Muzzleloaders - which one for 200 yard range

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dennishoddy

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My buddy had a Savage 10ML and the barrel bulged, as far as I know he never fired anything but factory loads. It was fairly accurate, but not as accurate as mine.

Barrel bulged? Savage tested every barrel that was sold at 100,000 psi. Test barrels with double charges were tested regularly. No issues with bulging.
Your buddy did something out of the ordinary to cause that issue.
 

Okvet03

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That's entirely possible. It was a stainless steel model. Whether it was a lemon or he double loaded we will never know. Either way it was sent back to Savage and they offered him a substantial credit for the gun.
 

Master Carper

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My custom built smokeless muzzleloader rifles have taken deer, hogs, pronghorn antelope and coyote out to 600 yards when the need called for it, and safe 3,000 fps. loads make it very doable.

The "problem" with a lot of the newer model rifles like the T/C Encore has to do with the QLA. Just by removing this and recrowning with a tapered target crown, I have seen literally hundreds of rifles that would shoot no better than 3 to 5 inches at 100 yards, and after removing the QLA and recrowning the muzzle, 1 inch groups or less were the new average.
 
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retrieverman

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The "problem" with a lot of the newer model rifles like the T/C Encore has to do with the QLA. Just by removing this and recrowning with a tapered target crown, I have seen literally hundreds of rifles that would shoot no better than 3 to 5 inches at 100 yards, and after removing the QLA and recrowning the muzzle, 1 inch groups or less were the new average.
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is “QLA”?
 

Master Carper

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QLA stands for Quick Load Accurizer. It is the first 1/2 to 3/4 inch of barrel at the muzzle end, that has the rifling cut away to make bullet loading easier.

The "problem" with these, whether T/C, CVA, Lyman, Knight, etc., is that since these barrels are all mass produced, a huge percentage of them have the QLA that is NOT cut with the centerline of the bore, and as such the bullet and or sabot is loaded crooked, and when fired, exits the muzzle crooked, which greatly effects accuracy.

Mr. Schaffer called me up one day and told me that his Encore Pro Hunter would shoot no better than a 5" group at 100 yards, and he needed it to shoot a LOT better because he was getting ready to go on a hunt in New Zealand, and he really wanted to take this particular gun.

I told Mr. Schaffer I could make accurize his gun and have it back to him in time for his hunt. He shipped me the gun overnight delivery, I worked on it for 2 days, sent it back and here was the results.

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The center head shot was just over 200 yards!

Overall accuracy after my work was 3/4" groups at 100 yards. Work included removing the QLA and recrowning, premium trigger job, barrel and base modified to 5 screws, with the addition of a pressure tip screw at the end of the scope base to keep it from flexing and bending downward from recoil. The ramrod was also modified to match the new barrel length, an oversize hinge pin added to remove the sloppy fit between the barrel and receiver. I also added a heavy duty locking bolt spring to keep the barrel from popping open from recoil.

This is what a 28" Pro Hunter barrel looks like after removing the factory QLA.

oLEPo3S.jpg
 

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