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is 80 grains of powder enough for white tail?

More then enough... That will knock the snot out of a whitetail.

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More then enough... That will knock the snot out of a whitetail.....

............ beyond 100 yards... depending on what other specific shot info you may offer us.

Speaking of 80g powder I am having a lot of fun with that Norinco Cayugad. Since I put the Trophy red dot on it I have tried another conical besides the REAL. The Powerbelt 295g seems to also stabilize in that barrel I only shot two they hit less than an inch apart no keyholing at all. That was at 80yds with 80g fff Goex. So although I only took the two shots they seemed to group better than the REAL's with 80g fff. With 70g fff the REAL's were almost touching each other.

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ORIGINAL: Pittsburghunter

Speaking of 80g powder I am having a lot of fun with that Norinco Cayugad. Since I put the Trophy red dot on it I have tried another conical besides the REAL. The Powerbelt 295g seems to also stabilize in that barrel I only shot two they hit less than an inch apart no keyholing at all. That was at 80yds with 80g fff Goex. So although I only took the two shots they seemed to group better than the REAL's with 80g fff. With 70g fff the REAL's were almost touching each other.

Glad to hear the RED DOT is working out so well for you. I think you're going to have a lot of fun with that rifle. Even 70 grains of FFF is a lot stronger charge them most people give credit for. I have a .50 caliber roundball rifle that shoots 70 grains excellent and I would not even worry about shooting at a deer out to 85 yards. After that I would have to practice a little more.....

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............ beyond 100 yards... depending on what other specific shot info you may offer us.

Triple Se7en, as usual had a good point. At what distance are we talking. I shoot 85 grains of 3f with a sabot and would shoot all the way to 100 yards without blinking an eye. 80 grains and the right projectile is good for 100 yards and under in my book although many people disagree with this. Many feel that you need more power. I always feel you need more accuracy. Then let the projectile do the work for you. It does not hurt to be a good tracker also....:D

I've used 80 ff for about 20 years in my .54 flinter....no problems...
btw....the 45-70 was a .45 bullet with 70 grains bp....it killed many a buffalo

It may be enough but I shoot 100grs and at 60-70 yds the sabot has had a hard time going all the way through a deer thus not creating a good blood trail. I would bump it up to 90 or 100 especially if you plan on taking 100 yd shots in the future.

At the risk of coming across like a total newBie (which I am), if 80 Gr. is enough, then why the push for magnum load rifles? I recently purchased a Thomson Omega that is able to load 150 Gr. of pyrodex or equivalent and pushes bullets to 2,250 or such. As a longtime rifle shooter/hunter and league skeet shooter I would like to know why (if you were able to) wouldn't you shoot the maximum powder charge available for that bullet (Assuming 3 things; 1. I'm shooting Whitetails. 2. Recoil isn't a factor and, 3. Accuracy loss at max loads in "relatively" insignificant. I'm currently shooting 250 Grain T/C shockwaves and Hornady SST's and XTP's...with3 50 Gr. pellets of 777. I usually drive a 168 Gr. bullet out of my -06 at 3,200 fps or so, or a 12 Guage slug at deer and am confused as to why you wouldnt want to propell a big muzzleloader bullet at the maximum speed that you can - remembering that physics tells us that increased velocity for a given weight bullet equals more kinetic energy, therefore more knockdown power.

It should be enough.

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ORIGINAL: Zoomer

At the risk of coming across like a total newBie (which I am), if 80 Gr. is enough, then why the push for magnum load rifles? I recently purchased a Thomson Omega that is able to load 150 Gr. of pyrodex or equivalent and pushes bullets to 2,250 or such. As a longtime rifle shooter/hunter and league skeet shooter I would like to know why (if you were able to) wouldn't you shoot the maximum powder charge available for that bullet (Assuming 3 things; 1. I'm shooting Whitetails. 2. Recoil isn't a factor and, 3. Accuracy loss at max loads in "relatively" insignificant. I'm currently shooting 250 Grain T/C shockwaves and Hornady SST's and XTP's...with3 50 Gr. pellets of 777. I usually drive a 168 Gr. bullet out of my -06 at 3,200 fps or so, or a 12 Guage slug at deer and am confused as to why you wouldnt want to propell a big muzzleloader bullet at the maximum speed that you can - remembering that physics tells us that increased velocity for a given weight bullet equals more kinetic energy, therefore more knockdown power.

Zoomer good point. People have been taking deer for much longer then the new inline rifles with their magnum charges have been, using moderate charges and simple projectiles. As long as you know the limitations of your load and weapon you're using, they will work just fine.

The modern inline with the magnum charges and modern projectiles have only increased the range at which muzzleloaders can take animals out to. Never underestimate the power of the simple muzzleloader shooter. At the right range, deer are just as dead. Not to mention a lot cheaper to shoot then then some of the modern rifles such as yours.