Savage Muzzle loader

[Missdemeanor]

Guys....I'm going to get into shooting a muzzle loader next year and I'm going to start doing my homework. A friend of mine shoots a Savage ML2 and loves it. He says shooting the smokeless powder is awesome. Anyone shoot one of these guns? If so what kind of range can you get out of them? Thanks for the help.......

[salmonite]

My friend does and i only get to shoot with him every now and then but its sick!!!

[bottom-feeder]

smoke-less powder.......... inlines......conical bullets AINT muzzle loading

get a percussion or a flint lock and enjoy the real thing

i shoot a lyman 54 cal percussion

100 grains of powder and patched round ball...deadly accurate to 100 yds

[ray koziatek]

Todd, keep the flint for survival fires ,I shoot a tompson and i think most any muzzy will do ya good if you match the load to the powder weight , There is something neat about "loading" your gun the old way with a ram rod and knowing you only have 1 shot to do the job .....It has improved me as a hunter and i have droped more game with the one shot mentality in the last 6 years ..So if the muzzy you check out looks good (inspect the barrel for proper cleaning) and shoots good (be shure to have a good experianced muzzy person with you).... most poeple who popoo the muzzys accuraccy are doing something wrong..at 100 yds you should be hitting a clay pigion 4 outa 5 shots ..pm or call if ya got questions ,cant help from one brand to another but i can get you in the kill zone at 100 yds over the phone.

[chowder]

I gotta go w/ Bottom Feeder, I love the Lyman. On the other hand there are some practical reasons to start out w/ an inline, especially if you are getting into this on your own. A reasonably priced inline gun to consider would be a CVA Optima. I got my 14 year old son one and using 100 grains of Triple 7 w/ the 245 grain aero tip he's grouping real well @ 50-75 w/ open sights.

[Missdemeanor]

I appreciate the comments guys. I knew there would be a few posts from guys who muzzle load the traditional way VS in lines. Its kinda like Bow hunters who use traditional longbows VS guys who use compounds. The area I hunt is open to center fires. I figured I could buy a gun that could preform like a rifle, but could also allow me to hunt the late season. From what I have read, The savage is a pretty devastating weapon that would fit that bill. I'm with you Ray, Usually one shot one Kill. Ive tried to discipline myself to that and I've found that I tend to wait for the perfect shot to ensure a humane kill. I was once one of the "Sprayin and Prayin guys" but with getting older comes the patience......Thanks again for all the feed back.

[mjb122]

I have the savage used it the last 5 seasons - 6 deer ! There is a site with alot of info, to get you started down the right path. Savage has it listed on there site or pm me I can tell you more! you won`t be sorry

[chowder]

My understanding of the original Southern Tier "black powder" season was that you were not supposed to use a scope on these guns during the special late season. Is this correct or did I mix stuff up in my head w/ the passage of time? For many years I hunted w/ a scoped CVA magbolt inline muzzle loader during the regular season (our MU was shotgun at the time) and then used my Lyman percussion during the late muzzle loader season. It doesn't really make much difference to me but I'm curious what the actual regs are? Thanks!

[W.W.IV.]

Chowder,your right about the late ML season,it start primitive,patch and ball,then the DEC opened it up to anything goes as long as it was a single shot and was muzzle loading. Most shooters borrowed a bp gun,never shot it and went hunting. One hunter I knew shot at a deer and missed reloaded-missed loaded three times. The gun never fired the first time,and had three loads in it.He was just popping the cap. I started with a T/C Renagade 50cal with double set triggers. It shot a good group.First time out(15-18yrs ago) my son pushed a nice six pt.to me,I broke his back and had to reload to finish the job.After loading and setting the back trigger I was bringing the gun down on the deer and touched the front trigger (hair trigger) by mistake and shot into the air .Next shot did it .

[L&M]

My understanding of the original Southern Tier "black powder" season was that you were not supposed to use a scope on these guns during the special late season. Is this correct or did I mix stuff up in my head w/ the passage of time? For many years I hunted w/ a scoped CVA magbolt inline muzzle loader during the regular season (our MU was shotgun at the time) and then used my Lyman percussion during the late muzzle loader season. It doesn't really make much difference to me but I'm curious what the actual regs are? Thanks!

That was the original deal years back Andy. Here's the current:

All hunters participating in the muzzleloading season must follow these requirements in addition to the other regulations in this guide.

•Each resident hunter must have purchased a current year Muzzleloading privilege with his/her big game license.

•Each nonresident hunter must have a current year Muzzleloading License.

