Try These Proven Black Powder Deer Loads
Bob McNally 10.14.15
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Loads for muzzleloaders are as varied as the hunters who use them. But the following loads, or recipes, are proven set-ups by front-stuffing hunters who swear they are deadly on whitetail deer.
A .50 caliber rifle, 100 grains of Pyrodex “Select” powder and a saboted 260-grain .45 caliber Speer jacketed hollow-point bullet.
A .50 caliber rifle, 100 grains of Pyrodex “P” powder with a saboted 435-grain .45 caliber Spitzer hollow-point bullet.
A .45 caliber rifle, 90 grains of Pyrodex “P” powder with a saboted 350-grain .40 caliber saboted Spitzer boat-tail hollow point bullet.
A .50 caliber rifle stacked with 150 grains of Triple 7 pellets (poweder) and a Knight 290-grain polymer tipped bullet called the “Ultimate Slam.”
A Knight Long Range Hunter (LRH) in .52 caliber, loaded with 150 grains of loose Triple 7 poweder and a 375-grain Knight Red Hot bullet.
A .50 caliber rifle, 90 grains of Pyrodex “FF” powder with a 300-grain .50 caliber “Deer Slayer” bullet (by Buffalo Bullet) and no sabot.
A .50 caliber rifle, 90 grains of Pyrodex Select powder with a 385-grain .50 caliber Hornady “Great Plains” hollow point bullet, and no sabot.
A .50 caliber “in-line” rifle, 80 grains of Pyrodex Select powder with a 375 grain molded maxi-ball bullet, and no sabot.
A .54 caliber flintlock, 110 grains of FFg blackpowder (touch of ffffg powder in the flash pan.) with a .530 Horandy swaged round ball projectile (225 grains), with pillow ticking cotton patch.
A .58 caliber “Hawken” caplock replica (rifled one turn in 60 inches, for round ball use, 1 1/8-inch diameter barrel across the flats), 120 grains of FFg blackpowder with a .570 swaged round ball projectile (278 grains), and a pillow ticking cotton patch.
These “recipes” are touted as deadly, but surely many good ones are not included.
What’s your favorite muzzleloading recipe?