• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Search results

shop deals on amazon
L & R
Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. S

    Round ball and 50 grains in a 50 cal. for whitetail ?

    One of my big questions as a hunter is around what the ideal impact velocity for a pure lead ball would be on game or even ballistic media. I've watched a couple of youtube videos on terminal performance, but I don't know the impact velocity of any of the projectiles in those tests. Some of...
  2. S

    Investarms hawken questions

    Thanks - I appreciate it. It definitely has some bugs and is a little rougher than I'd like, but I wanted a knock-around gun that i could play with so I think it'll ultimately be fine. The hammer will likely fire a cap, but it's far from square on the nipple. The cleanout screw on the breech...
  3. S

    Investarms hawken questions

    Greetings! My new-to-me Investarms hawken has a couple of bugs I'd like to get figured out. First, the hammer sits in it a little cockeyed and comes at the nipple from the barrel side. Could've been dropped at some point? Is this fixable or could I find a replacement hammer (it's a lefty)...
  4. S

    Remember your First ML kill?

    I was hunting a river bottom adjacent to some hay fields. Some muleys came by with a nice buck in the group but the landowner had allowed me to hunt a) black powder, and b) whitetails only. It was exciting to watch the deer feed by at 40 yards, and gave me some confidence in my 'ground blind' -...
  5. S

    Alaskan 54 poor boy.

    Sounds like you live in awesome country! As others have hinted, .54 seems ambitious for what you're planning on using it for! But hey, this is America and you get to hunt with whatever you please if it's legal. If your shot selection is strict and your aim is true, it might work out for you...
  6. S

    Chronographed load resource?

    Thanks for the replies! I agree that every gun/load combination is highly individualized and hard to generalize to anything outside of that particular combination. It's still helpful for me to see what others are getting though, if only to understand what possibilities exist. In the end, it's...
  7. S

    Chronographed load resource?

    Is there a thread/sticky on members' chronographed loads with different charges,powders/projectiles/barrel lengths? I'd enjoy seeing what folks are getting in their frontstuffers. I chrono'd a 54 rb load years ago at 1590fps with goex 2f but don't recall the charge. This was out of a 36" barrel.
  8. S

    Cabela's Hawken by Investarms

    I'm going forward with the Cabela's Hawken! Thanks for all of the feedback - It'll be a good gun to get me back into the BP game. Were they all chrome lined? What are the look-fors to determine a chrome-lined barrel vs not?
  9. S

    Cabela's Hawken by Investarms

    Well, the rifle has some light pitting a few inches down the bore. Other than that it's pretty clean. Not abused, but maybe a solid 7/10 in terms of condition. Still a deal at $300? I don't have enough experience with muzzleloaders to know how much of a difference that pitting could make on...
  10. S

    1-48" bullet choice for elk

    I really appreciate the feedback folks. I'll take a good look at No Excuses bullets as it sounds like some 1-48 twist barrels shoot them well. It also sounds like, as a pure lead bullet, they might lend themselves to IdahoRon's paper patch method, which I'm really wanting to try. Maybe their...
  11. S

    1-48" bullet choice for elk

    Thanks for the replies - I won't argue against the endgame for roundballs - those animals are going to expire eventually. I also agree that double lung hits or heart shots speed up the process. On my two less-than satisfactory harvests, a similar hit with even a 30-30 would've resulted in a...
  12. S

    1-48" bullet choice for elk

    What is your go-to for larger-than-deer sized game in this twist, in either .50 or .54? In 54 I've used roundballs on deer and antelope and have found them to be sure, but not particularly humane dispatchers of game barring perfect hits through both lungs and/or the heart. One lung or any sort...
  13. S

    Pheasant season tradition.

    Cool dog, that Jess. Time afield is always better spent with a 4-legged friend in my book. I'm a continental breed fan myself. Wires, pudelpointers, and shorthairs. Give that Jess a scratch for me!
  14. S

    Pheasant season tradition.

    The gun is cool, but that dog is AWESOME!!! What is the breed? It looks like part wolf, part opossum, and part echidna! :) I think it's awesome that you scratched some down with the ML Shotgun. I had a Pedersoli s x s for a time but I could hit very little with it so down the road it went...
  15. S

    Cabela's Hawken by Investarms

    How you you think this gun compares with a renegade? I have a craxk at one of those too but it's a fair piece more expensive. Thanks all!
  16. S

    Cabela's Hawken by Investarms

    A couple of questions: Are these 1-48" and do they have a hooked breech? Are the sights serviceable or would they best be replaced? I wonder if a skinner dovetail sight or similar would work in this? Thanks for the info and feedback all!
  17. S

    Cabela's Hawken by Investarms

    Hi there! I have a crack at one of these locally for $300. I haven't seen it up close yet, but it's reportedly in good condition. This seems like a decent deal, but I don't know much about the gun. Would anyone care to comment on their experience with this gun including the good/bad/ugly...
  18. S

    1:20 conical performance

    Thanks for the info and link to the story Ron. That bullet was only travelling 900 fps +/- 50 when it hit that bull in 2020. I have no idea what the ballistic coefficient is on that 500 WFN but it's probably in the neighborhood of .18 or so. Big chunk of lead hits hard. At 60 your looking at...
  19. S

    1:20 conical performance

    Thanks for the reply Ron - I live in a state where sabots(!) are allowed, so that bullet would ride in one of those in a .50 The ultimate goal is to get into what you've been doing, but I haven't laid into all of the accessories for doing so yet. I bought that 500 S&W mould you use in the...
  20. S

    1:20 conical performance

    Thanks for the reply - I've seen an emphasis on soft lead for muzzleloading projectiles in terms of performance on game. 1:20 seems to be on the outer edge of the BHN recommended by many on here. I'm aware that the hardcast lot has a following as well, with an emphasis on wide metplat and deep...
Back
Top