triggerhappy

The two loads you see mentioned the most by the rifle and powder mfg's etc. are the 100 grain load and the 150 grain load. I am curious on what the real world does.

Is there a big advantage going with the 150 over the 100? What are you using the most. Is it something different?

I am looking at this in terms of performance in todays inlines shooting saboted bullets.

Johnmorris

I generally stay at 100 gr or under not so hard on the shoulder. Most guns are more accurate with less powerful loads

HCTurkeyHunter

The American desire for more power drives the 150 grain magnum craze. With that being said I do shoot 150 grains out of my encore. It shoots fine with 100 grains (nice groups), but in the field the 100 grain load(in my experience) does not provide the energy for knock down power at rages in the 100-150 yard range. They provide good kills, but in the excitement of the moment, I can forget exactly where that deer was standing in an open bean/corn field (especially at longer ranges) and with a strong likelyhood of a thin blood trail initially (I have shot many a deer that bled out really good, but did not spill a drop for the 1st 30 yards or so) I am increasing the difficulty of finding my deer. Don't get me wrong I love tracking and walking up on my trophy, but the 150 grain load I shoot now provides me so much more down range energy (at 100+ yards) that most of my kills in the past 4 years have been knockdowns at 100 yards or more.

Asa side note, I tried loads between 100 and 150 grains with not much success. My dad and brother however shot 120 and 130 grains respectively out of their encores. Their guns detest 150 grains.

HCTurkeyHunter

I also recomend a limbsaver recoil pad (about 30 bucks) if you shoot 150 grains. The company claims reduced felt recoil by 50%. I will attest to that statement after putting that pad on my frame during last springs turkey season. ML is a pleasure to shoot now!!

cayugad

First off, a lot of what you will shoot for a powder charge will be determined by the rifle you own. For example, I own a number of different inline rifles. I shoot powder charges accurately from 70-150 grains, depending on the rifle and the projectile. Shoot what is most accurate. Leave the magnum charges for those that shoot long distance or hunt really big nasty critters.

Catus Magnus

My rifle seems to do well with 90-95gr powder. I've not killed anything past about fifty yards; at that distance, a 240gr XTP on top of 95gr RS is deadly. Matters where you hit them, of course. I want to get hold of some 300gr xtp, which I've never fired. Looking at a ballistic chart, it looks to me like you get a lot more long-range bang for your buck with a heavier bullet. I did have some core-lokt sabot - around 300 gr- they shot great. Haven't seen any lately, so I'm down to the 240s.

alsaqr

Used to hunt with the 150 grains of powder load. Gave it up after shooting a 350 pound boar through both shoulders with my cheap CVA Staghorn, 100 grains of Pyrodex and a 250 grain SST. He expired instantly. Distance-93 long steps.

In my experience 100 grains make for a more accurate load. Like Charles Askins, I am impervious to heavy recoil. If I ever hunt elk or moose then I will use 150 grains of powder and a 300 grain SST.

Good luck on your hunts and God Bless

Roskoe

Kind of depends on what powder you are talking about - Pyrodex can be loaded with up to 150 grains, but I sure wouldn't try that with Triple 7. Here are some conclusions I have reached in my personal experimentation:

1. If you want to go over about 130 grains with Pyrodex, I would recommend Pyrodex pellets over the Pyrodex loose. The pellets give more speed and have a narrower SD of velocity. I think they just burn more effeciently. A couple of Pyrodex pellet loads I really like are four thirties (120 gr.); and two fifties and a thirty (130 grains). I use these loads with sabot projectiles in the 240 to 320 gr. range. These loads aren't that much slower than the 150 gr loads anddon't have the sharp recoil impulse. They have also shown to be accurate and consistent in awide range of rifles. I have made some 200 yard shots with these loads; and have quit using150 grain Pyrodex charges. If you are a high volume shooter, however, the cost of the pellets could be an issue.

2. I have gotten almost 150 fps more speed from 130 grains of loose 2F JimShockey Gold than with 150 grains ofPyrodexpellets.From the recovered sabot appearanceit appears that this powder also burns a little cooler than Pyrodex or T7. And from the recoil, it feels like a little slower push than the harsh "pop" a magnum load of T7 delivers. I like this stuff. And, for me, it groups well to boot. Just started using it this year and don't have much depth of experience with it yet, though.

3. I have seen 100 grains of loose 2F Triple 7shoot well in a lot of guns, andwith a fair number of different bullets. 120 grains of this powder is maximum. At that level, it has a pretty good kick and some sabots show signs of heat/pressure. Around here, there are a lot of happy MZ shooters who use this powder,with 90 to 105 grain loads.

Mr. Longbeard

Gotta love those open fields

bigcountry

Yep, its alot flatter with a 2050fps 250gr load than a 1600fps 250gr load. I have one ML that shoots 130gr loose 777 very well with barnes expander and 2" high at 100, I am only 6" low at 200. And its pretty devistating. But I looked long and hard to find this load. I bought just about every bullet you can buy, every after market sabot, subbases, different cleaning and swabbing rituals. I just went on this high speed kick for a while. Finally found 250gr barnes expander with a subbase will shoot well if you have a special breech plug from knight called the powerstem. Then I found 3 777 pellets shoot very well also but not as good or fast with the regular breech plug. But I never had luck with 150gr of pyrodex in 3 or 4 muzzleloaders. The bullets I had high hope for, the dead centers and SST's, I could never get to group well.

But I usually always come back to my old faithful 240gr XTP (not magnum) pistol bullets and MMP sabot and 95gr of pyrodex. Haven't failed me yet. But I still love to play.