Shot my first ML deer lastnight...learned important lesson!

[Crashman]

Well I bought a Pro Hunter a couple of months ago, topped it with a Vortex Diamondback 2-7X35. It makes a rather nice combo and handles well in the field and at the range. I am new to muzzle loaders and took the advice of the guy behind the counter at the gun shop and settled on three 50 grain pellets of T7 and a 250 grain Hornady 45 caliber XTP all lit up with a W209 primer. Accuracy was less than I had hoped for, but still "minute of deer" at 100 yards.

I shot a mature doe last night at about 70 yards, I hit her in the shoulder angling back and exited out near the last rib on the far side. Needless to say meat and internal organ damage was extensive. I probably lost 25 % of the meat, and it was a very nasty field dressing job.

I am thinking of switching to Black Horn 209 powder and a heavier bullet. Can someone please make some suggestions regarding bullet options? Like I said I am new to the front stuffer so I need all the help I can get. Oh yeah, I also hunt moose and bear, so it would be great if I could find one load that would be suitable for all these animals.

Thanks!

 

[Bucker]

Pro Hunter

110 Grains BH 209
300 grain xtp/mag at least that is what I am reading in these posts. I love my Pro hunter. Look on the inline posts amny laods and combos for the Pro

 

[coh-1]

Crashman,

Those Pro Hunters are nice rigs, I know I love mine. You should try the 250 grain regular Shockwave with your current setup. They seem to be the weight that TC recommends the most for their current inline products. I have killed 7 deer with mine in 2 years and before that my regular Encore liked the regular 300 grain Shockwave that combo took 7 or 8 deer.

Curtis

 

[Cattledog]

Depending on your barrel try

90 grains blackhorn 209
300 grain xtp/mag
factory sabots that come with the xtp's

Killed my first deer on saturday at 60 yards with that combo.

 

[g.g.]

in my encore I shoot...

100 gr volume BH209
250 gr TC shockwave (not bonded)
harvester short smooth sabots
winchester primers

very accurate to say the least, probably tightened my groups by 3" when I switched from 100 gr 777 to the BH

 

[black powder]

why [settled on three 50 grain pellets of T7 ] 2 triple 7 pellets is more than enough ....and i repeat myself " why the shoulder shot ????????

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Shot my first ML deer last...learned an important lesson

Well I bought a Pro Hunter a couple of months ago, topped it with a Vortex Diamondback 2-7X35. It makes a rather nice combo and handles well in the field and at the range. I am new to muzzle loaders and took the advice of the guy behind the counter at the gun shop and settled on three 50 grain pellets of T7 and a 250 grain Hornady 45 caliber XTP all lit up with a W209 primer. Accuracy was less than I had hoped for, but still "minute of deer" at 100 yards.

I shot a mature doe last night at about 70 yards, I hit her in the shoulder angling back and exited out near the last rib on the far side. Needless to say meat and internal organ damage was extensive. I probably lost 25 % of the meat, and it was a very nasty field dressing job.

I am thinking of switching to Black Horn 209 powder and a heavier bullet. Can someone please make some suggestions regarding bullet options? Like I said I am new to the front stuffer so I need all the help I can get. Oh yeah, I also hunt moose and bear, so it would be great if I could find one load that would be suitable for all these animals.

Thanks!

There isn't anything wrong with your bullet choice,,,but there are a few options you could explore,,,Parkers,,,Noslers,,Barnes,,,and some already mentioned,,etc.

I would trash the pellets,,,and use loose powder to gain the best accuracy.

Your problem here wasn't the bullet,,,,,,,it was "shot placement". That XTP did what it was designed to do.

8)

 

[Crashman]

Yes I realize my shot placement was not ideal and that was not my intention to hit her in the shoulder. It was getting late and light was fading quickly, I held the scope on her for about a minute because she was framed by two trees and I could not tell her front end from her back end. Finally she moved her head and I shot a bit too fast and unfortunatly I hit her in the shoulder rather than through the ribs behind the shoulder and into the vitals.

