Effective range of a .50 cal. muzzleloader

[Utah]

Read test results?   haha laffin.   Don't read it.  Do it.  Dead Center took a cow this year and a cow last year.   But the Plastic crap for a bullet starter that Precision wants you to put on the end of your ramrod?  Worthlesss..  I do however think a P Dead Center will dig deeper into an elk than a TTSX or a powerbelt.. Which is a good thing...

[lokidog]

All good points to take into account, most often the more time one spends shooting muzzys at longer ranges will improve your skill of hitting and ethically killing your game animal. In addition eyesight will limit most shooters that wear glasses as it is harder to find the target in the lenses sweet spot. Myself I wear contacts now and am far sighted to begin with, so I use a peep sight and feel comfortable shooting beyond 100 yards. 

Another factor to take into account as stated above is finding that magic bullet your muzzy will shoot consistently out to those ranges and still carry energy. For a good read on those bullets here is a good starting point by a company called Precision Bullets. For those that want to learn and improve their chances at longer ranges start reading their test results with their products compared to the other offerings on the market. In no way am I promoting their products merely there is a wealth of information they present for the lay person who wants to know and learn long range muzzle loader shooting.
I will however most likely try some of their products this next year as I would like to hunt modern with my muzzy, which will be carrying a scope and the 209 primer.
Here is the link:


https://www.prbullet.com/bal.htm     

  https://www.prbullet.com/     

I used one of these (well, three    not the fault of the bullet ) to get my sheep this year as well as finish off a deer for someone.  I had some of the old style extreme elites 300 gr.

As far as their plastic contoured tip, my ramrod already had a recessed tip which worked fine.

[Soady]

Another "read" source by Toby Bridges of NAMLH, which can help with long range bullet selections.
"Do" a bit of digging around in the link and you can find answers related to help long range shooting with a muzzy.

  http://www.namlhunt.com/longrangeml2.html 

[Jonathan_S]

Depending on shooter, projectile, propellant, weather, and time of day...anywhere from 50 yards to 250 yards

[MD36]

I prefer 75 yards or closer. For elk if everything was perfect I could stretch that out to about 120. Deer I probably wouldn't shoot past 100.

I second this.

[Squidward]

I like them under 100yrds, I did kill a big cow at 209yrds with a TC Hawkins 80gr, 3F BP, 370gr Maxi Ball. double lung. 

[PolarBear]

I passed up on a monster 4 point blacktail this year at 168 yards.  I could hit that all day long with a rest but off hand on a bedded buck in deep ferns and a 20 mph cross wind, It didn't feel right.  I also only had one way to try and close the distance and it was with the wind to my back.  Needless to say he is still out there.   

[cbond3318]

I practiced a lot this year at 150 yards. I found I was dialed left to right consistently every shot but my elevations averaged +\- 6", which isn't horrible with a muzzleloader with open sights but, in the field , at that range and with open sights the entire animal is covered up with sight. In the stalks I
Put on I opted to get within 120 or less. It is extremely tough for me on open country mule deer to accurately judge hold over once my sight leaves the deers  back. 

[coachcw]

150-200 with the right sights .

[Karl Blanchard]

I switched to a rear peep and a small fiber optic front bead many years ago and it greatly increased my accuracy.  I like reactionary targets for my range time so balloons or water jugs are my go too.  200 yards is my comfort zone.  I'm confident in my bullet at that distance.  I've taken a couple deer at the 170 mark and one spike elk at the 160 line.  I have seen on two different occassions, deer shot past 200 with the same load as mine.  First was a mule deer at 225 yards.  Perfect broadside shot, bullet was on the off side hide mushroomed perfectly. 

Second deer was actually a follow up shot.  I was hunting with a friend on his late bald mountain buck tag.  We rattled in a very respectable 3x3 for the area and he had a hang fire at 30 yards resulting in an upper leg hit.  By the time we got to the top of the ridge, he was across the canyon and flat packing the mail!  My buddy got prone and I started hammering the fawn distress on an open reed call I had.  The buck stopped, I ranged him at 308 and he touched it off.  Buck folded in his tracks!  Bullet went in a bit high but blew through the scapula and lodged in the hide on the off side.  Mushroomed out with two of the pedals slightly torn back.

So I guess the answer is I am confident that a 300gr Speer Deepcurl pushed by 100grns of powder is plenty enough thump to take a mule deer at 300 yards (probably more) though that is out of my comfort range.  I am of the mind set though that if an animal is already wounded I'm going to keep shooting until it is dead, so knowing the performance of my load is a nice little nugget of info to have logged away.

[jmsurra]

I switched to a rear peep and a small fiber optic front bead many years ago and it greatly increased my accuracy.  I like reactionary targets for my range time so balloons or water jugs are my go too.  200 yards is my comfort zone.  I'm confident in my bullet at that distance.  I've taken a couple deer at the 170 mark and one spike elk at the 160 line.  I have seen on two different occassions, deer shot past 200 with the same load as mine.  First was a mule deer at 225 yards.  Perfect broadside shot, bullet was on the off side hide mushroomed perfectly. 

Second deer was actually a follow up shot.  I was hunting with a friend on his late bald mountain buck tag.  We rattled in a very respectable 3x3 for the area and he had a hang fire at 30 yards resulting in an upper leg hit.  By the time we got to the top of the ridge, he was across the canyon and flat packing the mail!  My buddy got prone and I started hammering the fawn distress on an open reed call I had.  The buck stopped, I ranged him at 308 and he touched it off.  Buck folded in his tracks!  Bullet went in a bit high but blew through the scapula and lodged in the hide on the off side.  Mushroomed out with two of the pedals slightly torn back.

So I guess the answer is I am confident that a 300gr Speer Deepcurl pushed by 100grns of powder is plenty enough thump to take a mule deer at 300 yards (probably more) though that is out of my comfort range.  I am of the mind set though that if an animal is already wounded I'm going to keep shooting until it is dead, so knowing the performance of my load is a nice little nugget of info to have logged away.

I agree. Know your weapon, know what it does. Use that knowledge, use your ethics. That will help you determine the range your ML shoots that day.

[SkookumHntr]

I've killed a cow elk at 190yards! I practice out to 200 yards and felt comfortable with the shot! 200 would be my absolute max! 150yards is still a poke, definitely hoping for 100 or less