250 grain Knight Bloodline for elk.

[HntnFsh]

 Ive always felt like the 300 grain ballpark was optimum for a non lead elk muzzy bullet. Ive killed several elk with Barnes in the 285-300 grain range. A few elk with the Bloodlines, or Lehighs in the 300 grains. Ive just never been a fan with how hard they load even with using different sabots to help. The orange HPH for the Bloodline, Lehigh bullets helped it load easier but I felt accuracy was just ok.

Ive thought about trying some of the Bloodline 250 grains for elk. I'm concerned they are too light. Wondering if any of you have used them and what your thoughts are on them for elk? I really like the concept of how theBloodlines work. I just keep second guessing them. I dont like that.

I picked up a couple boxes of Speer Deep Curl 300 grain .452 bullets awhile back. Always heard good things about them. Considering giving them a try also.

Of the almost 20 bulls Ive shot with a muzzleloader I think Ive shot 1 bull over 150 yards. It was 165 yards and that was when I was using a lead bullet. So most likely my shots would be under 150 yards. I dont know, guess I am still in the search for the perfect bullet if there is such a thing, and I really want it to be a Bloodline, Lehigh.

[elkboy]

Can't tell you much about effectiveness of the 250 on elk, but I've seen several elk taken with the 300 grain version. It is deadly. I can also tell you this- the 300 grain version is not too much for use on deer. I have taken 15+ deer with the Bloodline at 300 grains, and it is incredibly effective without costing much meat. So, to my mind, the 300 grain is a round that is heavy enough for elk, but still useful for deer.  Hopefully other folks can weigh in.

[Sabotloader]

Ive always felt like the 300 grain ballpark was optimum for a non lead elk muzzy bullet. Ive killed several elk with Barnes in the 285-300 grain range. A few elk with the Bloodlines, or Lehighs in the 300 grains. Ive just never been a fan with how hard they load even with using different sabots to help. The orange HPH for the Bloodline, Lehigh bullets helped it load easier but I felt accuracy was just ok.

Ive thought about trying some of the Bloodline 250 grains for elk. I'm concerned they are too light. Wondering if any of you have used them and what your thoughts are on them for elk? I really like the concept of how theBloodlines work. I just keep second guessing them. I dont like that.

I picked up a couple boxes of Speer Deep Curl 300 grain .452 bullets awhile back. Always heard good things about them. Considering giving them a try also.

Of the almost 20 bulls Ive shot with a muzzleloader I think Ive shot 1 bull over 150 yards. It was 165 yards and that was when I was using a lead bullet. So most likely my shots would be under 150 yards. I dont know, guess I am still in the search for the perfect bullet if there is such a thing, and I really want it to be a Bloodline, Lehigh.

I have for years used both the 275 and the 300 grain Bloodlines for elk and deer. I consider the 275 the best all-around bullet and the 300 is real getter for elk.

The 250 by all rights should work fine on Elk.  I would be a bit concerned about a bull in active rut with the 250 but I really do think it would do the job - especially with the correct bullet placement.

To ease your loading of the .458 bullets have you tried polishing your bore with JB Bore paste.  I used this on more than one bore polishing a tight bore to be able to load easier.

check this link

https://www.amazon.com/J-B-Non-Embedding-Bore-Cleaning-Compound/dp/B0018L9UOW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1342504261450027&hvadid=83906587343734&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=79832&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83906861095124%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=24662_10681382&keywords=jb+bore+paste&qid=1656646279&sr=8-1

[HntnFsh]

Thanks for responding Sabotloader. You jogged my memory!
I first tried using the 300 grain Bloodlines the year I drew my Dayton muzzy bull tag. I was having the same issue and you walked me through this. I just never got great results. I  ended up using Barnes bullets for that hunt.

During that time I did try polishing the bore on my Knight Bighorn. I started doing some shooting and my shots looked like they were fired out of a shotgun. Couldnt get them close to dialed in. When I was cleaning my barrel I noticed what looked like pitting just inside the crown. Upon further review there was a lot of pitting in the first couple inches in from the crown of the barrel. It actually wasnt pitting, but more lie the metal was flaking away. This was just a few weeks for my tag opener. I contacted Knight and sent them pictures. They were going through some issues then and it was taking forever to get anything figured out. Finally the nice lady on the phone said at this point I'm just going to send you a new barrel. Unfortunately that was while I was on my hunt. Fortunately Sportsmans had a sale on Knight muzzies and I bought a new one to use. I'll se if I can find some pics of the barrel. It was crazy. The flaking was shiny.

Since then I havent tried polishing the bore on my newer muzzy because even though I know the polishing didnt have anything to do with it, I equate the bore issue to that process. I do use the orange sabots and they load pretty well. In fact I feel they are about perfect for most saboted bullets. But It seems like I remember you saying something about them needing to be pretty snug. I kind of feel like I may not be finding that perfect fit. I am loading them a a bit hot it seems like with 110 grains of T7 FFFg. and using RWS 1075 caps. Maybe I just need to spend more time dialing in a load. I dont know. Sometimes I think I just get frustrated and start bouncing around trying different things too much.

[haftard]

I would use them in a heart beat. I shot the 350g bloodlines and when I run out I'll probably switch to the 250s for alittle more speed.

[HntnFsh]

Barrel pic

[Sabotloader]

Barrel pic

As I look at this picture... I can not tell if there has been a 'crown' cut into the muzzle.

It almost looks FLAT across the muzzle

I am ignoring the problem inside the bore, guess I would have thought JB's with a very tight patch might have cleaned this up.

[HntnFsh]

Sorry. I confused things with that picture. That's the old barrel that I was talking about that Knight warrantied. Its irrelevant anymore.


I'm using the barrel they replaced it with. Probably has 100 rounds through the barrel I'm using.

[Sabotloader]

Sorry. I confused things with that picture. That's the old barrel that I was talking about that Knight warrantied. Its irrelevant anymore.


I'm using the barrel they replaced it with. Probably has 100 rounds through the barrel I'm using.

O OK - copy that! now it makes more sense!