I've been reading all of your forums and there seems to be mixed feelings on what powder you guys like. I shoot a Knight Original Disc 50 cal. with a 3-9x40 Nikon Prostaff loaded with 2 - 100 grain Triple 7 Pellets with a 45 cal. - 300 grain - Hornady XTP bullet. I shot it with 3 pellets, 150 grains, but the groups were HORRIBLE! I shoot well with this load out to 150 yards. I've shot 200, but without accuracy; this is most likely the shooter. I don't have a lot of time being in high school and with sports and college classes leaves me not a whole lot of time. I was just wondering what you guys think would be a good load for my gun and what you think on powder vs. pellets...

Thanks,
Joey

Hey Joey,
I think you might get a lot of opinions on this. Here is my suggestion though.

I assume you are looking for a load for dear, correct????

I am kind of in your same boat. I have 4 kids that keep me very busy. My wife works and is in school. On and on, so I don't have a lot of time for experimenting. I took the information I got here and on another forum and quickly got a powder bullet combination and now I just need to do the fine tuning before hunting season.

All that said to say this. If the 2 pellets work, I would look no further. Later in your life, things may settle down and you will have more time and shoot more for pleasure. Then you can try all things out on your own.

If you are looking to do some experimenting, I would suggest playing around with some loose Triple 7. You can bump the load up a little at a time and see what happens.

Buy some 30-grain pellets to give you much more volume options with the 50--grains that you have. Buy a couple more bullets too... different styles shoot differently.

If you shoot like me convenience is worth more than the added cost of what pellets cost versus loose. Loose isdefinately cheaper by the way

With pellets you can still get pretty flexible in load variation, i.e. with 50 grain and 30 grain pellets you c an do the following...

50 Gr, 60Gr, 80Gr, 90Gr, 100Gr, 110Gr, 120Gr, 130Gr, 140Gr, and 150Gr loads.

Once you find what shoots consistently, some of the guys here have accdess to trajectory charts if you can give them the muzzel velocity and bullet with coefficient they can get you real close to the actual trajectory of your load.

It may not be exactly perfect but it will get you real close in the ballpark of what your drop is over particular distances.

No matter what they find on paper the deciding factor will be what your gun likes though.

I also have a Knight Disc...22 inch barrel, with a Leupold 3x9x40...I have had this gun since 1999...I have probably shot this rifle 500 times...My first pet load was 2-50gr Pyrodex pellets and the 300gr Barnes copper bullet...The problem with shooting a hollow point bullet in an inline is when you get out to 150-200 yards...
They are not aerodynamic, the front of them is flat, or blunt, this is excellent for mushrooming, but not good for longer range shooting...So, the PowerBelts, Hornady XTPs, 250 and 300 gr Barnes Hollow points, and many of the other hollow point, pistol type bullets aren't going to group well at these ranges.

I have shot flintlocks for about 30 years, so I am used to measuring powder charges...Three years ago I started really fine tuning my Knight...I tried several different bullets, including all of the above, I also tried 777 loose and pellets and Goex FF and FFF and Pyrodex R-S....I also tried the Hornady SST (T/C Shockwave bullets) and ordered MMP-24 sabots....I can now group 250 SST's into one ragged hole at 100 yards, and into a 2 inch group at 150...I'm 2 1/2 inches high at 100 and 2 1/2 to 3 inches low at 150...I use 90 grains of Pyrodex R-S...Out of a 22 inch barrel I know my velocity is fairly low and 150 is pretty much my max range....

Now...while I was doing this experimenting I also tried PowerBelts and the 300 gr Barnes, sighted in 2 1/2 high at 100...I was 6-8 inches low at 150 and the groups opened up to about 6 inches.....

So...what I'm saying...Pick a bullet for the max range that you will be shooting....
Of you will be shooting longer ranges, taylor your powder charge to the gun and bullet....I prefer loose, because you are handloading each load and you can greatly improve the accuracy by varying the powder charge...

If you are going to shoot past 100-125 yards...Buy a range finder...Last fall,I was hunting over one of our soybean fields and shot an 8 pointer at 143 yards...I held just below the top of the back, hit him in the shoulder blade, and he dropped....All that experimenting paid off right then.

There is nothing wrong with using pellets and the Hornady XTPs, or the PowerBelts...Especially if you are hunting in the woods, and shots are within 100-125 yards or so....But...Once you move out to 150-200...It takes a little more effort to find the proper load.

WOW! these guys cover every aspect. I too would suggest some 30 grain pellets and try 120 grains with your combination. That is if you really think there is the need for you to push that projectile harder. Actually the 100 grains is more then enough for deer. As for the ability to shoot 200 yards, well there are a lot of shooters out here (me included)that can not, have serious consistancy problems or should not shoot that far simply because they are not comfortable with that kind of distance for a number or reasons. Remember, muzzleloader shooters used to be tickled to be able to shoot out to 100 yards and hit their targets..

Try the different pellet combinations listed, be sure and swab good between shots. Then, when you have time and money try some different projectiles out of the rifle like the 285 grain Barnes Spitfires. You might also want to try loose powder. Loose powder can produce some outstanding accuracy. This might increase your long range accuracy. So far I am shooting Barnes out of my Knight Disc and Wolverine only because Barnes produce the best accuracy. I hate barnes because of their cost, so I target plink with a number of different bullets, but when it comes to knocking something down, the Barnes isa great projectile.