I'm new and need advice loading...
 

I recently purchased a Traditions Pursuit UL with true glow sights (colorado) and went to the range after plenty of reading as I have never shot a muzzleloading rifle.
I used:
338gr Powerbelt Platinum with 90 grains 777 (weighed on my reloading scale)and remington primers…

at 50 yards i had a 3 shot group high and left 4"-5" and the group with open sights was 3"
at 100 yards a different story but i could barely see a point to aim at but still grouped high and left.

I'v also purchased Hornady HPB 350's and also Blackhorn powder as well to test...

I've searched my arse off and cant find anything?

my reason for posting is each time i shot i would run a dry patch down the barrel 2x then shoot again… but while reloading i never had the rod fall in the same place…. i've read ( and makes sense) that it should always be in the same place using same charges and loads…. in order to be most consistent with pressures? what is my issue? i tried to get close but never could… and accuracy seemed okay at 50 yards for my first outing…

i live in CO where scopes sabots and pellets are not legal for hunting elk…
I'm an avid bow hunter with 10 Bull harvests out of 12 years hunting with a bow… thought i would try something new…

Put a Witness mark on your ramrod next time. Also when you swab.. because your shooting 777 use some windex on the patch. Do a couple wet ones, then a couple dry ones. I think you will see they all come back to the witness mark then.

But be careful of ramrod pressure each and every time. Make sure you try to seat them the same.

Two things. 90gr by weight is a heavy charge. Try around 100gr by volume. I'm not sure what weight that would be, because I just use a volume to measure the powder.

The second thing is T7 will leave a crud ring about where the bullet is loaded. The more powder you use the worse it gets. I'm not sure you're getting it all out with just a dry patch. Try licking a patch, and running that down first. Followed by a dry patch. If you don't want to lick a patch use Windex. No need to soak it. Just one spray will work.

If you decide to lick the patch. Make sure it's a clean patch. :p

What primers are you using?

thanks guys... i didnt realize the charge was by volume and not weight... good thing i didnt blow up the gun... it showed up as 100 on my blackhorn measureing tubes... and remington primers...

i did use a witness mark the first load... 3rd load and 5th load out of 6 shots.... only once did i get it to match on the 3rd?

i will try the windex deal for sure... anything i need to do differently with Blackhorn?

any thought in seeing my white target at 100yds? it was tough to see aspecific aim point???

The Traditions should shoot BH 209 ok, but you need a hot primer. Which ones are you using?

btw When you use BH 209 don't swab at all between shots. Just clean it at home after your shooting is done. You'll also need to use solvents to clean it the same as you use for CF guns. Black powder solvents, Windex etc won't work. Hoppe's is a good one to use.

Remington primers... I originally was going to use BH209 but cabelas only had 777 in stock and i really wanted to shoot the new gun... thanks for the help...

Ok, those are full strength shotgun primers? I ask, because Remington also makes a muzzleloader primer called Kleanbore. Those won't work with BH 209.

I will have to check... got them in the muzzleloading dept so i can assume they are likely the Kleanbores??? any recommendations?
also will my Hoppes #9 solvent be sufficient to clean Blackhorne?

As long as it's regular Hoppe's. They also make a Hoppe's 9 for black powder. Don't use that one for BH 209.

As for primers. Any 209 primers made for shotguns should work. Get the CCI mag if you can. Otherwise Federal, Winchester, Remington etc should work.

You also want to keep the flame channel clean with any powder, but especially with BH 209. It needs a hot flame to fire. The best way the keep the flame channel clean is to use a drill the size of the flame channel. You don't want to take any metal off when you clean it. Just twist the drill by hand to scrape off the fouling. This is really important to do. I like to do it every 5-6 shots. It only takes a few seconds to do it.

shot the 338 gr powerbelts again with 80 and 90 grains of blackhorn with winchester primers... no cleaning between shots ... 6 shots total...
much better loading as far as witness mark.... it never came back to witness mark from first shot.. but came back to same point each shot after the 2nd...

1 inch group at 50 a little left and 1" high from dead center
and 4 inch group at 100 about 10" high and left....

i couldnt get the hornady fpb in 350grns into my barrell at all.... damaged the copper jacket trying to get it started?????????