What is everyone's recommended Muzzleloader rifle?

[Idaholewis]

Wow the new ones are impressive but also kind of takes the fun out of it.

Hence why i no longer own the Knight Mountaineer in the 600 Yard Video i just posted, i can do the Same thing with a TC Renegade, and Hawken Sidelock, That I personally have Set up. And i do so with OPEN/PEEP Sights, It's MUCH more of a Challenge, and they actually look and Feel like a Real Muzzleloader. Not bad mouthing the inlines, i have owned 3 of them, GREAT GUNS, Just not my thing. Different Strokes for Different Folks :lewis:

 

[Pa Grizz]

I have a Remington 700 ML 50 CAL that I do not hesitate to shoot a deer out to 300 yards

 

[RT2506]

I have and OLD Knight T-bolt magnum. I got it from my hunting buddy years ago when it first came out. I had a scope he wanted and he had no money but offered the muzzle loader and I took it because I wanted to move to the scoped in line from the old side lock open sighted CVA Mountain rifle 50 cal. round ball rifle I had been using. I wanted to extend my hunting range. This rifle had a musket cap ignition and was designed to use the NEW Pyrodex pellets. Three 50gr pellets with a MMP high pressure sabot and a 45 cal. 250 gr Hornady XTP bullet shot really accurately out to 200 yards which was the limitation of the yardage at the time where I was hunting. I learned to used different points of the reticle on the Leupold VXII 3-9x50 scope set on 9 power as to where to hold to hit where I wanted out to 200 yards. I killed a bunch of deer with it back then. My hunting situation changed and I did not muzzle load hunt any more and the old rifle became a safe queen. I was in a gun shop one day and ran into a conversion kit for it to use 209 ignition in a marked down sale cheap. I got it and installed it and decided to give it a range trip just for the heck of it. I really could not get it to shoot anywhere like it did with the musket cap. I did get it to shoot good enough to use out to 100 yards using loose Pyrodex select and a CVA power belt but ended up the planned hunt did not happen. Back to the safe for a few years. My hunting situation changed again and now I will be muzzle loading deer hunting. I had taken the scope off the rifle to use on another rifle and I had a practally new 3-9x32 Weaver so I put it on the T-bolt. I bought some Hodgdon 777 FFG and because I still had a bunch of the sabots and 250 XTPs and Winchester 209 primers that is what I tried first. In my hunting situation 100 yards would be a long shot in the mountains of TN. I first tried 100 grs. no good, dropped to 90 grs better but not acceptable. I then tried 80 grs and at 50 yards 3 went into about the same hole. Because of limited time I brought the scope up a few clicks to make it 1 1/2" high at 50 and then shot one shot at 100 yards and it was dead on. This year because of prior commitment I was out of town the first week and a half of the muzzle loading season. I got to hunt 3 evenings the last week. On the last day I had sat in a stand that overlooked a ridge and hollow below with an old logging path that has scrapes along it because the rut is in during the muzzle loading season here. I sat from about 1 p.m. until about 15 minutes until it would get dark. My bladder said that YOU MUST GO. I got out of the stand and quickly got to my 4 wheeler and rode out to the field where my truck and trailer was parked. As I came out of the path in the woods to my right stood a doe about 80 yards away up on the hill in the field. She looked at me and went right back to eating grass. It is legal to hunt on private land off a ATV and I learned a long time ago if you come up on a deer in a vehicle don't cut the engine off and usually they will not run. But if you cut it off they will run off. I left the engine running and put on the brake lock. Lifted the old T-bolt out of the rifle rack on the front of the 4 wheeler and slid my leg over so I could sit side saddle. From the offhand I held the cross hair in a little circle movement in the center of it's front shoulder and started the trigger squeeze. It did not take much to trip the 2 1/2 lb trigger. Boom POP and she hit the ground like a sack of concrete. Those 250 XTPs are wicked. Then I got to answer the call of nature. Talk about relief. LOL I guess the best muzzle loader is the one that you have and can have confidence in with in your self imposed limitations. I know a fellow in east NC that has a custom smokeless muzzle loader and he regularly kills deer 500 to 600 yards with it. But he practices shooting a lot and knows the exact yardage to the deer and it is legal to bate there and he uses feeders at the exact yardage from his shooting house that has a shooting bench and he uses a benchrest type set up to shoot off of.