I guess the point that I was trying to make is that I should not always listen to the guy behind the counter at the gun shop, and maybe try a bit experimenting before settling on a load for hunting. My plan is to try some Black Horn (if I can find it here in Canada) and experiment with some heavier bullets.

 

[RAF]

You just gave yourself some very good advise. You can use advice as a guide line but you need to work up a load for yourself. Every gun is a little different and what one person uses may not be right or good for you.

 

[MCee67]

In heavily hunted areas like here in Michigan, sometimes you are BETTER off aiming for a shoulder shot for fear of it going on somebody elses property, or somebody else trying to tag it before you get to it. It happend to my dad on a nice buck years ago. He got a good shot on it, but it went almost 300 yards. He waited 30 minutes and when he got to the deer, it was just a gut pile! Definatly destroys some meat though.

 

[Doohan]

Re: Shot my first ML deer last...learned an important lesson

Your problem here wasn't the bullet,,,,,,,it was "shot placement". That XTP did what it was designed to do.

8)

+1 on that ..

XTP is a fine bullet! punch through the lungs next time or try some parkers.. Anything in the shoulders = meat loss.

 

[Okie Hog]

When i got back into muzzloading in 2000 everyone was using huge charges of Pyrodex so i did too: Wrong answer, finally wised up and started using two Pyrodex pellets or 100 grains of Pyrodex RS. They shoot to the same point of aim in my CVA Stag Horn.

Have killed about 15 deer using 100 grains of Pyrodex granular or two Pyrodex pellets and the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet. Have also killed dozens of hogs with those same loads. A hog can be much harder to kill that a deer. Over 90 percent of my kills have been bang flops.

My small game load is the 240 grain .430 XTP over 70 grains of Pyrodex RS. Several times i have killed hogs with that load while rabbit and squirrel hunting.

Am now using Goex Pinnacle in my muzzleloaders and it works very well with the 240 grain 430 XTP bullet.

 

[Crashman]

Well I finally found some 300 grain XTP mag bullets and will try them on deer next week for our late season muzzle loader season here. I am going to stick with the pellets for now as they work well enough for my abilities at this point. I will however switch to loose powder as soon as the season is over.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[Franksauto]

are you shooting .50 cal or .45. Either way the 250 shockwave should be fine. I think 150gr pyrodex is way over kill. try 100gr and it may tighten your groups up.
Frank

 

[Crashman]

are you shooting .50 cal or .45. Either way the 250 shockwave should be fine. I think 150gr pyrodex is way over kill. try 100gr and it may tighten your groups up.
Frank

I am shooting a 50 cal, and yes I dropped the powder charge to 100 grains and it did make a big difference in the accuracy department. The shockwaves shot well in my gun, but I found the 250 grain XTP were at least as good and I heard they might provide better terminal performance over a broader range of velocities (not that I really know what that means!). However, two 50 grain pellets and the 250 grain XTP seem to shoot right around 1.5" to 2" at 100 yards and I am pretty happy with that.

 

[maggie221]

Loads

Crash,

I see in your post that you bought XTP Mags.
Most guys use the regular XTP's unless you are after bigger game such as moose,elk,bear etc.
Even then, you can use regular XTP's for those critters.
From what I've read the Mag XTP's don't expand on lighter game and you lose the terminal shock effect then.
Regular XTP's in either 300 (my preference) or 250 gr is the ticket.

Mark

 

[Okie Hog]

That 250 grain.45 caliber XTP bullet is not a good choice for use with three pellets. Three pellets drive the bullet too fast for short range use.

http://www.hornady.com/media/Handgun_Bullets.pdf

 

[choc-dog]

You have to back off your powder charges to lower the velocity to match the jacket thickness which controls the bullets performance.

A powder charge from 90 gr to 105 grains will kill all the deer you will ever shoot. A 3 pellet charge is "SUCH" over kill.

Chocdog

 

[IowaRobinhood]

Good info here. I too shoot the 250gr shockwave (not bonded) in front of 2 triple 7 pellets. Seems to do a good enough job for me, pretty consistant.

 

[prostreetcamaro]

I shoot for the shoulder exclusively. I am after the boom flop and most of the time a solid shoulder shot drops then in there tracks.