't worry about elevation adjustment until I settled on the charge. Usually, change in chargeis going to lift or lower POI and not affect the left/right nature of the POI.

One thing I noticed when trying different bullets/loads/powders in my Omegawas, the POI wasn't that far off no matter what combination I had loaded. It did hit slightly different, but not all over the place.

The day has passed & no report on howSaskBushMan did today at the range. Using 80 grains with a 240 gr sabot is a good starting point for his Traditions Pursuit.

Myself, I went back to the range for Round 2 with Schuetzen blackpowder. Had a fabulous day target-wise -- then when I loaded the last shot of the day, I had wet powder& the Omegawouldn't fire. I tried 2 Kleanbores and 2 Federal 209A's. Swabbed just prior to this-- the same way/routine I always used the last 1000 times. It was a humid day with a little drizzle coming down - but I had the range roof above my stall & only a couple spots of water was on the barrel.

I've shot at the samerange on heavier rainy daysusing 777 & always had instantaneous ignition. This one puzzles me! I'm not sure if the shooter was in error -- or this Schuetzen likes to suck-in water.

Looks like I'm headed for Schuetzen Powder Round 3. But I will wait for another humid wet day to test it again.

I just got back from the range and was surprised at my results, I still have work to do as I ran out of light. I had a 1" -1.5" groups right of the bat with 80grns of 777 and the 240grn xtp's so I stuck with that. I left the range with being dead center left and right and 6" high at 25yrds. So it will continue another day.

Well at least your on paper and working to get the right load.. looks like you are on the way to having a good shooting rifle.

You may be good with thatload right out to 50 yards without adjusting anything on the scope& (just a guess) a 10-15 gr. increase to 90-95 grains when shooting it at 100 yards.

That's an accuratebullet for the Traditions inlines. Somewhere down the line, try the 300 grain.452 XTP or the Speer Gold Dot .452 with a Harvester Crush Rib sabot.I think Toby Bridges used that (300 XTP)in his Traditions Evolution 2-3 years ago.