I am new to this sport and just bought a Bone Collector. The firearm experts at the store also set me up with Triple 7 50/50 Pellets, Hornady 50 cal 45-300 XTP MAG Sabots, and Remington Kleanbore 209 primers. Is this a good place to start or should I head in another direction? Also what does the 45-300 XTP Mag stand for? I am planning on heading to the range sometime this week to pur a few rounds through it. What is a good rang to start shooting at targets for a newbie? Thanks in advance!
Triple Seven pellets will work fine. Your rifle can handle three of them (150 grains of powder) but really all you need is two of them (100 grains of powder). After you run out of the pellets, change over to loose Triple Seven 2f or Pyrodex RS in loose form. Just get a powder measure, set it at 100 and fill it. Same thing as your two pellets except with loose triple seven 2f you will have about 15% more power then in pellet form.
The Kleenbore Primers will work just fine. Even with pellets or loose powder. Also that 45-300 grain XTP Mag will drop about anything you want to shoot. Other good bullets are the 250 grain Shockwaves, 200 grain Shockwaves, Nosler, Barnes, but all of that will come with time. Just shoot off the 300 grain XTP and enjoy the rifle.
After you have cleaned the new rifle you will protect the barrel with gun oil. So before you shoot!! Get a bottle of Windex or at the Dollar Store their brand of windex. Also get some shooting patches. Do you have any old 100% cotton socks with holes in them... now is the time to cut them up for patches. Makes great patches and makes the wife happy you are throwing them away. Cotton T shirts are another good source of patches. Or just buy some. So take a patch and spray some windex on it. You want the patch damp but not soaking wet. Now with a cleaning/loading jag on your ramrod, start working that patch down the bore of the rifle in three inch short strokes. Work it like that all the way to the breech. You have now removed the oil from the barrel. Now a dry patch. Work it the same way. All the way to the breech. This will dry the Windex out of the barrel. Leave that patch at the bottom of the breech for a second, put a Kleenbore primer in the gun and fire the primer off. This blows all the oil out of the breech plug onto the dry patch. Pull that patch and look for burn marks. If you have them you are set to shoot.
Drop two of the Triple Seven pellets down the bore. Then come out of the plastic box like a crane lifting them on that pipe cleaner, then lower them the same way into the bore of the rifle. Push them off the pipe cleaner and they will fall down the bore of the rifle. On the bottom of them is a trace of black powder. That is way it is so important to load the the correct way.
Now put the bullet into the sabot. As a unit, put that into the false muzzle of the rifle. With your short starter, push that down the bore as far as the short starter will reach. Now with the ramrod, push that projectile down the bore of the rifle until it is FIRMLY resting on the two pellets. Not crushing the pellets mind you, but you want no air space between the powder and the sabots. Put a primer in and you are ready to fire.
So you have fired and am standing there with that big grin on your face. Now take a clean patch and spritz it with the windex. Work that down the bore just as you did to remove the oil. This will take out the fouling in the bore and remove the crud ring in the bottom of the bore (if there is one). Now a dry patch or two. You are ready to load again, and fire.
