How far could i shoot?

[fisherman21]

I am looking to buy a 50 caliber muzzleloader next season, and was woundering how far it can shoot, and still be accurate

[Missdemeanor]

Depends on a lot of factors. Brand of gun, powder, grain bullet, and What kind of glass you have on it. I am comfortable shooting My savage out to 200 or so. Just need a little more bench time to know My true limits. I would say that most inline guns will shoot at least to 150 with minimal drop or decreased velocity. Good luck shopping. I Did alot of shopping before I made My decision.

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[rshubuck]

Just to give you an idea. Nikon makes the Omega scope with reticles out to 250 yards. Muzzeloaders are very accurate but like anything else there are a lot of factors to it like Missdemeanor mentions. I have the Thompson center Omega and use 100 grains of Triple7 pellets matched with 250gr T/C shockwave bullets. I am a Thompson center fan. I really like Encore but its a little pricey. CVA and Knight also make a great muzzleloader.

[ray koziatek]

in most hunting conditions youll be ok to 150 yds the 100grins w/250 gr bullet will give ya about 20 in drop at 200 yds and I think 12in drop at 100 yds its been 5 years sence ive read up on this so i might be off on the 100 yd.

hopefully youve had a tad experience with a bow to better help you understand how a muzzy round works .remember 15 years ago everyone had 3 or 4 pins to shoot to 40 yds ,thats cause the bows were slow and had a big arc,thus you needed several pins to drop the arrow into the right yardage.now bows are fast and shoot flat thus 1 pin can do easy out to 30 yds and aim a tad high and 40 is good with the same pin.

Well the muzzy is the slow bow pretty flat out to 100 yds but if your planning longer shots ya better sight it in for that distance with a standard scope cause yer droppin the round in there .

Mine is sighted for 150 yds ,,,,its 4in high at 50, 2 in high at 100 and as close as i can get it for 150 yds,,,,,, If ya want to do good it would be nice to have a shootin helper with low velocity wepons experiance.. that should help explaine why ya need a "several pin scope" (and rangefinder) to be consistant at long shots with a muzy/.

[Paul Czarnecki]

Great advice Ray. The only thing I will add is that long range muzzy shooting, like archery, takes a LOT of practice. You need to know your gun very well and you need to have the form and discipline it takes to make long shots. Having an experienced muzzy shooter with you the first few times will take a lot out of the learning curve. Practice, practice, practice!

[Hookedup]

Like Ray said I shoot the Pro Hunter with 150 grins. I have good glass on it. If I had great glass I could shoot farther, but im not going with a 1000 scope on a 800 dollar gun. I have killed deer at 250 with it and practice out to 300 yds. Past 150 you need a range finder like archery a few yaards makes a diff. Also if you don't have a good rest under you your done, I use a shootng stick in my stands when I hunt with it. Sean

[chowder]

I've been messing around w/ long range shooting lately since getting a 22-250 w/ a decent scope. Although this question about the effective range of a gun was originally framed w/ respect to muzzys I thought I'd just throw out what I've seen so far about any gun's effective range, especially once you start reaching out much past 150yds.

1. Correct shooting form becomes an essential issue because small applications of improper torque ( twisting the stock w/ the forehand, pushing or pulling the firearm due to improper trigger finger form, too much or canted butt stock pressure and poor follow thru after the shot ,etc) lead to poor shots. This is especially true of muzzys because there is a considerable period of time after you break the trigger action before the bullet actually exits the barrel. Follow thru and form are therefore very important for longer range shooting and even more important for muzzys than a typical center fire high powered rifle. Go to some of the sites that deal w/ longe range shooting and you will see what I mean http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 9CF2CAABC5

2. People who expect to make long range shots count have to spend a lot of time practicing to understand the ballistics of their powder/bullet combo. Though this information is available for many standard factory load combos on paper it is essential to see just how the whole package comes together in your specific firearm. This part of the longer range shooting program requires real dedication, and importantly, access to a long range range w/ targets which enable the shooter to develop a very precise picture of the way their bullet drops. The precise understanding of the exact way the bullet drops enables the shooter to develop a strategy for either making MOA adjustments on the scope or establishing a truly excellent 'gut' sense for 'hold over'.We are talking about hours and hours of range time here!

In summary; Don't underestimate the dedication it can take to become a longer range shooter, buying a certain firearm is only the first small and easiest step. First you must have an excellent understanding of shooting form do's and dont's , then you must develop a clear understanding of your gun/charge/bullet package in order to be able to truly enable you to make shots of a longer range nature. Before you start messing around w/ this stuff make sure you can get access to a range w/ a bare minimum of 200yds (300 yds is much better- most people don't realize how 'close' 300 yds is!). Many smaller gun clubs only have 100yd rifle ranges. As my grandfather once told me, "the biggest thing in how a gun shoots is the nut behind the stock" I try to remember this every time a shot of mine is off the mark!

[TROUTMAN 87]

Get ahold of a video called Maximizin' Your Muzzleoader by Russell Lynch. He is the man when it comes to muzzloading. Troutman 87