lukehunter81

im new to muzzleloading and trying to figure out what grain bullet i should use, i have about 3 to 3.5 inches of eye releif on my scope and from what i understand the grain of the bullet will affect the kick, im trying to avoid scope eye ,not a big fan of having my scope drove into my eye, but i also want to be able to drop a deer on the spot, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. oh yeah the gun is a 50cal knight american knight

Bake North

Iwould get some different brands and weights and let the gun tell you what it likes.A 250gr bullet can drop a deer on the spot just as easily as a 300gr bullet,it is the shot placement.As far as kick I have shot 245-348gr powerbelts and 250-300gr shockwaves and didn't notice a hole lot of difference in the kick.
Mabey Cayugad could shed some light on this subject for you as he has a lot of experience with a lot of different guns.

glockman55

I agree, start wit a 240-250 gr. bullet, with 100 gr. powder. Your right on thinking the heavier bullet will increase the kick. I see a bigger difference in thekick with more powder, like 150 gr. vs. 100 gr. Plus a ML has a different kick that a modern rifle. Like said, let your gun tell you what to shoot.

gleason.chapman

100g of powder is all you need, either loose or pellets. As for bullet weight, I have found that 300g bullets shoot thru deer, whereas 250g and lighter bullets tend to not shoot thru deer. I like shoot thru for blood trails. As for excellent bullets, I would recommend andy of the following: Nosler Partition 300g HG, 300g Gold Dot, Barnes TMZ 290g or Barnes MZ at 300g. All are excellent performing bullets. I shoot all mine in a Crushed Rib sabot in my BP inline, and an MMP12 in my Savage Smokeless. Once you go to 150 grains then you get the big kick, and honestly you don't need it.
Chap Gleason

cayugad

As I remember, you bought a Knight USA American. That means it has a 22 inch barrel. Also it probably has a #11 nipple so shoot only loose powder. So large powder charges are not even going to be an issue. When I have a rifle with a barrel that short, I pretty much limit any powder charge to 100 grains of less.If I were you I would try starting at 80 grains of Pyrdoex RS and a 240 grain XTP for starters. See if that groups well for you. That should be a very low recoil load, and still lethal out to 125 yards for you if you can place the bullet.

If that projectile does not group for you, then you might have to start searching. I have had good luck with 300 grainSaber Tooth Conicals out of my little LK-II with 85 grains of Goex 3f. Another good load is the 250 grain Shockwaves. 270 grain Ball-ets also shoot well. All you can do is try different loads until you find something that works.

Remember, scope eye is caused more by not addressing the rifle properly then it is recoil of the rifle. 3 -1/2 inches of eye relief should be fine. I personally like 3.8 to 4 inches but shoot some with 3.5 inches with no problems. If you have that rifle snug to your shoulder and have a good firm grip on it, your shoulder should soak up that recoil before your eye. Hold the rifle properly and work more at addressing it, and not flinching and your accuracy will be there.