Smithbros.1

Hi there I drew an general muzzeloaderElk tag in Colorado. I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions about what would be a good load. I will be carring a 209 X 50 encore. I have boughtTC'sMAXI-Balls 320 grain & 348AeroTip powerbelts. I am going to try Pyrodex select powder( not sure how much).I have always shot round balls& sabots in my Renegade with 90 grains behind itwith great success. The encore barrel is new and any help would be great. Thanks Jason

bigcountry

Maxiballs, and 90gr-110g 777, or those 385 buffalo bullets with 777 load. I see cay on here loves those no excuse conicals much.

cayugad

Is my understanding right in that, Colorado does not allow saboted projectiles. Since you have a fast twist barrel it should shoot conicals well. I would suggest getting some 460 or 495 grain NO EXCUSES CONICALS you can find them atthis link .http://members.aol.com/noexcusesb/page2.html I personally have never shot the 495 but have shot a lot of the 460 gran out of my Thompson Center Black Diamond XR with excellent accuracy. These are a slip fit type conical so they are easy to load. Even a charge of 85 grains of Triple Se7en would be plenty of punch out to 100 yards and further.

Another choice would be the 348 grain PowerBelt Aero Tip. You might also look into some Great Plains Conicals. I can not tell you that these conicals WILL shoot well out of the rifle you have. All you can do is try some of them and see what gives you the best accuracy.

Smithbros.1

Yes Cay colorado does not permit scopes,sabots,or pellets. The bullets must not exceed 2x in length of dia. How flat will that heavy of a load shoot with 100 grains of pyrodex. Thanks Jason

cayugad

I shoot them with 85 grains and they do real well. This was off shooting sticks, and my Black Diamond is scoped. I am sure with a 100 grain charge they would do real well. You would have to try them out.....

Mark whiz

I'll 2nd the 460gr No Excuses conicals. They shoot very well for me too out of my Knight.......... as good or better than the 348 or 405gr PowerBelts and with more punch on the target.
My load for them is 95gr of 2fg 777.....................but your mileage may vary.

Triple Se7en

95 gr. 777 behind a 460 gr No Excuse conical????..... ouch-ouch..... my shoulder is starting to hurt just thinking about squeezing the trigger with that load.... lol

A niceaftermarket componentfor all that brute force is the Sims Limbsaver recoil pad .... there's onecustom-made for the Encore.I use them on alot of MLs I have.

Mark whiz

Yeah Triple Se7en..................that load IS an Ouchie! Definitely a One Shot, One Kill load - as you don't wanna do it again real soon. But with 2fg it's manageable - with 3fg 777 it's brutal (and not as accurate).

Roskoe

Here in Colorado, the .50 caliber 348 grain Powerbelts outsell all other bullets for elk hunting. The recommended charge is from 90 to 105 grains of ffg Triple 7. I also know some old experienced MZ elk hunters who stilluse the 385 grain Buffalo Bullets with 100 grains of Pyrodex out of traditional rifles - wouldn't switch for anything.

Roskoe

Here's a slight "ouchie" load that I have used with success: 410 grain Hornady Great Plains, with an MMC ballistic bridge sub base, ahead of 120 grains of ffg Triple 7. Try the Caldwell Lead Sled or Benchmaster rest with these thumpers off the bench [&:]