Dirt farmer
Member
I have been working on my muzzle loader elk hunting load using Pyrodex RS 90 grains to 150 grains loose powder with five different conical lead bullets:
Buffalo Maxiball 325 gr
Hornady Great Plains 385 gr
Buffalo Minie ball 360 gr
CVA Powerbelt 405 gr
TC Maxiball 375 gr
Today I shot my CVA Optima NW 50 cal with 4X scope at 100 yards with Hornady Great Plains 385 grain lead bullet with Pyrodex RS powder at 130 gr, 140 gr and 150 gr. I got best accuracy of 2-shot group of 1 1/4" with 140 grains of powder. At 150 grains the recoil was brutal and I'm unsure about the 2nd 150 grain shot being 8 1/2 " high as I think it may have either moved the scope in the mounting or ruined the scope, not sure which.
The Buffalo Minie ball was extremely accurate at 100 yards with 90 grains powder but I'm looking for more "more power" to extend my elk hunting shooting range and flatten the trajectory.
The TC Maxiball 375 gr was a non-shooter, even had one go through the target sideways at 100 yards.
Anyway, I'm going to remove the scope from the EABCO PeepRib and replace it with the Peep sight. Great feature by the way to be able to switch back and forth, scope to peep sight.
Now I can sight in the peep sight for the 385 gr Hornady Great Plains bullet with Pyrodex RS 140 grain powder load. I'll be sighting in for 3 inches high at 100 yards. Then I'm going to be moving back at 130 yards and 160 yards to determine POI shift and required "hold-over".
Having landed on my ML Load for hunting I decided to crunch some ballistics numbers to see if it was all worth it.
Using a "Muzzle Velocity vs. Grains (volume) of Powder per grain of Bullet" graph I calculated the velocity ranges of 90 grains Pyrodex versus 140 grains Pyrodex using the Hdy Great Plains 385 grain bullet:
90/385 = 0.234 which on the graph is minimum 1350, maximum 1530 fps
140/385 = 0.364 which on the graph is minimum 1600, maximum 1750 fps
I accept the general rule of needing a minimum of 1,000 ft/lb of Energy to kill an elk.
Using Handloads.com ballistics calculator, and Hdy GP bullet ballistic coeffient of 0.148, and 3 inches high at 100 yards POI with minimum velocity:
The 90 grain load drops below 1,000 Energy at 100 yards and has about 5 inch trajectory range ( -0.5"to +4.7"). Maximum range then is 90 yards.
The 140 grain load drops below 1,000 Energy at 160 yards and has about 7.5 inch trajectory range ( -3.5"to +4.0"). Maximum range then is 150 yards.
The punishment of the heavy load is worth it to me for the "payback".
Buffalo Maxiball 325 gr
Hornady Great Plains 385 gr
Buffalo Minie ball 360 gr
CVA Powerbelt 405 gr
TC Maxiball 375 gr
Today I shot my CVA Optima NW 50 cal with 4X scope at 100 yards with Hornady Great Plains 385 grain lead bullet with Pyrodex RS powder at 130 gr, 140 gr and 150 gr. I got best accuracy of 2-shot group of 1 1/4" with 140 grains of powder. At 150 grains the recoil was brutal and I'm unsure about the 2nd 150 grain shot being 8 1/2 " high as I think it may have either moved the scope in the mounting or ruined the scope, not sure which.
The Buffalo Minie ball was extremely accurate at 100 yards with 90 grains powder but I'm looking for more "more power" to extend my elk hunting shooting range and flatten the trajectory.
The TC Maxiball 375 gr was a non-shooter, even had one go through the target sideways at 100 yards.
Anyway, I'm going to remove the scope from the EABCO PeepRib and replace it with the Peep sight. Great feature by the way to be able to switch back and forth, scope to peep sight.
Now I can sight in the peep sight for the 385 gr Hornady Great Plains bullet with Pyrodex RS 140 grain powder load. I'll be sighting in for 3 inches high at 100 yards. Then I'm going to be moving back at 130 yards and 160 yards to determine POI shift and required "hold-over".
Having landed on my ML Load for hunting I decided to crunch some ballistics numbers to see if it was all worth it.
Using a "Muzzle Velocity vs. Grains (volume) of Powder per grain of Bullet" graph I calculated the velocity ranges of 90 grains Pyrodex versus 140 grains Pyrodex using the Hdy Great Plains 385 grain bullet:
90/385 = 0.234 which on the graph is minimum 1350, maximum 1530 fps
140/385 = 0.364 which on the graph is minimum 1600, maximum 1750 fps
I accept the general rule of needing a minimum of 1,000 ft/lb of Energy to kill an elk.
Using Handloads.com ballistics calculator, and Hdy GP bullet ballistic coeffient of 0.148, and 3 inches high at 100 yards POI with minimum velocity:
The 90 grain load drops below 1,000 Energy at 100 yards and has about 5 inch trajectory range ( -0.5"to +4.7"). Maximum range then is 90 yards.
The 140 grain load drops below 1,000 Energy at 160 yards and has about 7.5 inch trajectory range ( -3.5"to +4.0"). Maximum range then is 150 yards.
The punishment of the heavy load is worth it to me for the "payback".
