bowhuntn87

I'm kinda new to muzzleloading, and have a winchester Apex. I currently shoot 260 gr. bullets with 2 50 gr. pellets. They group pretty good at 100 yds. My question is can i safely go up to 3 50 grain pellets and a 295 gr. powerbelt? And is this also enough to take power to take down deer at up to 200 yds? Out west here the shots can get long.

frontier gander

you can shoot a 3 pellet load with up to a 348 grain powerbelt. Yes you can shoot your load safely. But i'd seriously look into loose powder. I know with my winchester it loves 110 grains pyrodex rs loose and a 295 powerbelt. Thats good for 1 1/4" groups @ 100 yards.

cayugad

Being a magnum rifle able to shoot 150 grains of pellets, and the fact that the projectile does not exceed the manufacturer's recommendations.. yes that would be a safe load. As for Frontier Ganders recommendation of loose powder, while I would agree.. I have to admit the short time I shot pellets, they sure were sweet to shoot.

IMO though, if you are going to be shooting 200 yards, while the magnum charge might be a real bonus, give condsideration to the projectile and their accuracy. Also, not slamming powerbelts mind you, as a lot of animals have fallen prey to them, consider the animal you hunt, their body mass, the distance you have to penetrate into/through the animal, and the distance you need to shoot, and then select your projectile from there. There are a lot of weights and types of powerbelts out there. Good luck with your shooting. It would be interesting to see one your your 200 yards targets that you do in practice, when working up the load....

Redclub

Powerbelts will do the job,If you sight in at 100 there will be over 20" drop at 200 yrds.
Redclub

lemoyne

If you really need a 200yd load you might look at how well your rifle will group the 50/40 200gr Shock wave,I get 2300 fps and my Omega groups the quite well. Lee