I number of years back I bought a Remington Ultimate Muzzleloader. It shot horribly. Talked to George Perry, a nationally known LR MZ shooter and hunter. Determined I had a bad barrel. I went and had Levi Reed of LR Customs work his magic on the gun and it became a solid 600 yd muzzleloader with it's 45 cal Brux barrel and Parker 300 gr Black Max bullets running 2550 fps. This year Utah took our scopes away from us so it's either open sights, or 0x - 1x scopes or reddots. Since I figure about 300 yds as a max distance with a reddot I decided to try the 250 gr Barnes Bullets T-EZ bullet without the blue plastic sabot. That bullet sabot/bullet combination is designed for tight bored CVA and TC 50 cal MZ rifle barrels. To shoot it in a 45 cal Brux barrel with BH209 I have to size/swage it down from .451" t .450" with the Swinglock die. The same one that lets me shoot the 300 gr Parker Black Max to 600 yds with moa accuracy. The reason it works so well with the Black Max is that bullet is of Cup and Core design. Pushing the .450" bullet down the bore "on top" of the lands. The base of the soft jacket expands/obturates from the high pressure, BH209, gas. The bullet's base expands to .458", fills the grooves in the rifling, seals the bore and grabs the bullet, spinning it for a stable flight to the target. Take a solid copper T-EZ bullet and their is no obturation of the bullet's base. It's too hard. My first 50 yd group was 12" with all bullets tumbling through the target. Again, George came through for me. He had me purchase a 1000 ct pack of Walter's Wads from Midway; 45 cal, .060" thick. Placing one wad under the bullet I was now shooting a 3", 100 yd, 5-shot group. Not great but much better. I then tried 2 wads and the 5-shot group shrank to 1.25" with a MV of 2550 fps. I now have a 200 yd zero and 300 yd capable MZ rifle for this years MZ elk. That 250 gr T-EZ will expand down to an impact velocity of 1100 fps. At 6,000' elev and 32 deg F that bullet expand out to 500+ yds and have 702 FPE.
YMMV
Alan
