Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Muzzleloader for out to 300 yards

My son wants to get a muzzleloader
He wants an inline 50 caliber that is accurate enough to shoot out to 300 yards. I've been out of the game for many years and have no idea what models to consider. Any suggestions.

There are some magnums that take150 gr of powder, but a stout heavy bullet is pretty punishing at both ends. I'd advise him to look at the the ballistics of a 50 cal even past 200 before deciding.

45 better?

With a 50 you can shoot a sabot/bullet combination that gives decent downrange ballistics. Some have pointed tips and decent BC. Blackhorn 209 gives good power.

I used a CVA Optima V2 stainless in 50 cal with the above set up to take a 25 inch mule deer at a bit over 250 yds in 2020. The scope I used has capability to dial yardage. The rifle and load combination shoots 1 inch groups at 100, and 3 inch groups at 250. That is as far as I actually shot the rifle on paper, but I have no doubt it would still group well at 300.

The Barnes 300 grain bullet I used hit the buck midribs onside, angled forward and exiting just behind the offside shoulder. (I wanted to break the offside shoulder but missed by a inch or so.) The bullet left a 2 inch exit hole in the offside hide, and similar sized holes in both lungs.

In short, that rifle and load combination would be capable to 300 yds, like everything else, if the bullet is properly placed. I did practice quite a bit before the hunt with this combo.

Manny

I have a Remington Ultimate ML. Using 100 grains by Weight of BH209 pushes a Parker BlackMax 300 to 2200 pretty easily. I’d have no qualms taking it past 300 myself.

Not sure if you can find them but they are very accurate rifles and Parkers or similar bullets will get you to 300 with the right optics.

CVA paramount if you want an out of the box shooter.

Knight has some videos showing their rifles getting stretched out, but I consider it a stunt. Even with the pointy ones, the trajectory has got to be getting pretty steep and wind drift considerable. Fun to play with for certain.

In my opinion - yes, unless the targeted game has a minimum caliber requirement, or you can’t use a sabot.



The Knight will drop a .50 caliber bullet quite a bit after 150 yards - it’s a definable curve, but you’d definitely need range time to dope it out. We can get around some of the drop with a sabot and .452 caliber bullet, but trying to overdrive the sabot generally results in a loss of optimal accuracy.

If he’s serious - a Savage or Remington smokeless build would probably be his best route. The CVA Paramount is the easy button right now - but I can’t personally comment on one - haven’t used it. The reviews seem to be full love or total hate - not seeing much middle ground.

If you want to see some stupidly accurate long range shooting - look up “IdahoLewis” (sp?) on the Modern Muzzleloader forum - he’s made a science of long range shooting with a muzzleloader.

Targets at 300 or critters?

Desert mule deer

I would be worried about energy out that far, Dennis. I'm not up on the inlines, maybe they produce the velocity to carry enough.

300 yards is a poke.

Pretty long shot for a lot of modern rifle shooters.

Definitely a long shot by muzzleloader hunting standards.

Not saying it can't be done, I know better.
Just, that he needs to understand what that entails.

Have shot my Omega a fair bit.
Consider 200 yards a long shot, doable.
Would, but only under certain conditions.
JMHO.

FWIW

https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/cva-paramount/

Pretty sure they would be very good out to 400 yards or so. I have been looking at them for 2 years and that would be the one to buy. I am not sure I am using the 280 grain powerbelt or just go to a sized bullet . I would use it for late season Iowa whitetails.

Any muzzleloader in hammer style will do that 45 50 or 54 even 58

Check out Hankins custom muzzleloaders https://www.hankinscustomrifles.com/muzzleloaders/ Scroll down to the muzzleloaders. He converted a TC Pro Hunter 45 70 into a smokeless powder muzzleloader for me. It shoots 275 gr parkers .75 moa. @ 100 yds.

Wifes cousin has a custom smokeless shooting the.parker bullets that he has killed a couple of elk at close to 400. It is comparable to a 375 H&H. He paid about 3K for the bare rifle.

Wifes cousin has a custom smokeless shooting the.parker bullets that he has killed a couple of elk at close to 400. It is comparable to a 375 H&H. He paid about 3K for the bare rifle.

Hankins also offers converted CVA’s that are rated for smokeless. Cheapest way to get into smokeless or a gun that can take stiff loads of BH209 if need be and have a super reliable ignition system that doesn’t leak.

Smokeless guns are very capable IF they are legal where you hunt.

I took an Antelope in Colorado during rifle season with my smokeless gun @ 733 yds
.45 caliber, Hankins ignition, 303 Pittman Hard Core @ 2920 FPS

I took a doe Antelope @ 896 with my .40 cal gun but it's a big boomer.