All brands we have tried are acceptable so long as you don’t mix and match manufacturers from shot to shot. Centerfire primers are more consistently manufactured and far hotter than percussion caps, resulting in more positive detonation of the powder. The use of shotgun primers for the in-line muzzleloader was a big jump in reliability and accuracy. The key to consistent seating depth is to mark your ramrod in some way to know the charge has been properly loaded from shot to shot. Now, I just press down on the ramrod with forceful hand pressure until the charge is firmly packed. However, I eventually realized that this was deforming the round and undoubtedly impairing accuracy. As I had learned from other shooters, I would pack the charge extremely tight until the ramrod would “bounce” off the bullet. How you seat the bullet has a major effect on point of impact. My own current hunting gun shoots best at 95 grains behind a 250 grain bullet, certainly a “mediocre” load by some standards but none of the 5 deer I’ve shot with it stumbled more than 20 yards. 50 caliber bullets and 80-125 grains of propellant should be fine for Indiana whitetail. Uncounted deer, bear and even larger game have fallen for the. 45 caliber bullet and 70 grains of black powder. The truth is that most rifles shoot best somewhere in the middle power band. Powerful, yes, but accuracy is most likely lacking. I know many people who automatically pour 150 grains of powder (typically the maximum load for most guns per the owner’s manual) and blithely assume that their shots are both powerful and accurate. Your mileage may vary!Īnother important factor is the size of the load.

Most hard-core shooters use loose powder but I’ve seen good groups with pellets. “They” commonly say that pellets are slightly less accurate than loose powder but I haven’t yet seen a definitive, non-biased test. One common debate is the accuracy of pre-made pellets versus loose powder. Measure your powder as if defusing a bomb, the same way, every single time! However, sorry to disappoint, accuracy does not come from the powder itself but rather how the powder is measured and loaded.Īccuracy in any weapon is the result of consistency so when measuring black powder you must be as meticulous as humanly possibly. Let’s talk about this important trinity of in-line shooting.Īll modern muzzleloaders will shoot either traditional black powder or one of the new “synthetic” types such as Pyrodex® accurately. The most commonly seen load among in-line muzzleloader shooters utilizes synthetic black powder, a shotgun primer for ignition and a sabot-clad rifle or pistol bullet as the payload. Things aren’t quite so straightforward so I'll share of few of my own misadventures on the road to better muzzleloader accuracy. Simply stuffing powder down the tube and seating the latest miracle bullet doesn’t guarantee that you can knock a gnat off a matchstick at 200 yards. The main selling point of in-line muzzleloaders is their high degree of accuracy but just like anything else, the devil is in the details. I still love my Hawken-style reproductions but for hunting efficiency, it’s hard to beat the in-lines for ease of use, reliability and accuracy. Through the years I’ve owned a variety of the charcoal-burners but have currently joined the cult of the in-line muzzleloader. Cheap used firearms are being sold for a reason, and 3. always wear safety glasses while shooting 2. As I drove myself to the doctor’s office on that memorable fall morning a couple of decades ago, I realized three important things: 1.

It all started years ago when I purchased a secondhand Kentucky Rifle replica that couldn't shoot straight and ended up blowing a piece of percussion cap into my eyelid. I like every kind of hunting season but for me, the December muzzleloader season for deer is perhaps the most special.

In line muzzle loader