So I'am new to the world of muzzleloading, I decided to go with thompson center shock wave super glide 250GR sabots. They seem to shoot well out of my knight big horn 50 cal, with 100 grains of powder. To the guys who muzzleload what do you guys shoot?

Aren't those the same as the Hornady SST? Pretty sure they are. I am new as well.

I shoot the same thing right now. I like them because they are relatively inexpensive. I shoot them out of a Thompson Black Diamond, 50 cal, with 95 grains of powder. I get nice groups with it, and the super glide sabots are my favorite to use with my gun.

Haven't use those yet, as they just changed the jacketed bullet rules. Might have to give those a try next year, but for now I have a hard time switching from the Hornady Great Plains SWCHP's.

I use a 240gr Precision Dead center sabot (non jacketed)in my knight bighorn. I shot my deer last year with the same bullet but in a friend muzzy. I want to checkout the Barnes Spit-Fire T-EZ sabot... they look awesome.

Ryan

I have had great luck with the Barnes bullets in other firearms.

i like to buy the hornady pistol bullets, my best is a 45 caliber 225gr ftx. you get a box of 100 for about $30 then buy your sabots seperate a bag of 100 of those cost about $10. you will get awesome bullets at a way better price.

I shoot home-poured lead 385 grain lead bullets out of a traditional Hawken. With the low muzzleloader velocities, I'm not sure a premium bullet is really needed. Do others think there is a noticeable advantage to using sabots in a muzzleloader (and jacketed bullets). They shoot a little flatter, but does it matter much with the site restrictions?

for me personally i live the way the pistol bullets open up. ive tried solid lead befor and it is always a .50 pass through. ya they die but hardly ever "right now".

Hornady Great Plains 395g semi-wadcutter hollowpoint.



Started out at .54 cal and ended up at almost an inch.

The Barnes solid copper hollow points would be a good choice for velocities under 2200 fps. They have huge caverns.

I got a muzzleloader about 8 years ago. I have shot nothing but sabots out of mine. I have shot the buffalo bullet sabot, and then swithced to the precision rifle original sabot. Those have shot really well out of my muzzleloader. I used the 300 gr bullets. Then this year I switched to try the Thompson center XTP Mag, 240 gr. This is the same bullet as a Hornady .45 cal pistol bullet. But in the end buying them already together was pretty close to the same price. Anyhow those shoot really well for me also. And this last Thurs. I harvested a two point deer at about 100 yards with that. It dropped in its tracks, and went straight throught the animal? There are a lot of good bullets out there. But I can recommend the precision or the Thompson center XTP Mag (Hornady Pistol bullets).
Good Luck
Buck

stlhdr42: Hopefully you took your Knight down to the range with ball and greased patches for around 50 rounds to season it, my bighorn shot well a first then got squirrly and then came back in after a marathon shoot at the range. Powerbelts and 777 pellets are an easy way to shoot the inlines. 348 aero tip copper jacketed for elk and the smaller 249 aeros for deer. Both my son and I bought the camo/ stainless thumbhole Knights when they came out and havent had a problem yet. Run .490 balls and # 11 greased patches at the range for seasoning. I like the powerbelts cause there is less plastic running through the pipe. Good luck and make some smoke!

I have always shot the 348 grain Power Belts with 130 grains of powder out of TC Black Diamond XLR it killed several elk and many many deer.

You must be about out of those home poured bastards?

I have never heard about seasoning a smoke pole. I bought the gun for my dad last xmas and he put a lot of rounds through it but I know he never ran balls and patches through it. It probably has a minimum of 250 rounds through it, I can shoot a pie plate group at 150yds at the range on a bench, and the other day while scouting I shot a pie plate group at 100yds free standing. 50yds its always within the bullseye, but I would say 100yds is about the farthest I would like to shoot at an animal. So it seems my gun is pretty accurate for now, do you think it still could go squirrley.

I also ran those 777 pellets in the early season and they failed twice after hunting a wet day. Thats with the barrel taped over with electrical tape and my hand over the nipple/cap all day. Switched to 777 powder and haven't had a problem since. One more question, how many shots do you guys fire before cleaning your muzzleloader? I clean every 5 or 6, maybe more at the range.

Seasoning a muzzleloader used to be a pretty big deal, hence the reason for so many "natural" cleaning products on the market. With the new guns I dont think it is as big of a deal but might be worth checking out.

stlhdr42: sounds like your good to go, thought it was brand new, thats why I recomended seasoning. The ball and patch was a cheap way to shoot a bunch of rounds without smokin your wallet.

Hey huntncoug, I spent alittle time over there in almota and wawawai with my son when he went to wazzu.

Lots of deer over there, my muzzeloader has taken many whitetails in those units, especially in Steptoe.

So this morning I was deer hunting locally since I only had 2 hrs to hunt, it was wet and I had no electrical tape to tape the barrel off and when I left I fired the ML before leaving. The cap fired and the gun didn't so I started lowering it and it went off probably 10seconds later, good thing I had a good grip still aimed down range. So I get home to clean it and the trigger is locked up and the safety is not working as it should. So much for elk hunting tommarrow, guess I will be looking for a gunsmith.

Does anyone know of a good black powder gunsmith? Theres one in puyallup but if he can't fix it does anyone know of any other options. Has anyone had this happen before, I'am frusterated.

Not uncommon at all...and yes I have it happen to me once over the years.

It is called a hangfire and is caused by either a loosely packed powder charge or more likely moisture to the charge.

Any qualified gunsmith can check out the trigger and safety issue.

Good luck finding a gunsmith that works on black powder. My girlfriends gun wasnt working right a while ago and I called every gunsmith in the north sound area, none would touch a muzzleloader. I dont understand why, they are super simple and should be easy money for a gunsmith.