Blackpowder Long Range Hunting

Muzzleloaders are a pain to shoot accurately at longer ranges due to the larger groups. I would like to try a smokeless powder muzzle loader to see if I have better luck reaching out. There is a company called "dead center" and I believe you can buy the bullets from Cabelas. I bought some but have yet to try them. They claim to have much higher BC's than tradional ML bullets. I'll post results when I test.

Give it up! You may as well buy you some track shoes....and hunt with a spear!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[tnwill]

The company that makes the "Dead Center" line of bullets is Precision Rifle Bullets. They are located in Canada, but you can order the bullets from Cabelas. Below is a link to their webpage.

http://www.prbullet.com/index.htm

[distantfoe]

I can say that I've had much better luck with smokeless than with black powder replacements. The best thing is I can shoot the smokeless 20-25 times and wait as long as I want to clean it. If I do this with black powder or any other replacement powder, I've got a rust bucket in less than 2 days and the gun WILL NOT group.
My rifle will consistently group around 2 inches at 300 yards with a muzzle velocity of 2800fps using a 250 grain bullet. Unfortunately this kind of velocity is too much for the pure lead dead center bullets. I currently use sst, either way it is still basically a glorified pistol bullet.

[huntem]

I have confirmed kills at 210 and 305 with my omaga. 150gr Pyrodex with a 300gr Shockwave. Understand that the shooting conditions were perfect in the early smoke pole season here in PA.

A lot of any success comes with practice. We shoot all year long but really step it up a month before season. I'm sure most would agree that it is a blast to go to the range with multiple pieces to fire.

[wildworks]

bullet slection is key to Long range ML shooting. most bullets will get you there but there performance at LR is very poor! That is why Richard Graves and I are working on the most extensive line of sabot Muzzleloader bullets available! we will be lanuching this line of custom bullets as soon as testing is complete. there will be a special line of LR bullets featuring the Rebated Boattail in any size you wish from 250gr.- 600 gr. There will be more info to come on this new line of wildcats!just wanting to give you all a heads up.

[Derek M.]

Bud, I took this antelope in WY this year at what I thought was 211 yards. What I did was, range a tree that he was near which was 211, yet he was standing just beyond the tree on the next hillside. When we got to him, I ranged the truck and it was actually 235. I'm using 3 "sticks" of American Pioneer powder which grouped substantially better than any of the pyrodex, either loose or pellets. The bullet is the new Barnes Boat tail ultra slam 285. They may call it the Spit Fire. Anyway, I had practiced to 200 yards for several weeks before our trip. We shot for 4 hours on Saturday before out season opened. I noticed that my bullets were hitting about 2" higher in WY vs. Ohio at 200 yards.

I dumped the antelope where he stood. If I knew how to upload a video, I'd post it. We have all 3 hunts on tape.

Here he is, and this is the longest shot I've ever made with a ML. Seeing the shotplacement right in the shoulder boosted my confidence even more. I would certainly take a 250-275 yard shot with my Knight disc extreme.