BP bullets for deer
- Thread starter BoogieMan
- Start date
Something about having an extra season to accommodate muzzleloaders being taken over by souped up scoped zip guns just doesn't seem right to me.
Where I live, we don't have a separate muzzleloader season, so only us old guys that appreciate the challenge normally use the sidelock traditional guns.
Using an inline with imitation black powder, modern jacketed bullets, scopes, electronic ignition and whatever modern stuff a person can think up just seems an abomination of the whole concept of muzzleloader hunting.
Maybe it's all legal, but just because a person stuffs a propellant down the muzzle doesn't make the whole thing palatable to me.
Just my opinion for what it's worth, I hope I'm not stepping on too many toes.
Where I live, we don't have a separate muzzleloader season, so only us old guys that appreciate the challenge normally use the sidelock traditional guns.
Using an inline with imitation black powder, modern jacketed bullets, scopes, electronic ignition and whatever modern stuff a person can think up just seems an abomination of the whole concept of muzzleloader hunting.
Maybe it's all legal, but just because a person stuffs a propellant down the muzzle doesn't make the whole thing palatable to me.
Just my opinion for what it's worth, I hope I'm not stepping on too many toes.
steveNChunter
New member
250 gr Barnes Spitfire TMZ's are the way to go IMO. I don't know how your CVA would like them but my T/C Impact groups them better than the groups from some bolt action rifles I've owned. I load them over 100 gr of Blackhorn 209 and Federal 209A magnum shotgun primers. Easily the most accurate BP rifle I've ever owned and the best part is it was only $250 new
I much prefer taking a deer with one of the caplocks stuffed with real bp and a round ball over taking one with an inline any day but in all fairness I can remember the day when the 'flinters' cussed us caplock users as well and didn't think we should be using our souped up caplocks during ml season either. 
I just wish they would extend Ohio's ml season to at least two weeks.
I just wish they would extend Ohio's ml season to at least two weeks.
I have used the 250 grain XTP's with a sabot for more years than I can remember. I have killed my best bucks with it, mostly because our muzzle loading season is the best part of the rut I suppose. I still use a side lock. Did upgrade to a Green Mountain barrel to get a faster twist. I'm sort of in the if it works don't fix it camp. XTP's do the job.
In Leon county, Texas. We do have 1 month of archery season and two months deer season. In those two months we can hunt rifles, pistols, ML, archery, shotguns so that good but we don't have a certain time allowed for ML or a time just for shotguns or whatever. I guess it's good we got as long of a season as we got and we can pick which way we want to hunt but I wish we as hunters would have a certain time for really hunting. I like a challenge also and high power rifles with huge scopes or in line MLs that's equipped w/scopes that can hit a fly at 300 yards- Even though they taste just as good but just don't seen right always.
Man I wish we could use a handgun for anything in NJ. No centerfire for hunting either. Rimfire 22 for trapping and shotgun,bp, archery for deer & turkey. They did change things up so that xbow is allowed. But, I am not on board with archery yet. I have seen to many deer with a arrow sticking out of them still running around.
When I was hunting with the holy black, I used a patched round ball. Very effective on whitetail deer, as it has been for the past four or five centuries.
I have to admit that I was tempted at times to go with conicals or sabots, but the twist of my rifle worked best with round ball. In my case, it was a .54 cal sidelock and a soft .530 round ball with pillow ticking for a patch. Very traditional. It was the only rifle I hunted with for 10 years, mainly because I practiced with it so much and the piney-woods I hunted lended themselves to that type of hunting.
Several years ago, Louisiana did away with the black powder season and went to something they call Primitive Firearms season. It's an odd little season, but the upshoot is that we can now hunt with
I have to admit that I was tempted at times to go with conicals or sabots, but the twist of my rifle worked best with round ball. In my case, it was a .54 cal sidelock and a soft .530 round ball with pillow ticking for a patch. Very traditional. It was the only rifle I hunted with for 10 years, mainly because I practiced with it so much and the piney-woods I hunted lended themselves to that type of hunting.
Several years ago, Louisiana did away with the black powder season and went to something they call Primitive Firearms season. It's an odd little season, but the upshoot is that we can now hunt with
It's an abomination to us who like traditional muzzle-loaders, but it's a convenient abomination. The current fashionable "primitive" firearm is a brand-spanking-new Handi-rifle in .35 Whelen. Nowadays when I participate, I simply grab my .45-70 Handi, drop a couple of handloads in my pocket and go walk in the deer woods. It's a whole lot easier than dragging the front-stuffer and all the paraphernalia that goes with it.
tahunua001
New member
so... by that rule you could take a TC contender in 45/70 and 3x9 scope and go to town... thumbs down from this guy, that would kill an elk at 200 yards no less a deer at muzzle loader distances... unfair advantage if you ask me.
i've killed over 40 deer with .50 caliber muzzleloaders using saboted bullets. Never lost a deer. Most were killed with the 240 grain Hornady .430 XTP bullet the 250 grain SST/Shockwave bullet.
Have also killed oodles of wild hogs using those bullets. The 225 grain Barnes .430 XPB bullet also works well on hogs.
Put any good bullet in the right place and it will do a good job.
Have also killed oodles of wild hogs using those bullets. The 225 grain Barnes .430 XPB bullet also works well on hogs.
Put any good bullet in the right place and it will do a good job.
The XTP is a good bullet. The past few years I have been taking them down with the 200gr Shockwave...light recoil, expands well and consistently. I've run that bullet through about every scenario now. The only concern I have with it is shots under 100yds driven at 2800fps from my smokeless ML. It wasn't designed for impact velocities that fast. IMHO it's better than the 250gr version, which is more prone to jacket separation.
If I were still hunting BP/subs frequently, I'd still be shooting the 358gr .458cal FTX. That bullet is lights out the hardest hitting, strongest bullet I have ever shot from a ML. I shot 5-6 animals with it and the performance was absolutely impressive. It mushrooms well but the bullet is so long that the back half holds together and drives through. I shot a buck face-on from 10 yards, and recovered the bullet in the back ham under the skin after it penetrated a few inches short of the full length of the deer. Weight retention was >80%!
If I were still hunting BP/subs frequently, I'd still be shooting the 358gr .458cal FTX. That bullet is lights out the hardest hitting, strongest bullet I have ever shot from a ML. I shot 5-6 animals with it and the performance was absolutely impressive. It mushrooms well but the bullet is so long that the back half holds together and drives through. I shot a buck face-on from 10 yards, and recovered the bullet in the back ham under the skin after it penetrated a few inches short of the full length of the deer. Weight retention was >80%!