•The legal firearm for this season is a muzzleloading rifle or pistol (including smoothbore muzzleloaders) loaded through the muzzle, shooting a single projectile and having a bore of .44 inches or larger. Double-barreled muzzleloaders and percussion cap revolvers are not legal during the special muzzleloading season. If you hunt with a single-shot muzzleloading pistol, you must have a New York State Pistol License.

•Hunters shall not have in their possession, or be accompanied by a person who has in his or her possession, a bow or firearm other than the legal muzzleloading firearm.

•You may use fiber-optic sights or scopes on a muzzleloading firearm at any time.

[skipper19]

Just an observation I have attained over the years of trying to improve accuracy and terminal ballistics using pyrodex pellets and conical bullets of different design.

If you buy a new inline firearm, be sure to give it some break in time to "season" the barrel. By that I mean the more you shoot it the more the bore of the barrel will improve in loading ease and accuracy. Similar to seasoning a cast iron skillet, time will improve it's smoothness and your round will slide down the barrel much smoother as well as flipping your favorite food on the seasoned skillet. After about 50 or 60 rounds and using a good bore butter lube you will notice the next time you take it to the range, you will be able to load your rifle easier and more times before you need to clean the bore. Also after you clean the bore you probably will NOT hit the target with the first round after making it clean as a whistle. The reason is that the bullet/sabot combo is slippery in a smooth, clean bore and exits the muzzle slower due to less friction and time for the pressure of the burning gases to develop maximum velocity. Some of us will fire a round (sometimes referred to as a "squib" load) first just to "foul" the barrel to bring the barrel tightness to more consistency.

As Ray mentioned, style weight and fit to bore of your sabot will make a huge difference in accuracy and terminal ballistics. I have shot full .50 cal bullets, .45 cal. bullets, and .44 cal bullets. Some were hollow point design, some with the ballistic aero tip. You can experiment with other types of bullets designed for pistol cartridges as long as you get the proper sized sabot to fit the bullet and the bore of your rifle. Experiment with differnt designs and powder charges until you find a good combo. Just remember magnum loads sometimes don't produce good accuracy. They might be faster and flatter than a lesser powder charge but may pay you with a less than perfect group.

I like to use the 209 shotshell primer to ignite the load. They are hot and produce good consistency in pressure and fire. Never had a misfire using these.

As far as safety....be sure of the powder charge. Anything more than 150 grains of any kind of muzzle loader powder is too much and will probably end up just burning outside the barrel doing no good.

Be sure to get the projectile firmed against the powder. If it is not fully seated against the charge you run the risk of bursting the barrel.

When you find a load that you like for every purpose in accuracy and ballistics. Save the info somewhere with your gun and also mark your ramrod as for an indicator of a properly seated, and SAFE, load based on that information you saved.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, don't forget to take the ramrod out of the barrel before you shoot. Sounds kinda dumb, but if you've got an audience or any other distraction, you can forget where you were in your loading process, hence the reason for the fully loaded mark on the ramrod. You might forget there is already a load in the bore and then you load another one on top of it......HOLY BANGERS ...but then you will notice the line drawn on the ramrod and say well I guess I gotta remove the breech plug and clear the barrel.

Like Ray said bring a muzzy guy to the range with ya and you will have a pile of fun. My Thompson Center Black Diamond groups as good as any center fire I have seen at 100 yds.

Mark

[on the lam]

I presently shoot a Knight DISC 50cal. for about the last 10 or so years, nice stainless gun, failproof ignition due to the disc and 209 primer, very accurate with a 130gr. charge and a 200 gr. red hot hollow point. Some guys don't like having to have to load the disc, i find it to be no problem. topped w/ a 4X bushnell.

Hunted with a T/C Hawken 50 cal. since the late 70's 90gr. pyrodex and a maxi-ball. Dumped a boatload with that old stovepipe. No experience with the Savage.

[Fish Hunter]

Muzzlestuffers are a blast to hunt with.

Have a Knight percussion cap, thumbhole, w/iron sights, a T/C Black Diamond with a 2-7 Swift, and a CVA w/a 2-7 Bushnell. We run 150 gr of Pirodex, and .295 gr Powerbelt Aero-tips. All three are very accurate, and all three have taken deer in excess of 100 yds. Killed one 3 years ago with the CVA at over 160 yds. No mistaken when you hit them, especially in the boiler room. Their down.

[Goudy156]

I presently have a Traditions inline lighting bolt. My next muzzleloader will be a Savage 10ml 11 laminated SS. My favorite part of the 10ML is the option of shooting the clean smokeless. I have shot pyrodex and shockys gold. i can barely wait for the day when i don't have to. as stated in above post a throught cleaning is a must for pyrodex as soon a reasonalbly possible.

The site is http://www.randywakeman.com/savage3.htm

Just my thoughts