grain choice
 

so i need some advice. i have been loading up 100 grains of powder in my TC encore to site it in. but, is this enough, or to much? what are you guys loading up?

100 grains is a very good load. Granted people shoot magnum loads, but if you are getting good accuracy with 100 grains, keep that in your mind as a good load, and then have fun experimenting with other loads.

100 grains of powder is "enough". Your gun may prefer less or more with a given bullet for best accuracy.

I shoot 100 gr of loose pyrodex and 350 gr Hornady FPBs in my in-line. This is a 125-150 yd load for deer. I keep saying I'll try BH209, but I have to burn through my pyrodex first. At my current rate of less than 10 shots per year, it will take a while.

If it's accurate then I say leave it. Most guns don't shoot "magnum" loads well. I keep most of my loads in the 80-90g range.

100gr's is plenty enough in any ML. What kind of powder are you using? Grain amount should be determined by accuracy over distance IMO. If your Encore is shooting fine with that load than leave it alone. If your not happy with your groups go a little less and see what happens. I found that anything over 105-110gr's of powder you start to loose accuracy.
(BP)

You are not going to believe this, but 100 grains of powder is more than enough powder, especially for deer. I shot my 600 lb cow elk in 2009 with 90 grains of Goex 2f and a 385 grain Hornday Great Plains. That was about a 100 yard shot, and I found the bullet on the off side right under the hide. It weighed 375 grains recovered. In 2005 I shot one with 80 grains and a 370 grain T/C. That was a 450 lb cow. I did not recover that bullet, it hit the spine and broke up.

Take that for what it's worth.

Marcial

The standard 45-70 load of 70 grains of black powder under a 405 grain chunk of lead killed quite a few bison in the 1800's.

My Knight with 250 Shockwaves doesn't like 100grs, it likes 90...That does the job nicely...Remember the 45/70??? It used 70gr of black powder and killed many a buffalo...The original bullet was 405 grains...

In my .54 flintlock, I use 80grs of FFF Goex...

Accuracy is king and each gun is an individual. There is one way to find what is best in your particular gun.
Take several bullets in each grain weight you like and try them with several sabots
start with 90 gr and go up the the max your gun will handle pick out the best target then try 5 gr each side of that make sure you mark the load bullet and sabot on each target. You may already know this but the sabots come in different lengths and thickness of petal, finding the right one for you bullet is important it needs to be tight enough so the bullet can not slip when the rifling spins it yet loose enough so you can load it with out pounding on it. Lee

k. well i see me shooting between 125-250 yards. does that change my choice of how much powder i need to load? right now i use the 385 grain great plains also.

OregonHunter5

Right now for my Idaho season I am shooting 90 grains T7-3f in the GM-LRH shooting a 460 grain Bull Shop. Most of the DWB guy will tell you that 70 grain is more than enough...

If your shooting deer, they're thin skinned and does not take a lot to penetrate them. Out to 250 yards, I PERSONALLY would be pushing all the powder I could and still be accurate. That is a long way out there for a muzzleloader. I never shot past 150 yards at a target.

OregonHunter5

I did not pick up on your high end of your anticipated range til Cayugad mentioned it.... Shoot!!! 250 yards with open sights is quite a poke unless you do a lot of practicing... Even if you could see and place the the sights on a target that far out the varibles that the bullet crosses in that distance can move the bullet 20-30 inches

i was thinking in that distance for all other hunts other than ML season here and with a leupold ultimate slam on the gun.thoughts?

That distance with open sights is EXTREMLY difficult for anyone. If your planning on taking a long shot, you better try pushing that load as hard as you can until your accuracy begins to fail. Your'e going to get considerable drop at that range so I would suggest having your zero at 150yd minimum. Otherwise your holdover will be too high to take an ethical shot at that range. I have a hard time pulling the trigger over 100 yds or so with open sights. Although you never really clarified wether or not you would be using a scope.

Now you did.

250 yards, open sights? Good luck at seeing a deer with open sights. At that range, you're sight is going to cover the entire deer, even with a 6 o'clock hold.

btw. i have a friend who goes to a buffalo shoot in montana every year. they shoot the sharps out to 780 yards, peep sights. how can they do that?

a buffalo stands 6 feet high at the shoulder. compare pictures of a buffalo and deer and you'll see how they can do it. Its like a geo metro VS a 1970s buick sitting out in the field.

OregonHunter5

The Sharps probably has a vernier sight on it also and bet they have done a good deal of practice...

The U-slam would certainly be the way to go at those long ranges - but if the scope was legal them their might be much better bullets availble to use a that distance rather than a full bore conical. Not the a lead freight train would not work...

so two questions. i love barnes, do u agree?
and are the ulitmate slams really meant for ML?
i know distance beyond 250 which a VX3 would provide isnt needed, but maybe they would have better lens...?
i just heard the ulitmate has very average edge to edge clarity...
but i could be wrong of course.

OregonHunter5

If you like Barnes - shoot em... they are a darn good bullet but i prefer Noslers... One of the best to get animal down is to believe in your bullet.

I think you would be better off with the Uslam because of the ballistic reticule - which after you match it to your load it is a great tool...

The V3 probably does have the better glass - but the Uslams is not bad at all + the reticule

isnt the boone and crocket reticle the same as the slam?

OregonHunter5

That I am not sure of...

Basically yes. The B&C reticle is a series of lines,U Slam a series of dots.