OzarkPA

Hey folks - my first day shooting a muzzleloader and I found out a couple of things - my palm hurts and the loading rod on my new T/C Impact 'bites' into the heads of the barnes t-ez I was shooting.

Anyways - shooting 85grains bh209 and barnes 290 t-ez and t/c sure shot 230. The 230gr sure shots were hitting 3" higher at 70 yards than the 295 grain barnes. Understanding these are totally different bullets, but weight is weight, it looks like my bullets are past the 'top of the arc' of their travel - is that ok for 70yrds or should I up my charge? I'm trying to get a 70-125 yard range for deer, thanks!

Breechplug

Firts off get yourself a short starter, this will help you avoid the sore palm. There's different loading jags for the end of your Ram Rod that are for each different type of Bullet, there's ones for Hollow Points, Polymer Tiped ect, Im not sure wich one came with your Impact, but you should not damage the Bullet when loading your MLer.
Weight has nothing to do with the trajectory of the Bullet, never assume just because they weigh the same that they will impact in the same place.
a easy way to sight in is sight in around 1" high at 50yds, this should do it. Just hold dead center Lungs and you should be in the money anywhere from 0-125yds. But always check to see where your Bullet hits at the different yardages, this is just a starting point. Im not farmiliar with BH, I dont use it, someone else can answer this on how much is enough powder. But if your only shooting out to 125yds Im sure 85gr's would be enough.
Good Luck
(BP)

cayugad

OzarkPA you need to get a loading jag for the Barnes bullets. That ramrod end has female threads and will accept the loading jag. Then it will not damage the bullets. You will probably see an increase in accuracy. If you can't find the Barnes head, the T/C Shockwave head works fine and it acts as a clean jag as well.

Also you need a short starter. Since your shooting sabots, get a T handle short starter and remember, that needs a loading jag as well.

Like Breechplug said, it sounds like your in the ball park for those distances. But do get to a range and try the rifle at the distances you think you will be shooting at.

OzarkPA

I did get the t-handle to start it off, it was when switching to the ramrod when the trouble started. I see that some of the other starters have a divot cut in to push on the rod, so I'll maybe use a small square of 1"x or old piece of leather belt. I have read several articles on the the chuckhawks.com site and they recommend a 'spin-jag' and it seems that might do a little better cleaning job than the included jag and also has a cup for the tipped bullets.

builder459

As sabot loader said you need a special jag for the barnes bullet.85-95 gr might be fine for the sure shots,i would say you need to push that 290 barnes with 95-110 gr for best accuracy.thats a long bullet as are the .250 TEZ that i shoot out of my triumph.the 250 gold dot/ deep curls with CR sabots shoot well also.

smokey92

Is that with BH209?

For the jag, I drilled the one that came with the rifle, carefully. Put a bullet on the basement floor, took the ram rod and exerted roughly same pressure it takes to load, and checked for any deformation.

OzarkPA

Should the jag that came with the rifle work ok or do I need something more specialized / conforming? As far as the other point, the 250 gold dot / deep curl with CR sabots - are those two different bullets? Sorry for all the newbie questions, I'm still pretty green.... but any chance to shoot a good projective for less than how much the t-ez cost would be good

johnnyo

Use the Barnes loading jag head... better accuracy.

omegasmoke

I would get yourself a good range rod for shooting at the range. I only use the rods that come with the gun for loading in the field. I carry a spin jag with me in the field to screw onto the end of the ramrod if I need to reload. Granted it's not real speedy for reloading, but if you don't use a jag you can and will affect accuracy.

LKNCHOPPERS

T/C sells a cleaning jag/spire point brass piece that you can get in most stores and costs $2-$4. Leave it on the end of your ramrod. You can set your bullet in place with it (with nice alignment) and run a cleaning patch with the same end. Just screw a T handle on the end of your ramrod when loading or cleaning and you are all set. Take a look at your Barnes TEZ bullet, the plastic point should remain untouched while loading. The T/C spire point loading jag works as well as the Barnes loading jag and even better for gripping a patch during cleaning.