Am learning!

[jevyod]

So over the past week I finally got to get some range time under my belt. This is my entrance into the muzzleloading world, and I am enjoying it ! I have the CVA wolf that I purchased on black Friday for 269 with the Konus scope. I put 28 rounds down the tube so far, and have learned a few things.
1. A light muzzleloader with 95 grains of powder has a surprising amount of recoil. I wasted most of 1 session because I didn't realize the scope had worked loose.
2. 12 shots takes a whole lot longer with my CVA than a rifle (duh!) it did surprise me how long
3. I am using 777 fffg powder. There is a distinct difference in the crud ring when using 95 grains powder as opposed to 80. With the 80 grain load, I can shoot twice with no cleaning and have about the same build-up as I do with 1 shot of 95 grains. This surprised me.
4. Windex cleans well. I take a spray bottle of windex along, 2 passes damp patch, 2 on dry. (swab, flip, swab) It gets it really clean. I spend a little extra time at the crud ring, which is fairly easy to feel, esp at the 90+ grain range.
5. 80 grains of triple 7 fffg with a 300 grain lead bullet in a Hornady sabot gives me 1610 fps. I tried to be as consistent as possible, my extreme spread was 45 fps for 5 shots. I didn't feel that was too bad. In my opinion, that should be enough for 100 yards.
6. I like the smoke!!!

Thanks for the help folks!
One thing I am still undecided on is what alloy to use for my bullets. The answers I get are all over the board. Some say pure, others say 16:1 others say 20:1 or even 200:1. I personally feel that pure is too malleable? Seems to me if a shoulder was accidentally hit that penetration would be compromised. Maybe I am off on that. One thing I am going on is this year I shot a buck and doe with a 358 Winchester with cast bullets. They were cast from a 3-3-94 alloy and at 1900 fps they killed very well, and seemed like they expanded. I know that is a small sample, but from that I deduce that maybe a 16:1 alloy would fit my needs fairly well. Thoughts?

 

[snapbang]

There are some questions that will get you a different answer from each of us. I would venture to guess if you asked each of us and waited 6 months to ask again you would get a slightly or maybe even a totally different answer. I like holes through and through when I shoot a deer or larger. It may take a 100 yards for the animal to collapse from loss of blood but there is a good blood trail. Some may like the bullet to use all its energy inside the animal and stay there. Not as much blood trail. Then the animal may drop on the spot from all the energy it absorbed. Some of us shoot for the neck. Some broadside boiler room. So there are many answers and mostly all are right.

Maybe the alloy you choose is more depending on accuracy than other considerations. A poorly constructed bullet in the right location for a kill shot is much better than a perfectly constructed bullet in the wrong location. Eventually you will find the accurate/killing combination you like. But then you will want to experiment looking for something better. Welcome to the rabbit hole.

 

[bronko220002]

Well you''re shooting the bullet out of a sabot so the hardness doesn't need to be too critical. But you want some expansion. Let's face it a .50 cal hole through the lungs along with some other tissue damage caused by hydro pressure is going to kill any deer. So it all depends on how much expansion you want. Cast with some different alloys and run some expansion tests to see what best suits your needs. Start with 40:1 and keep adding tin until you get the expansion you want and record your hardness.
If you don't want to go through all that trouble, cast at 20:1 and call it good.