well I just mounted a new scope on my 45 caloptima. I went with the Nikon Prostaff 2-7x32. Now i am trying to figure out the best load for my gun. I have been shooting the 777 pellets (100gr)with powerbelt 225 grain bullets and using remington cleanbore primers. I think that I want to get some higher grained bullets but they are hard to find in a 45 caliber. What bullets do you guys recommend?

Also when deer hunting should I load 150g of powder instead of 100?

Well loose powder is better than pellets and cheaper. As for bullets, for the 45cal the Barnes MZ would be excellent:

http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/muzzleloader/expander-mz/

You can of course find them a bit cheaper than the Barnes site, but they don't charge shipping. If your trying to reach 200 yards with your Muzzleloader, then you need to use the higher power charge, but you will probably suffer some accuracy loss. Most guns shoot in the 90 to 120g of loose range, now that is a 50 cal. For the two hundred yard in a 45 cal your pretty limited on bullets, but the SST is good:

https://www.hornady.com/shop/?ps_session=3bd89de82bf048da665d22a6a547afca&p age=shop%2Fbrowse&category_id=b2185ffee9842938 6ec671e50820f1a1

If you only wanna shoot 150 yards, then any ML bullet will work, just sight in 3" high at 100 and you will be shooting thru a 6" pipe from 0 to 150+ yards. Speer Gold Dots come in a 40 Cal bullet:

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000214406

100 bullets for $24.21 is a good deal.

That should give you some choices. LaneNebraska has a 45 and he can give you some personal experience with that caliber. He is a PB fan, and I am not based on my only personal experience with them. If you stay with the PB you need to drop the charge down to 80g.
Chap Gleason

I have an Optima and Kodiak .45’s that I have been playing with but haven’t shot anything. I had good luck with 200 grain shockwaves .Even better with the blue crush rib sabot for .45 to .40. Group .8" Moa with 80 gr of BH209 @ 1840 fps and 1.1" Moa with 120 gr BH209 @ 2209 fps. The .45’s shoot the lighter bullets more efficient than the .50’s. I think because the smaller barrel builds pressure faster.

My Optima likes 90g of 777 loose pushing 300g xtp mag.

I have an optima elite, but its a 50 cal. I dont have any experience with the 45 cals

I been working up a for an 45cal apex. 275gr pb's with 75grs of pyrodex rs is the winner so far. pretty nice group at 100yds.

In conicals the easiest to find heavier bullets would be the 275 grain .45 Powerbelts- in Aerotip or Hollowpoint. Powerbelt also makes a 300 grain .45 in their "Platinum" series. I believe Lane Nebraska has used this one- might want to ask him about it. I've only used the 225 grainers. There are some heavier conicals out there (like the ones from Bull Shop or Precision Rifle) but you can't find those in your local gun store- need to order them.

I only shoot a CVA .45 modern inline, and I used either a saboted .40 caliber 200 grain XTP or 200 grain SST/Shockwave. I've gotten several deer with the XTP with great results, and haven't seen the need to use a conical. Hope this helps!

If you want to use pellets, i'd recommend that you use the 275gr Powerbelt or the beefed up 223, 300gr platinum.


150gr mag loads are over rated and were intended for 140+ yard shooting where you needed the extra recoil and unburnt powder.