New muzzleloader bullet question

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to muzzleloading and have been trying to do some research on what would be the best bullet/pellet setup for my gun. I bought a TC bone collector. It seems everywhere I read people have different opinions on what to get. Maybe if I make a thread someone can help me. What I'm looking for is the most accurate round that will take down any whitetail. Thanks for any help in advance.

You will get alot of answers, as personal preference and hunting situations vary tremendously. To me, accuracy is very important, but equally if not more - is terminal performance.

I am using several different bullets... Speer Deep Curls (which are hard to find now) Lehigh/Bloodline's, and SST's. There are actually a ton of really good bullets that shoot accurately and perform well ... "what is the best" is often in the eye of the beholder. Search Ron Laughlins bullet test threads, tons of great info.

You could start out with the old standby XTP, and branch out from there. Good reliable accuracy and performance, and won't break the bank while you are learning about ML'ing. Welcome to the board

WV Hunter said:

You will get alot of answers, as personal preference and hunting situations vary tremendously. To me, accuracy is very important, but equally if not more - is terminal performance.

I am using several different bullets... Speer Deep Curls (which are hard to find now) Lehigh/Bloodline's, and SST's. There are actually a ton of really good bullets that shoot accurately and perform well ... "what is the best" is often in the eye of the beholder. Search Ron Laughlins bullet test threads, tons of great info.

You could start out with the old standby XTP, and branch out from there. Good reliable accuracy and performance, and won't break the bank while you are learning about ML'ing. Welcome to the board

Click to expand...

Good answer What typical range do you hunt?

+1 on the advice regarding XTPs, if you want to get out and shoot right away or need a hunting load ASAP. They are inexpensive, accurate and easy to find at most places that sell ML supplies.

Regarding the powder, I am not a fan of pellets since you cannot fine tune your loads. I have found that a difference of 5-10 grains of powder can absolutely effect your accuracy. I started right off using BH209 (do a search) and have never really looked back. That being said, you can likely get within "minute of deer" (meaning hitting a paper plate at 100 yds) starting off with two pellets of T7, Pyrodex or White Hots. Once you have a load you are reasonably confident in, you can then start playing with powder amounts and other bullets.

The search function on here is pretty good. Lots of info. Good luck!

Here is where I've been and am going. My cousin and his wife both worked for Federal Cartridge (now retired) and he first introduced me to the then available Federal 12 ga. sabot slug using the "Barnes Expander" all copper Hollow Point bullet. He has used it for several yrs. out to 120 yds.in a scoped slug gun and has total confidence in accuracy and just as importantly terminal performance. I also used them one year that I slug hunted and had same results. Since then I've been MZ hunting and he will also this his first year. For deer out to that range the bullet is just unbelievable, 100% retention, the pedals opening up like a blooming rose and is now available for .50 cal muzzleloaders with a sabot. At longer ranges a spire pointed or a boat tail may be more accurate in any or all muzzleloaders. For my cousin there was no other bullet to consider for his new muzzleloader and he contacted Barnes directly to get a suggested powder charge to start with with that bullet/rifle combo He is using BH209 powder in his new CVA and he showed me his sight in target, first @ 120yds.( his furthest shooting lane) and then again @ 200 yd. He had 1 flyer, all the rest made a pretty impressive group, shooting off a benchrest and 3-9x40 scope.

I have had nothing but good luck with Barnes Bullets. I have personally taken deer with both the 250 MZ and 290 TEZ bullets. Have never had one not exit and always had good blood trails. They only downside I can see is the price. I just got an order of the Harvester 300 Scorpion PT bullets. I haven't tried them yet so I can't offer much of an option on them.

Good luck and have fun.

WV Hunter said:

You will get alot of answers, as personal preference and hunting situations vary tremendously. To me, accuracy is very important, but equally if not more - is terminal performance.

I am using several different bullets... Speer Deep Curls (which are hard to find now) Lehigh/Bloodline's, and SST's. There are actually a ton of really good bullets that shoot accurately and perform well ... "what is the best" is often in the eye of the beholder. Search Ron Laughlins bullet test threads, tons of great info.

You could start out with the old standby XTP, and branch out from there. Good reliable accuracy and performance, and won't break the bank while you are learning about ML'ing. Welcome to the board

Click to expand...

What is a good start amount of powder/pellets to use for the XTP? I bought 777 primers, are those decent?

90-100 grns. I would suggest Black Horn 209 powder. 777 primer if using triple 7powder. If BH use regular 209 shotshell primer.

I got the bone collector last year. I had some issues getting it to shoot. After suggestion on here, I went with the .452 dia 250gr xtp, with a harvester crush rib sabot. With 2 pellets I got exceptional accuracy right away. Killed two deer with that load last year and it worked great. Once I'm out of the pellets, I will be switching to loose powder.

I had a bad experience with 777 primers last year. Very inconsistent ignition and hang fires. Found the same reviews on multiple other sites.


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Nodoz said:

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to muzzleloading and have been trying to do some research on what would be the best bullet/pellet setup for my gun. I bought a TC bone collector. It seems everywhere I read people have different opinions on what to get. Maybe if I make a thread someone can help me. What I'm looking for is the most accurate round that will take down any whitetail. Thanks for any help in advance.

Click to expand...

To find the "most accurate" or "best" load, the only way to do it is to try several and see what works the best. What works in someone else's rifle won't necessarily be the most accurate in yours, whether blackpowder or centerfire. There's just no proven load that works in every single rifle which is why everyone has a different opinion. Given that manufacturers have different bore dimensions it can be even trickier to find the bullet/sabot/load combination that works best in your rifle. I think that the only universal opinion is to avoid Powerbelt bullets. :mrgreen:

Last year I tried several bullets and sabots in our 3 rifles in preparation for a NM elk hunt. I shot each one with 110gr of BH209 and CCI primer, found the most accurate, and then tweaked the primer and load to get to the best. In both of our TC Triumphs (one is a Bone Collector) the Barnes 290 TEX with factory sabot over 120gr (84.0 by weight) of BH 209 was the most accurate. The TC Impact shot best at 105gr, same bullet and sabot, different primer.

I ended up shooting a 5x5 at 189 yards with zero holdover, and he trotted 40 yards before falling over. So, it worked quite well.
My son then shot a large whitetail doe at ~120 yards 6 weeks later.

Good luck in finding the right load for your rifle.

Thanks for all the replies. I put in a order for BH209, CCI209M, and Barnes TEZ 250gr and 290gr. Going to see if I can get some good patterns with those bullets and go from there.