Sighting in a ML

[imhntn]

I have tried the jim shockey gold pellets and they will not shoot in my gun with any accu at all. Mine will hit a tennis ball every time at 150 with 2 50 gr pyrodex pellets and the barnes 250 gr hp sabots. You will just have to figure out what your gun likes. And make sure your scope is good. People waste lots of time trying to use a cheap scope on an mz and they will eat one up.

 

[dlbleak]

spit patch after every shot helps. as imhntn mentioned, if your using a cheap or one of the combo pacakeged scopes, make sure you tap on the scope to get it to adjust. i've had good luck doing that. mz's put a good poundin on scopes

 

[JCW355]

If it's an inline I did mine like a bolt action rifle before even firing a shot. I shot it at 50 yards and cleaned it after every shot. Your initial shot should be the best, that would come from a clean barrel. Good luck.

 

[headhunter]

I can tell you from the voice of experience to look up muzzleloadingbullets.com and read some of the articles there. I went from wild groups to putting them on top of each other at 100 yards and 3" groups at 200 yards. I went with the .25 caliber primer system and 110 grain loose powder. I lick a patch between shots and have no trouble loading again.
I have tried several different types of 50 grain pellets and none performed like the loose powder and it is not a hassle after you ues it some.
Make up speedloaders just as you would with pellets.
Raymond will help you any way he can and make you have faith in your front stuffer.

 

[dennishoddy]

I haven't said it but I left the black powder several years ago and went with the Savage smokeless. I can still shoot pyrodex or whatever, but prefer the IMR 4350. Another thread I guess, but no matter what, the advise of a cold bore shot still stands.

 

[Buzzgun]

Good advice above, when sighting in and shooting for groups, you want the barrel conditions to be exactly the same every shot.

When I pull my muzzleloader out of the safe, I run several patches, saturated with cheap brake cleaner (WalMart brand), through the barrel to remove all oil from storage. I only use loose 777 powder as that is what my rifle likes. I load it and try to take note of the amount of pressure I use to seat the bullet and powder, then fire the first shot. I then run a patch wet with water through the bore, followed by a couple of patches soaked with brake cleaner and then a couple of dry patches. This removes ALL powder and plastic fouling left by the sabot, and leaves a dry bore as the brake cleaner evaporates. By the time I get that done, the barrel has dissipated the heat from the previous shot. I load and fire and repeat the process.

I have spent hours chasing accuracy from muzzleloaders and the above method is the only way I have been successful in getting repeatable results.


I'd also look closely at the base of your fired sabots and make sure you aren't blowing the skirts with too much pressure.

 

[Kingmarine]

I can tell you from the voice of experience to look up muzzleloadingbullets.com and read some of the articles there. I went from wild groups to putting them on top of each other at 100 yards and 3" groups at 200 yards. I went with the .25 caliber primer system and 120 grain loose powder. I lick a patch between shots and have no trouble loading again.
I have tried several different types of 50 grain pellets and none performed like the loose powder and it is not a hassle after you ues it some.
Make up speedloaders just as you would with pellets.
Raymond will help you any way he can and make you have faith in your front stuffer.

+1 here.

I spent a few years searching for muzzleloading answers and http://www.muzzleloadingbullets.com was the most useful and informative. I lost a couple of dear due to #1 not spending enough time with my muzzleloder and #2 not having a set of rules to apply to each muzzleloader hunting season. I now shoot a 300gr extreme elite HP bullet from them pushed by 80 grains of pyrodex with nothing but a spit patch after every shot and a very good cleaning after the season. The results are amazing. I have an old Thompson Hawken with a 1 in 48in twist barrel. He has a chart that shows how accurace each bullet he carries is with particular twists generally. Very nice guy as well. Good luck and I hope you get it figured out for yourself.

 

[keystone1974]

How does the savage smokeless shoot?

 

[DEER 24/7]

How does the savage smokeless shoot?

this i have been thinking about getting me one

 

[dennishoddy]

How does the savage smokeless shoot?

Quite well. Target was at 100 yds. If your thinking of getting one, don't drag your feet. Savage took them out of production as they werent selling as good as some of their better lines, but recently started producing them again after a huge amount of protests. They put them back in limited production until interest drops off again.