Tim the student
Member
So, I got a new muzzleloader, and have been testing out a couple types of ammo. My shots will be limited to about 120 yards, and will likely be under 70. I used a spit patch (that froze damn quick) followed by a dry one between all shots of the same type sabot. I used 100 grains of 777 (two pellets that is, not loose) with all of them. Our deer are pretty big, but I doubt I'll be shooting at a 300 pounder. I'd prefer to kill a nice big doe actually.
As far as accuracy and ease of loading, I'm really impressed with the TC 200g shockwaves. I haven't read too much negative about their terminal performance. The first shot was with a perfectly clean bore, with a primer fired in it first, and all subsequent rounds were pretty close to that first one. I like this because I know what that first shot will do, and I really don't need a fouling shot to get it to where it will shoot well. I think I'm leaning towards using these.
295g Powerbelts group ok, and load pretty easy too. People either seem to love them or hate their performance. Prior to this group, I took the breech plug out and cleaned the bore pretty well, but it wasn't spotless.
245g XTP's group the worst of all (but not so bad I wouldn't use them - about a 2.5" 3 shot group) and are the toughest to load I've tried. People have pretty positive reviews. I pulled the breech plug and cleaned the bore pretty well for this one too. Not spotless, but not with a ton of crud in it either. To see if it was this bullet, or the bore for the difficulty loading, I fired a TC in it after this group. It loaded much easier than the XTP, which leads me to believe it is the XTPs being difficult to load, as opposed to a dirty bore.
So, of these, what would you choose and why?
Any others I should try out?
As far as accuracy and ease of loading, I'm really impressed with the TC 200g shockwaves. I haven't read too much negative about their terminal performance. The first shot was with a perfectly clean bore, with a primer fired in it first, and all subsequent rounds were pretty close to that first one. I like this because I know what that first shot will do, and I really don't need a fouling shot to get it to where it will shoot well. I think I'm leaning towards using these.
295g Powerbelts group ok, and load pretty easy too. People either seem to love them or hate their performance. Prior to this group, I took the breech plug out and cleaned the bore pretty well, but it wasn't spotless.
245g XTP's group the worst of all (but not so bad I wouldn't use them - about a 2.5" 3 shot group) and are the toughest to load I've tried. People have pretty positive reviews. I pulled the breech plug and cleaned the bore pretty well for this one too. Not spotless, but not with a ton of crud in it either. To see if it was this bullet, or the bore for the difficulty loading, I fired a TC in it after this group. It loaded much easier than the XTP, which leads me to believe it is the XTPs being difficult to load, as opposed to a dirty bore.
So, of these, what would you choose and why?
Any others I should try out?