Try These Proven Black Powder Deer Loads
Bob McNally 10.14.15
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?
