Thunder53

Thanks for all the feedback guys!!!

Now you've given me as couple more questions to ask.

-MOUNTAINDEVIL54-The Black Horn 209 powder, I thought I read somewhere that you need a certain breech plug or priimer to use it?? Y/N??

-SLOWR1DER- On the deep curls, I couldn't find any .45 cal. on the internet. Where do you get them?? What powder & amount do you use??

-BREECHPLUG-On the XTP bullets, do you just use a regular Harvester sabot?? (How much powder??) I was told, again, that the hollow point bullets weren't as accurate out of a muzzleloader as the pointed variety, Y/N??

-I see most answers favor bullets around 240-250 grains, how about the 300 gr. type?? Almost all my hunting shots are inside 150 yds.

Thanks again for all the feedback, I'm learning a lot in my 50"s!!!! AND, I have to admit, it's been fun shooting the gun!!

MountainDevil54

No, but the new blackhorn209 plug is super nice and well worth the $20.
Check this out,
http://gandersmuzzleloadingblog.blog...pem-clean.html

slowr1der

Wait, I'm a little confused. Is your muzzle loader a 50 caliber one or a 45 caliber one? I'm assuming it's a 50 caliber and you want to use a .45 caliber bullet in a sabot? That's what I'm doing, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't posting the wrong information if you were shooting a .45 caliber gun.

Anyway, these are the bullets I use (They appear to be out of stock at the moment, but this is where I normally get them as they often have the best price. Other places also carry them though)
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...roductId/17309

I use the 300 grain ones, but they also offer this bullet in a 250 grain and it's a little cheaper.
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...roductId/17366

For the sabots, I really like the crush ribbed ones for my gun. Some guns like the crush ribbed ones, and some like the short black ones. I found the short black ones to be extremely hard to load in my gun although they did shoot well. The crush ribbed ones shot just as well and were much easier to load.

Here are the crush ribbed ones,
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...productId/5465
Here are the short black ones,
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...productId/5481

As for powder, I personally am shooting 100 grains of Pyrodex Pellets when in the field, and 100 grains of loose Pyrodex at the range, with a few shots with pellets just to confirm the same POI before hunting. This being said, my current muzzle loader I can't shoot BH209 in, but if I was starting out and developing a load, this is probably what I'd be starting with. I tried T7 pellets in my previous muzzle loader and it didn't like them nearly as much as the Pyrodex pellets. The groups were quite a bit larger and the Pyrodex was cheaper so I just stuck with it. This is also one of those things where every gun likes something different so you have to play around with it some.

These are hollow point bullets. As far as which is more accurate, I can't comment on that as like I said, I've never shot polymer tipped bullets in my muzzle loader other than some Power Belt Aero Tipped ones. However, these Deep Curls are pretty accurate. On average I'd say I get 1.5" groups or so with them. Sometimes I can do really well and shoot 1" groups, and other times it's 2" groups, but they are consistently under 2", and I'd say the majority of them in the 1.5" range. This is at 100 yards off of a set of homemade sandbags. To me for a hunting gun, this is all the accuracy I need, but I can't say if they are as accurate as the polymer tipped ones or not.

As for the bullet weight, I think it's just which one your guns prefer, and after that which one you prefer. I've always shot bullets in the 300 grain range. I started out with the 295 grain PB's, and then switched to the Fusion bullets in 300 grain, and now the Deep Curls in 300 grains. They perform well for me. Like you most of my shots are 150 yards and under. You really just need to try both and see which your rifle prefers though and go from there. That's my opinion on it anyway.

Breechplug

I use 110grs of Pyrodox Powder RS and 100grs (2-50gr) Regular Pyrodox Pellets. I have found the Pellets to be just about as good accuracy wise as the Powder. But for the Best Possible Accuracy You'll have to play around with your Powder-Bullet Combo to see what exactly Your ML likes.
For Lose Powder I'd start at 90gr's and work it up from there, usually it's between 90-115. If your going to use Pelets I'd stay with 2, 100grs. I have also used 150grs 3-Pellets, My Accuracy Suffered a little at Longer Yardages because of the Recoil, but for Shots 100yds and Under it was a devestating Load, I took some further shots and was ok but I dropped it down a little, Fine Tuned it and I can still shoot out to 180yds+ and have it do the Job.
The XTP Mags are Very Accurate and yes the Regular Harvester Sabots. I have never liked the Polymer Tipped Bullets, but just because there (Pointed) Does'nt make them More Accurate. Im sure you can get them to shoot Great but it's what they'll do to a Deer is what you should be most worried about.
Good Luck!
(BP)