tbonecpa, I'm not sure about other states but smokeless powder is not legal in Colorado. Only black powder and its' substitutes are legal and only in powder form, no pellets. Neither are scopes or sabots or 45 caliber.

The aspect of 200 yard guns is a little deceiving. Most of the ads claiming 200yds tend to put attention on tragectory. That light bullets in front of 150gr powder fly rather flat. A big heavy bullet in front of a more reasonable charge can be more effective, but you must really know your flight path. Take a look at some of the old buff rifles sights. they were easily adjusted or some had multiple folding leaf sights. Are you prepared to adjust for a 3ft bullet drop. It is hard to get a muzzleloader to stabilize a very long bullet over a great distance. Long bullets must be spun very fast. The fastest twist on muzzleloaders is about1/20-1/28. Look at centerfire rifles. 1/12-1/18 is pretty common. Centerfire rifles also have oversize bullets that are less likely to strip on the rifling. My arms aren't big enough nor my loading rod stiff enough to push a .458 bullet down a .45barrel.

A White 98 Elite Hunter will stabilize those long heavy conicals quite nicely.



This group was 31" below the point of aim. Rifle sighted in a 100 yards.

I would never consider using anything that didn't have at least 1100ft/lbs of energy on impact no matter how accurate on Elk. So 200 would be a stretch for me.

.45's are no more accurate than .50's! Accuracy depends on quality of barrels, sights, and ammo, NOT CALIBER! For shooting elk at 200 yards, accuracy is of course important, but so is impacvt energy! Shoot whichever bore/load combo gives both!