What Muzzleloader and bullet combo do you recommend for Washington?

[Magnum_Willys]

Washington is rainy and failures to fire are common. Get the Remington. You won’t regret it. With anything else, you might.

 
Buy Once. 

[dilleytech]

We had really good results with Barnes bullets this fall on two bulls. Recovered both bullets with perfect expansion. 290 gr behind 110gr of pyrodex. Both bulls stood in there place before tipping over with lung shots.

Knight bighorn. Zero problems so far but only had the gun one year. I plan to get a second. Or a mountaineer.

[Buck86]

This is one of those questions that will get multiple answers.  Ill start with the bullets.  I have now shot 2 bulls with my muzzleloader.  The first was with a 300grn Hornady sst, the bull tried to take a step and fell right over.  The second was with the Branes 290grn EZ.  The bull took a couple of steps turned around and fell over. My buddy used the Hornady on his bull and it fell right over.  If you plan to hunt elk I suggest using 300grn or very close to that.  Also those bullets were all pushed by 110grns of lose triple 7 powder 2f. 

As for a muzz the sky is the limit pick something you like.  My two buddies both have the Accura v2's.  One is using musket caps and the other is using the 209 primers.  I witnessed my buddy using the 209 primers have a hang fire and a not fire.  And there is something in cleaning the firing pin on those so they don't get gummed up and corroded.   I personally use a knight.  Both of the bulls I shot were with a bighorn using #11 percussion caps.  I also have a Disc extreme but hadn't had it long enough to use it last year yet.  Yes I still use the open to the elements style and no I have not had any problems with the gun firing. I personally do not see the benefits to using a 209 primer.  There are lots of different muzzleloaders out there, pick one you like and learn all you can about it.  I lean towards a knight as I have 2.

Good Luck
Buck

[gotshot]

I have a T/C black diamond xr and use #11 caps and have never had a problem. Bad part is they don't offer them anymore.

[callturner]

I shoot a CVA Accura V2 with 77 weighed gr of Blackhorn 209, pushing a 300 gr Speer Deep Curl in a Harvester black crushrib sabot.

[huntnnw]

pretty hard to beat a Barnes 290gr

[deadwoodbuck]

Knight bighorn .54 cal...because it was on sale...pyrodex powder Barnes sabot 290 grain with the biggest percussion cap that you can find

[Chukarhead]

Knight Bighorn or UL/Barnes 290-EZ/Triple7 have accounted for a lot of dead deer and elk for my group since WA started allowing non-lead bullets.

I'm genuinely mystified as to why anyone would choose to hunt with Powerbelts now that honest-to-goodness bullets are available and legal, saboted or not, either non-tox (Barnes, Lehigh), or lead (Hornady, Speer, etc.).  Powerbelts are easy to load...that's their only (minor) advantage.