Like many on here, I put work in at the range, before I take my chosen weapon to the hills. The muzzleloader is no different in any respect.
I have a 50 Cal. T/C Triumph that I love and this year, put on a Vortex Spitfire 1X AR scope that has 2 circles with a dot in the middle. The reticles are visible (black) when the scope is off, which was a big deal to me.
I put in my time at the range and it pulled my groups from all shots in an 8" paper plate at 100 to all shots within a 1.5" group at 100. It's a night and day difference for me and my personal belief is that allowing scopes will increase the percentage of game recovered for those who choose to take the shot.
I shot my 5x5 at 120 yards and it was a perfect lungshot quartering towards and exiting just before the rear quarter. It was as precise as I had hoped, without adding additional capability. I didn't shoot outside of my confidence range and it enabled my shot to be precise. I recovered my bull 40 yards from where I shot it. I for one, am very happy with the scope allowances that WA did this year. My gun and load performed flawlessly and the scope allowed me be as precise as my equipment at a very reasonable range. I was practiced out to 150 yards confidently..... I could not have done that with the stock williams fire sights that came with the gun.
With the stock sites, my front bead covered the 8 inch paper plate completely, so the only way I knew I was centered, was if I could see the "white" of the paper plate on either side of the front bead. Again, I was reasonably confident in my ability with open sights at 100 yards to make a good ethical kill shot on an elk. The scope increased my (ethical) ability by 50 yards and allows me to be precise..... Try looking through a 1X power scope and you will soon discover that it will help your eyes, but does nothing for you in terms of distances beyond about 100.
- AutumnPulse