Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders What to buy

Y’all never cease to amaze me. BH209 goes from ~$1/shot to ~$2/shot and y’all change everything about how you hunt. Those of you forsaking BH209 - how many times a year do you pull the trigger?

Good point. The guy say he’s mostly interested in ML to prolong his hunting season. He’ll likely shoot less than 25 shots per year. More would be better but many guys shoot much less.

One thing I’ve observed is that many folks never do shoot enough to learn their rifles. They get a rough sight in, then assume all kind of things from there. Don’t be that guy. Learn the quirks of the game and enjoy muzzleloading for what it is.

Not sure how available it is lately with Remington reorganizing but the Rem 700 Ultimate Muzzleloader is a great package.

Two of my friends and I have one. We altered ours to the finalized package over several seasons. We got the Arrowhead breech plug, switched to Blackhorn 209, installed timney triggers, and evolved through several bullets. First was the sabot 45 cal 250 gr bullet Remington sells made by Barnes. It accounted for my first animal with it, a cow elk, at 75 yds. Next was the Thor 50 cal 300 gr bullet also made my Barnes, in .502" diameter which we all used. One friend got a dandy bull with this bullet. I shot a cow elk at 280 yds with it. The finalized bullet is the Fury Universal 50 cal 320 gr. We are getting 2200 fps with that bullet.

Scoped the Fury is good out to 400 yds. I shot a coues wt and a cow elk with the Fury this season. I would not have had any big game hunting if it weren't for MZ tags.

That’s a natural consequence of buying just enough enough to get you through a season. Makes you vulnerable to supply and price swings. Since BH is stabile over time, it made sense to me to buy a 5-pounder late in 2020 when it appeared. Came out to $50 an actual pound, not a jug of 10oz or less. Not everyone has the money, I know. BTDT myself.

It works for CF loads too in a pinch.

I really dont shoot that much anymore. WHen I was younger , I started reloading. I shot .270 Win. , that got somewhat expensive so I shot a 22-250. Then I stopped shooting cause I was much more interested in bow hunting and made sense with a 4 month season instead of 9 day gun season in Wisconsin. I shoot my bow so much more . I even designed my house to a ranch so I can shoot 20 yds in my basement in winter . Then I got into muzzleloaders . An Encore 50 cal. , then TC Impact. They got boring and expensive too. Just the sabots were high. I bought a TC Hawken, then a custom barrel just for roundballs for $300. Then a TC Renegade , then another TC Renegade . Now I only shoot my TC Renegade a little bit. The problem is , I only hunt S.E. Wisconsin public land that is loaded wit hunters and pressure is so high they just wont move by muzzy season and thats after the gun season. It is hard to even see a deer by then, not to mention get one in range. I do like my TC Hawkens and Renegade more than my modern muzzys though. I make my own patches , roundballs too. and is very cheap to shoot. About 30 cents for 60 gr. of black , 12 cents for the #11 cap. I still have some caps I payed 5 cents for and some powder I payed $25 a pound for.

BH 209 is used by many competitors at long range gong shoots, it shoots very well. A lot of top competitors use it. I know one guy who loads it in the 45-70 and 40-65 for himself, his son and daughter. Spends over $2000 a season to buy enough to get through thru the year. Last I saw it, it was $79/ 10oz jug. Fug that I'll stick with black a 25# case gets me thru the year with some to spare...mb