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If a person were to decide to start shooting a muzzleloader at medium range, say 500 - 600 yards what caliber (.45 or .50) would be better and what would be a decent optic without breaking the wallet?
I have a .45 Mountaineer and a .50 700ML. Both are MOA capable.
This is only for my own recreation and not competition and would not be a smokeless conversion. Strictly black powder sub.
 
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If a person were to decide to start shooting a muzzleloader at medium range, say 500 - 600 yards what caliber (.45 or .50) would be better and what would be a decent optic without breaking the wallet?
I have a .45 Mountaineer and a .50 700ML. Both are MOA capable.
This is only for my own recreation and not competition and would not be a smokeless conversion. Strictly black powder sub.
.45 would be the best choice. What rate of twist is your .45? Many bullets to choose from, grease groove or paper patch. By optic do you mean scope or iron sights? If irons, check out Montana vintage arms. Get a quality rear sight. Dont forget, you will need a tang on your rifle to mount one properly. A good scope with a 20 MOA base would be easier. X
 
.45 would be the best choice. What rate of twist is your .45? Many bullets to choose from, grease groove or paper patch. By optic do you mean scope or iron sights? If irons, check out Montana vintage arms. Get a quality rear sight. Dont forget, you will need a tang on your rifle to mount one properly. A good scope with a 20 MOA base would be easier. X
This.............
 
If the .45 would be more ideal then the rifle I would play with in this endeavor would be my .45 Knight Moutaineer 1:20.
I have a variety of molds from 340 gr I-bullet to a big 460 gr conical including some paper patch bullet molds. I don't want to go crazy spending lots of $$ I just want to send a slug down range and hear the "ding" hitting a steel plate. Maybe only out to about 500 yards or so.
 
You're absolutely right but a real good set of long range aperature iron sights can cost as much as a decent scope.

Think the hardest part is actually being able to see the target to aim

Next issue is sufficient adjustment to get out there so you can actually aim at the target instead of using hold overs

Once you have those covered, assuming your eyesight is up to it, even a basic peep and post should do. Thousands of grunts have proved that iver time
 
I shoot between 4 and 500 a lot ,I really enjoy that range actually for some strange reason I really like 450 yards, my own purposes have been just my own enjoyment, not been competing yet ,I like to take all of my really shiny 100 yard loads out to 400 and 450 I feel fairly confident at that range,, but I only because I shoot at that range a lot, I feel like I could put bullets on my palm with the multitude of rifles that I have in 45 Cal whether 18 twists or 20s both twists will do that, I have rifles that will do that with plastic for me it doesn't take long to get comfortable at that range and feel very comfortable with doping wind it's when I move out past 500 to around that 600 yard range things begin to change. It's hard to find a place to shoot for most people but I do encourage you to have a chance to stretch things out learn to shoot out to four and 500 yards I think it makes you a better shooter myself and to me it gives me confidence in my rifle when I'm shooting 300 yards and in I can think of many reasons to practice long even though most of the time I shoot short when I'm hunting in the process of learning your weapon I don't care what it is 50 cal or 45 28 twist or fast twist if you get a chance to shoot that rifle at further distances I think you should try always learn the limits of your weapon
 
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