[/QUOTE]That comes about because of fewer people shooting muzzleloaders/black powder. Long term solution is get more people into shooting muzzleloaders. Short term solution is learn to cast and get a mold. You'll never be out of bullets then.[/QUOTE]
OK, so here comes a ramble that eventually gets back on topic. First off, your comment about “shooting” spot on,
Back when Utah, in an effort to increase fawn production, moved the ML Hunt from the first week of November (the rut) to the last week of September, the number of ML hunters exploded. When it was in November, you could hunt the whole thing and see maybe 10-20 other hunters. With it in September, you see 10 other hunters in every place you go. So the popularity has increased, at least here. In saying that, I only personally know three people, including myself, who shoot big lead bullets, Everyone else traded their Hawkens, Renegades, Whites, Gonics, etc... in for guns “specially designed” to shoot pellets and sabots, and PowerBelts. I admit, I myself fell for that too. Ran right out and bought an Encore When they came out. Pellets were the best marketed addition to muzzleloading I ever had heard of, and a gun that could shoot 150 grains? WOW! I’ll be making 3-400 yard shots in no time. Boy was I disappointed. I didn’t trade a gun in though to buy that rifle. We were working in Vegas and I saved my per-diem and small gambling winnings, I would put $10 in quarters through a video poker machine, two at a time, cash it out after the last two quarters went in, and go put it in my bag. Gave me time for a couple of complimentary drinks, and most nights a buck or two more than I started with, and I wanted that Encore! I only traded one ML to get another one that same TC Encore, I saved for 3-4 months to buy, and a couple hundred bucks for a Savage, and here is the reason why: I was hunting with it and had hit a nice four point mule deer and he didn’t go down. Turns out, I needed a second, and third, and fourth shot to anchor him. He was hit pretty hard and was just walking away, but if he got up and over the saddle he was moving through, the other side was a deep canyon, that I had no desire to haul him up and out of, so I was hurrying. The second shot I was pretty nervous he was getting away and whiffed. That third shot, loaded hard as hell until I got almost to my witness mark and then it went super easy, I wonder now if I pushed the bullet through the back of the sabot. I have no idea where that shot went. So I’m sitting out on the side of the hill, while this buck is walking away, trying to get enough spit on a patch to facilitate cleaning my gun to get the fourth shot to go down the barrel and shoot somewhat accurately. I dropped him with that shot. Over the next couple of years, I would guess, I was trying everything to get accuracy and a smooth loading second and third shot. I couldn’t find the right combo back then, never even tried conicals out of that gun, it was marketed as a pellet, sabot gun, and that’s what I wanted to shoot, anybody still shooting big slow moving bullets was too dumb to see how great this was and was still living in the dark ages...stupid of me. I got so frustrated with it that I got rid of the gun, kinda kicking myself now. BH 209 didn’t exist then and would have changed that whole situation for me. Now, thanks to a lot of you guys on this forum talking about worn out breech plugs, I’ve got my Whites shooting like they did when they were new, and I don’t think I will ever Hunt with another rifle other than them. Most of the people I have told about how I solved my accuracy problems, can’t believe that was a problem, a bigger hole gets more flame into the powder making a lot more complete ignition, right? That’s what I thought. Boy was I wrong again..I was getting so frustrated with my Whites, I was about to sell the whole lot of them too.
That may also be a contributing factor to moving away from big bullets, gun starts shooting like crap so you buy the latest, greatest.
The problem i see is most of the sporting goods stores cater to what’s popular, and only what’s popular. You can’t find real black powder within 300 maybe 400 miles of here. Finding big lead conical bullets is harder than ever now too, except online. You can still get Maxi Balls and I think I have seen some Great Plains bullets, but they are few and far between. Most everything is geared to sabots, pellets, and now BH209, which I think is the best innovation in this sport yet, but just one more thing driving people away from heavy lead bullets. Even with more of the population (much more) geared to shoot sabots, there is a pretty poor selection of those around out here (some of the bullets that are available now, I would never have heard of, had it not been for this forum). There again, they carry what’s popular, forcing us to shop online. I hate to wait for bullets, or anything for that matter, to come in the mail. When I want something, I want it now! I want to go to the store and buy it, right then.
I build my own molds and cast my own bullets for my slug guns, it lets me tweak some of the bullet designs I like, to make them my own, and there’s a lot of satisfaction in designing, building, and casting with a self made mold, when you see three of those bullets go inside an inch.
All this nonsense has opened the door for a small casting operation to become somewhat profitable, But I bet if you talk to Dan and Dave, they do it because they enjoy it and it puts a couple of bucks in their pocket, not because they are becoming millionaires at it.
I think most people only get their guns out a couple of days before the opener, take a couple of shots to make sure everything is still good and that’s it. That doesn’t lead to a lot of bullet sales. Out of all the guys I know personally that hunt with a ML, I am the only one who “shoots” one. I shoot them all year long. Even if I’m going out to shoot the Barrett, I bring along a .22 for the grandkids, and a ML. I think most of us on this forum, shoot all year long and go through a lot of powder and bullets, but we are a super small percentage of the ML hunters out there.
So yeah, your comment about getting more people “shooting” muzzleloaders. Spot on!
I do remember this Ron!! I have actually talked about this Particular bullet before 
How in the Hell did that thing get Packaged/Boxed up and Not Get Noticed??? I have found the Store Bought TC Maxi Ball/Maxi Hunters to be Some of the Worst i have seen, Poor Fill out, Wrinkles from a Contaminant or Cool Mold, Holes in the Bases, Etc. It is REALLY disappointing when you Purchase a Box of Bullets and Have to CULL Back half or More of them, THIS IS WHY I CAST MY OWN 
It puts ME in Control of What i load in My Rifles 