 

[Sgt. grizz]

After many decades and many different rifles, along with more money than the law should allow, I went to a custom .45cal.



View attachment 154153

Who is you smith for that ML it's nice

 

[ENCORE]

Who is you smith for that ML it's nice

Jeff Fisk from Bestill Creations LLC built my custom.

I don't believe Jeff is taking on any bolt builds for NEW customers. He says he'll still work with his past customers, but he wants to start working more on TC Omega conversions and continue work on Knight rifles.
He's very good.

 

[Sgt. grizz]

Jeff Fisk from Bestill Creations LLC built my custom.

I don't believe Jeff is taking on any bolt builds for NEW customers. He says he'll still work with his past customers, but he wants to start working more on TC Omega conversions and continue work on Knight rifles.
He's very good.

Thank you

 

[Rockchuck27]

Apart from a TC triumph and an older traditions pursuit in .50 cal, I have a custom .45 cal I built up on a savage short action standard bolt face. I used a prefit barrel from Hankins that had the plug and modules included. It is all bedded into a Mcmillian game warden and is responsible for the elk in my pic to the left! Love it.

I do have a pitted out omega in the safe that I want to ship off to bestill one of these days for a conversion in a .40 cal too!

I love Muzzies!

 

[Merf45]

Have one of the first Encores and an Omega wth thumbhole stck got off a friend for $75 ugly as crap but it will put two 250 grn shockwaves in 1.5 at 100 and that will make critters dead all day where i hunt. Those customs are awsome lookn!!!!

 

[ENCORE]

Apart from a TC triumph and an older traditions pursuit in .50 cal, I have a custom .45 cal I built up on a savage short action standard bolt face. I used a prefit barrel from Hankins that had the plug and modules included. It is all bedded into a Mcmillian game warden and is responsible for the elk in my pic to the left! Love it.

I do have a pitted out omega in the safe that I want to ship off to bestill one of these days for a conversion in a .40 cal too!

I love Muzzies!

Love my Game Warden too

 

[grouse]

Apart from a TC triumph and an older traditions pursuit in .50 cal, I have a custom .45 cal I built up on a savage short action standard bolt face. I used a prefit barrel from Hankins that had the plug and modules included. It is all bedded into a Mcmillian game warden and is responsible for the elk in my pic to the left! Love it.

I do have a pitted out omega in the safe that I want to ship off to bestill one of these days for a conversion in a .40 cal too!

I love Muzzies!

can you tell us more about your ml? What breach plug ? What ignition? Sounds great!

 

[Rockchuck27]

Hankins is the company i bought a prefit brux barrel through and a bullet sizing die. it comes with his own plug and primer modules that use large magnum rifle primers. i t is a 1:20 twist. I pulled the barrel off a 6.5 mod 11 creedmoor I bought for the purpose, but any standard size boltface will work. I also removed the ejector from the bolt and spun the barrel back on with a new nut and headspaced off a primer module. Mcmillian took my barrel specs for a custom contour on the stock and set me up with a blind mag cut instead of the normal detachable mag cutout they do with the bottom bolt release. I eepoxied in a single shot follower I picked up for NSS. then I bedded witg acraglass and it was ready to go. I built a lefty for me and a mirror image righty for my brother at the same time. They shoot lights out. Averaging 2485 fps muzz vel using bh209 and smooth formed 300 gr pittman aeromax bullets. My bbrotger lately has been dabbling with a similat bullet from parker as well with good results.

 

[Rockchuck27]

 

[Rockchuck27]

No pro, as pics show but they shoot great!

 

[grouse]

How many grains of bh by weight?