Impressed With My Muzzleloaders Accuracy!
I meant to post this last year and forgot about it. I have three MLs and all have good accuracy in my opinion. However, two really stood out after messing with the powder charges, the CVA - Optima and Thompson Center - Omega Dream Season. The CVA Optima shot .522" and the T/C Omega shot .407" groups, most respectable indeed! Can you say 1/2 MOA?
Originally I was using 100 grains of Blackhorn, Fiocchi 209 Primer and 200 Grain Dead Center bullets in both my guns and getting 2" plus groups at 100 yards in both guns. I was not happy with that, even though some might be ecstatic. I decided to bump it up to 110 to see if that made it better or worse. If worse I was going to drop to 90 and see how that performed. Let me say that both guns responded POSITIVELY to the extra 10 grains of powder as you will see in the pictures. Also, the extra powder made for a lot more recoil IMHO.
Ignore the POI on the CVA, it shifted with the additional 10 grains of powder, what is important is I shrunk my group by changing the charge. I originally had sighted in 3" high at 100 yards (100 grains), why I was so far left I don't know but both guns did it with the extra powder. None of that mattered at the time because I was just testing loads.
<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/9490377498_5c32aa307e_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="IMG_0936">
Onto the T/C Omega. I had this gun set to use 200 grain Dead Center bullets but decided to try the DC Duplex 195s. These are 357" instead of .400" and have a higher BC. Since I hunt wheat fields most of my shot opportunities are 100 yards or greater.
Before I started I corrected the scope for elevation (no longer using 3" high at 100 yards). The shot to the left was the first shot of the day, I made my scope corrections and shot 3 more times resulting in this group. Wow, was I impressed!
I can hear it now..... A three shot group isn't enough, we need 5 or 10 shot groups. Well, three is enough for me because muzzleloaders are more expensive to shoot than centerfire! Besides, all I was trying to see is if more or less powder would make a difference and it most certainly did! Three may only be a trend and that is fine with me, if these groups doubled in size with a 5 shot group it is still Minute Of Deer in my neck of the woods.
Shooting was done off a rest at 101 yards according to my range finder. I cleaned the bore after each shot. The CVA wears a Nikon 2-7x33 and the T/C wears a Redfield Revolution 3-9x40. All shooting was done on max magnification.
I can't speak for other guns, powder and bullet combos; but for mine the extra 10 grains of powder made all the difference in the world! Too bad I never had an opportunity to take a deer with them last year!
I meant to post this last year and forgot about it. I have three MLs and all have good accuracy in my opinion. However, two really stood out after messing with the powder charges, the CVA - Optima and Thompson Center - Omega Dream Season. The CVA Optima shot .522" and the T/C Omega shot .407" groups, most respectable indeed! Can you say 1/2 MOA?
Originally I was using 100 grains of Blackhorn, Fiocchi 209 Primer and 200 Grain Dead Center bullets in both my guns and getting 2" plus groups at 100 yards in both guns. I was not happy with that, even though some might be ecstatic. I decided to bump it up to 110 to see if that made it better or worse. If worse I was going to drop to 90 and see how that performed. Let me say that both guns responded POSITIVELY to the extra 10 grains of powder as you will see in the pictures. Also, the extra powder made for a lot more recoil IMHO.
Ignore the POI on the CVA, it shifted with the additional 10 grains of powder, what is important is I shrunk my group by changing the charge. I originally had sighted in 3" high at 100 yards (100 grains), why I was so far left I don't know but both guns did it with the extra powder. None of that mattered at the time because I was just testing loads.
<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/9490377498_5c32aa307e_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="IMG_0936">
Onto the T/C Omega. I had this gun set to use 200 grain Dead Center bullets but decided to try the DC Duplex 195s. These are 357" instead of .400" and have a higher BC. Since I hunt wheat fields most of my shot opportunities are 100 yards or greater.
Before I started I corrected the scope for elevation (no longer using 3" high at 100 yards). The shot to the left was the first shot of the day, I made my scope corrections and shot 3 more times resulting in this group. Wow, was I impressed!
I can hear it now..... A three shot group isn't enough, we need 5 or 10 shot groups. Well, three is enough for me because muzzleloaders are more expensive to shoot than centerfire! Besides, all I was trying to see is if more or less powder would make a difference and it most certainly did! Three may only be a trend and that is fine with me, if these groups doubled in size with a 5 shot group it is still Minute Of Deer in my neck of the woods.
Shooting was done off a rest at 101 yards according to my range finder. I cleaned the bore after each shot. The CVA wears a Nikon 2-7x33 and the T/C wears a Redfield Revolution 3-9x40. All shooting was done on max magnification.
I can't speak for other guns, powder and bullet combos; but for mine the extra 10 grains of powder made all the difference in the world! Too bad I never had an opportunity to take a deer with them last year!
