Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Question from a newbie to muzzleloading

In an effort to get away from all the nutjobs in the woods during the general season, I have decided to try blackpowder hunting. I have a TC Grey Hawk 50 cal headed this way and I'm rounding up all the gear I'll need to get started. This rifle has a 1:48 twist and I intend to start off with ball and patch first.

If I decide to try conicals, is it possible to buy them pre-lubed like I buy hardcast bullets for my centerfire revolvers? Prices for Hornady Great Plains or TC Maxi-balls seem pretty steep. Can anyone recommend a source where I can pick up pre-lubed conicals in larger lots at a lower price?

Thanks in advance, I'm really looking forward to getting in to this.

you can buy a $20 lee minie mold and cast your own. but you do have to use pure soft lead

Your gonna like that T/C Greyhawk.
I love mine, I keep the powder charges fairly low and the conicals fairly heavy though I'm gonna start experimenting with Thor bullets this spring.

Mine likes the .502's

You might want to look at the prices at Track of the Wolf in Minnesota. I don't know how they compare to what you've seen so far, but it couldn't hurt to check.

I'm pretty sure their website is:

www.trackofthewolf.com

Thanks for the tips and leads. I'll ckeck 'em out.

[In an effort to get away from all the nutjobs in the woods during the general season, I have decided to try blackpowder hunting.]

Good luck with that - In my state, BP deer hunters outnumber shotgun deer hunters, and small game hunters combined.
My BP deer season runs concurrently with the small game & archery deer seasons - and the only saving grace is that most small game/bird hunters don't use the same areas as most deer hunters, locally.

As you're finding out, though, hunting with a BP rifle is infinitely more satisfying - so I'm sure you'll enjoy your GreyHawk.

.

The url is correct.

I dealt with them before I moved to Sweden. First class folks -- highly recommended!

Sign up on the web page for a free newsletter, and send them the 7 bucks or so to get their catalog (you will learn a lot from it, or at least I did when I was getting started!).

They are glad to help a newbie with questions, and if you get hooked on the hobby, they are the ones to continue feeding your addiction.

Best of luck with the smokepole!

John

The one deer that I shot with a roundball did not leave much of a blood trail. All shot with maxi-balls did and they were close to the shooting place. miles

Hey, You might want to try here: www.muzzleloading-bullets.com the name is No Excuse bullets. Dave is a good guy to deal with. He will be able to help you with a Conical.

Live Long and Prosper, Bruce

@BruceGolfNut - Thanks for the link. I just ordered a box. HaYen

You should really try the 370 Maxiball. I think I have a die for that one still. They have shot well in both 1 in 48 twist T/C rifles I have had.

And Track of the Wolf has absolutely beautiful custom Hawkens that go through there periodically. Be very careful on that site!

Another one is the 270 gr buffalo ball-et,the usually shoot real well out of 1:48 twist also.

Yup, I've been eyeballin' that Buffalo Ball-et, as well as the Hornady Pennsylvania conicals. They look kind of like a 'ball and a half', and I hear they like the 1:48 twist.

1/2 round ball 1/2 conical,in buffalo bullets catalogue thier's a picture of at target 4 holes all touching 50 yds, his son was shooting 70 gr pyrodex rs,270 gr buffalo ball-ett.i talked to Ron myself about these for my wife to shoot from her wolverine.want something with light recoil for 0-100 yds deer hunting for my wife.he suggested giving these a try and that they were a great 0-100 yd range deer hunting and plinking bullet.

Well I got my box of NO EXCUSE conicals. I ordered the .500 as I have a tight bore. <<< INSERT JOKE HERE >>> Thing is I was between scopes and had no rear sights, but I really wanted to try them. So I loaded a few and used just the front posts. First, I really liked the way they loaded and with 100grs of Pyrodex, I was hitting rocks off the top of the berm at 60 yards. At 460grs you can bet I'll be using these for large game.

Yesterday, I got two packages. The new Bushnell Trophy 250 DOA scope and the other was a care package from Parker Productions. Mr. Parker himself swagged some undersized Traditionals and HydroCons for me to try. He also wanted me to try their Jacked HydroCons with a sabot. First on tap were the Traditionals. These came with a wad and once again went right down the pipe with 15 lbs (~2) of force. The first shot was a flier but the rest all over lapped. Next came the Jacketed Hydros. These did require a little more force to get down the pipe. Because of the pressure I was using and I was using a loading tip for spire point bullets, I wanted to take a look at the the bullets after I loaded them. I push out a load from the breech and noticed that while loading I had damaged the tip. Can't say for sure if they were all damaged but they shot a MOA group.

For a sanity check on the load (100grs of Pyrodex), I also shot a few Powerbelts. All of those shots touched. At the distance I was shooting, the PB's hit the highest because they were the lightest at 295grs. The jacketed 45's were right below them on the target weighing in at 300grs. The heavy Hydro's shot about 2 inches below the jacketed.

I swabbed the barrel after every two shots with a T7 cleaner and protective solution. This was the first time I had used this product as well and after two swabs with solution and one dry swab, my barrel was clean.

All in all, I really like the scope. It was late in the day and the clouds were rolling in but I could still see my target with ease.

The Pyrodex load was accurate but did require me to swab the barrel after every two shots. Won't have that problem with BH209, Shocky, or White Hots.

The bullets. It really started to bother me that I was having such a hard time either loading saboted bullets or conicals. Until this test my favorites were Powerbelts and Thor bullets. I could get others to load (Knight EZ Loads, Barnes MZ, Hornady HP's, Magna tips, and a few others) but it took a lot of pressure. I can now add three more options to my list: the NO EXCUSE conicals from muzzleloading-bullets.com and the Parker Traditions and HydroCons. Trying to pick a favorite is like asking a homeless person if they would like one million dollars or one million and one dollars.

If anyone else knows of a bullet manufacture that does under sized (.500) conicals, shoot me a PM please. I'm also looking forward to trying some BlackMag 3 (a.k.a. Black Dot) and Pinnacle Replica. I'm told the Replica product closely resembles Shocky's Gold.

Have a great day.

HaYen

These did real well in my older T/C Hawken


Used to really enjoy Muzzleloader season here, even if it was only for Does and came after rifle season. Anymore it's not even worth sending for, not enough deer left

My triumph is extremely tight bored and the NE .503 bullets load nice.remember if your in a hunting situation you do not want that bullet to work off the powder..bad things can happen lol..just a friendly reminder! have fun..

Hey, Glad you tried the NoExcuse and like them. You can always call Dave and speak to him about undersizing, if you go to his web site he mentions that.

Hey OlyWa, Do you know about the big muzzleloading gun show at Monroe next month. It covers both days of the second weekend in March. You should go to that and meet some other shooters. I'm also in Olympia. Shoot sharp, Mike