hey crock trust me those big price tags and expensive names dot shoot any better than the lower priced ones. heck i know guys with both cva's and others with t/c's and i have a traditions and our lower end guns on the price karket shoot as good and some better than them flashy name and priced t/c's. aslo the t/c triump wont fit me to long cant get a sight picture on it, i never tried one scoped just feels to ackward for me sure glade i held one before i mail ordered that thing.
My ml is a Knight Wolverine love it!
I got our muzzleloaders for $109 ea. from Bass Pro Shops online, and they do great. Up in Georgia where we hunt you can't use a scope during blackpowder season, so I leave mine open sights. My brother has one of those really pretty camo Knight Revolution rifles, and the only advantage I see is that its a bit easier to clean.
Well Dad and I started off back in the day with regular ole T/C Renegades.
He had a .50 cal, shooting 100 grains of real black powder and Maxi-balls.
We later switched to Pyrodex, then to 777
I had a .45 cal T/C seneca. I shot 85 Gr black powder and maxi-balls
We actually started out shooting patched-round balls before maxi-balls hit the market back in the day.
I got my first inline back about 10 years ago. It is a CVA magbolt 150. Last year I got a "back-up" ML, a CVA Wolf. I got it in case something happened to mine or I took a guest with me
Ihave spent a lot of money and a lot of bench time at the range playing with different loads.
Every gun is going to like different loads. You have to spend some time shooting different bullet/powder combo's
Here are some things I have learned over the years:
Pyrodex burns a bit hotter than 777, but 777 is much cleaner to use. Much less fouling and easier clean up. I strictly use 777 pellets now.
Powerbelts:
They are the most popular bullets on the market. There are a lot of good reviews and a lot of bad reviews. I will give you what is my opinion, and based on my findings...
They suck 🙄
I tried every powerbelt made for a 50 cal with 100 and 150 grains of powder.
The hollow points would not group at all for me(any grain size).
The Aero tips grouped absolutely wonderful. I could shoot 1" groups at 100 yards. The terminal performance was awful(for me). I lost 4 deer and 2 hogs in three years. Every shot was a killing shot too. The straw that broke the camels back, last season opening day of ML I shot a hog at 15 yards. Blew him slap off his feet. He layed there about a minute, got up, and ran off to never be seen again. Problem is the aero tips to dot produce a blood trail.
For the record a good friend shoots the hollow points and gets good, but not great blood trails.
After that I bagged up every power belt I had and gave them away.
I switched to T/C Shockwaves 250 grain.
Right now I have both my inlines shooting 100 grains 777 and the Shockwave bullet. I can touch shots with either gun at 100 yards. That is the combo I killed my big boy last season with. The blood trail was weak, but he only made it about 60 yards
One other thing I learned about ml's..
A squeaky clean gun (your first shot) at the range will usually shoot very high. A friend of mine taught me that and it is true with both of my guns. It amounts to about 2"
So keep that in mind when sighting in a ml. You need to either; clean your gun squeaky clean after every shot, or sight it in dirty and fire off a fouling shot before you go hunting
The guys at the range hate me when I bring my ml's up there because I am there all day. I can't stand the thought of a partially dirty gun, so I strip my gun and G. I. clean it between every shot, and that is the way I hunt with it
hope some of this helps a bit
