Frontier
Believe you me sir, I have a new gun "pre-flight" cleaning regiment that would make the most finicky of new gun cleaners scoff
the sights, thimbles and anything other than barrel, breech plug and trigger group was what I didn't do...and dang it all that's what fell off
you'd think at least the rammer thimbles would be tight
I have since tested with power belts of various weights much better since that session. (note: I'm not using the uber high priced polymer tipped)
Loose power:
Alliant Black
777
Pyro. RS
Pioneer FF
Heck, even some swiss holy black
Pellets
Standard pyro
777
Jim shockys 100gr sticks
white hots
No dice with all of that. the best group I got at 75yards (longest range you'll get a shot at a whitetail here) was with a single 50gr 777 pellet and it was about the size of a small cantaloupe
Hell doing that I'll just stick with my 1" barreled sidelock that I can tag a coke can @ 100 yards with a .490 PRB and .15 patch over 80gr of swiss ever time. And the musket cabs are cleaner than 209s to boot
I have had better luck now by using 250gr SSTs, with a tight fitting sabot I buy in bulk from a LGS that has an amazing selection of modern and traditional ML supplies and firearms. I managed to get one three round string the size of a tennis ball POI @ 75 yards using those over 90 grains of loose pioneer. The only two things I haven't tried are Blackhorn and hornady FPBs (had GREAT results with those from a CVA bobcat I sold to another member here.)