Post by: Pete112288 on November 08, 2013, 12:58:19 PM
Where I typically hunt it is 10-20 year old firs. A lot of reprod that is open enough to walk upright but anything beyond 10 yards is bound to have a couple twigs in the way. Most of my shots are between 5 and 25 yards. I was unsing 348 grain Powerbelts and a buddy of mine had a couple misses with some Barnes sabots, not sure the size he was using.
Both my misses this early season were 10 yards. My buddies were 10 and 20 yards. The brush we deal with is a lot of the dead twigs and limbs under the darker timber. Its really dry type stuff that snaps easy with little resistance. Its not a wall of brush, normally just a few always in the way. Sometimes I hit clear cut edges with 100 yard shots but most is less than 30. Both my buddy's misses and mine we were able to find where the bullets hit. The brush deflected them just enough to hit home into tree trunks. I still search for the best most open shot I can get, and have passed a few thick brush shots but was currious on everyone's experience with muzzleloaders in the brush. I think I may see how the Harvester bullets like my gun and try them next season.
Any inputs on muzzleloaders in the brush? Or opinions on that article?
Post by: Soady on November 09, 2013, 11:13:15 PM
Post by: Sabotloader on November 10, 2013, 07:45:34 AM
After having a couple misses in the brush in early season I started researching this a little more. Didnt find much by searching the forum here but I found this article when I googled it. http://harvestermlhunter.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-brush-busting-muzzleloader-hunting.html (http://harvestermlhunter.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-brush-busting-muzzleloader-hunting.html)
Where I typically hunt it is 10-20 year old firs. A lot of reprod that is open enough to walk upright but anything beyond 10 yards is bound to have a couple twigs in the way. Most of my shots are between 5 and 25 yards. I was unsing 348 grain Powerbelts and a buddy of mine had a couple misses with some Barnes sabots, not sure the size he was using.
Both my misses this early season were 10 yards. My buddies were 10 and 20 yards. The brush we deal with is a lot of the dead twigs and limbs under the darker timber. Its really dry type stuff that snaps easy with little resistance. Its not a wall of brush, normally just a few always in the way. Sometimes I hit clear cut edges with 100 yard shots but most is less than 30. Both my buddy's misses and mine we were able to find where the bullets hit. The brush deflected them just enough to hit home into tree trunks. I still search for the best most open shot I can get, and have passed a few thick brush shots but was currious on everyone's experience with muzzleloaders in the brush. I think I may see how the Harvester bullets like my gun and try them next season.
Any inputs on muzzleloaders in the brush? Or opinions on that article?
It has long been suggested that Spire Point bullets tend to defect easier than Blunt Nose bullets. In the days when I use to hunt with a 300 Win Mag in the timber I would use a Semi-Round nose Nosler Partition just for that reason. In fact going back to the old days one of my biggest concerns was the bullets BC from my centerfire rifles. Today and now that I hunt only with a ML and my shots will always be less than 200 yards or just slightly greater - I really do not worry about BC, so I do use blunt nose type bullets of even big wide hollow points, just to help in the area of deflection.
This is an example of one the bullets I use...
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv130%2Fsabotloader%2F458-305.jpg&hash=ed23af00ee24ea555cd266b7bac7ff6ebbfd8e22) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/sabotloader/media/458-305.jpg.html)