Muzzle loaders for hunting ......

J

Jim Wilkes

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Last year I bought a new muzzle loader with in line ignition. Its a Thompson .50 caliber Omega. Something interesting I found while testing the loads on a chronograph is that any powder charge over 110 grains does nothing to increase velocity. I use Pyrodex and sabots with Hornady 240 grain bullets.

Just wondered what you guys have found out about charges and if your's is different then mine. I won't buy any of the new powders on the market cause I'm a tight wad, besides I believe in keeping somewhat like our grand fathers did. The biggest reason I bout in line ignition is that the caps just don't fire reliable enough.
 
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You must have a young grandfather. Pyrodex? Caps? Inlines? Might as well use your 30/30.
You are right about the velocity capping out though
Don
 
Black powder burns differently than smokeless and in this regard it's very safe. What you're finding is that your rifle will only burn up to 110gr of the blackpowder ( Actually BP substitute ) that you're using. The rest just gets blown out the barrel. You may show a greater muzzle flash but no velocity increase beyond a certain point. BTW the extra powder is just seen as a heavier bullet by the gun..... in other words even if you went up to 150gr of P-dex all you'd actually achieve is a greater recoil.

al
 
The same is pretty much true with metallic cartridge loading.

You get a certain m/v and with 15% more powder might get another 200 fps and 25% more recoil and probably LESS accuracy. Did I forget recoil??
 
langenc said:
The same is pretty much true with metallic cartridge loading.

You get a certain m/v and with 15% more powder might get another 200 fps and 25% more recoil and probably LESS accuracy. Did I forget recoil??
Click to expand...



Welll, and don't forget the high probability of a free trip to quiet world :rolleyes:

A BP gun will never blow up, a smokeless one will.

al
 
tried blackpowder, hated the cleanup, then savage introduced the smokeless muzzelloader. shoots 43gr of VV N110,,,,, clean once a year,,,,, life is good with smokeless powder,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend

DD
 
David
You have mentioned two of my pet peeves.
I see smokeless powder in ML as a huge safety issue. Obviously, Savage has designed their rifle so they are comfortable with it's ability to stand the pressures of smokeless. The problem is that some people will not know the difference; and think that if David can use smokeless in his gun, then it is okay to use it in mine. Most ML will come apart at the seams with smokeless powder.
The other issue is that the special ML hunting seasons were established due to extensive work by a few of us old timers. The whole basis was the use of primitive weapons for hunting. The historical basis, combined with limited range and fire power, allowed us to ask for special seasons similar to those previously set aside for archers.
Don
 
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