School me on muzzleloaders

[BiggLuke]

Lol...  true that. Love hate.
I used to use powder, because I started with an old Hawken's .45.
But, after realizing I was considering my best load to be 110 grns. with my new bullet and new inline, I soon found that the extra 10 grns only made a difference if I was to shoot at distances beyond what I could really even see an animal at.
For me, the pellets out way the powder, simply for the fact that it takes away one less variable.
And for me, loose black powder is still something I respect very strongly, since a co-worker of mine was hospitalized because he used loose powder. All he did was turn a powder can upside down to empty it out, and BAM!
3rd degree burns on half his body.
Possibly static charge set it off, we don't know.

I have never haerd of that happening with pellets.
    Just saying.
A lot of us switched permanently to pellets after that.

[jrebel]

And for me, loose black powder is still something I respect very strongly, since a co-worker of mine was hospitalized because he used loose powder. All he did was turn a powder can upside down to empty it out, and BAM!
3rd degree burns on half his body.
Possibly static charge set it off, we don't know.

I have never haerd of that happening with pellets.
    Just saying.
A lot of us switched permanently to pellets after that.

You are very correct....loose "black" powder is very volatile.  The synthetics like pyrodex are just as safe as pellets.  Matter of fact it is the same stuff. 

jrebel

[Duffer]

..... and so to sum it all up for the OP, whose ears are probably bleeding by now  , is this:

Every ML, even within the same brand and model, can like something different. That's the fun of 'working up a load'.

Take that wonderful new Knight out to the range and try some stuff    It's not uncommon to find folks on here (and places like Modern M.L.com) selling mass assortments of sabots/conicals. It's a great way to pick up some test bullets because... that's exactly what they did! Buy a bunch of different ones and try them out. 

Keep accurate notes or it gets really confusing!    Pellets are fine if you don't want to mess with loose. Loose is cheaper and gives you more options for powder loads but nothing wrong with 100g baseline for all of your starting bullet tests.

Shoot in 3s for groups. No reason to start long range. 50yds is just fine. Swab between shots.... or don't. Just keep it the same 'cuz you'll definitely see different p.o.i. with clean barrel vs dirty.

and most important is HAVE FUN with it!

btw: clean clean clean after EVERY trip to the range 

[kerrdog]

 

Powder go with hodgdons  777 fffg and a 300 gr bloodline bullet. You can practice with grains from 80-120 but 100 is a good starting point. You may want to use cheaper bullets for sighting and practice.

 

I've been using the 290 grain Barnes TMZ with Harvester Crush Rib Sabots.

[Peregrine]

use musket caps (especially helpful on the wet side)

use tough, mushrooming bullets (straight lead blows up on impact, in my experience, and animals don't go down right away or ever--even with perfect shots).

[superdown]

I shoot a knight bighorn and started with loose powder and have used swiss, goex and triple seven and pyrodex powders i have also used the pyrodex and triple seven pellets and finally settled on the triple seven pellets. I have also shot three different types of powerbelts two different weight of hornady great plains bullets and both maxi and mini balls.what i found that i like the best is two triple seven pellets 100grns a musket cap and a hornady 250grn sst low drag bullet.There was no huge difference in the way any one load shot from another. I think i may have gotten lucky with this bighorn because some people really have to experiment alot with load variation before they find something that performs to their liking in alot of the muzzleloaders .