Thanks Dune, I'm always looking for new load data. Heckuva group out of your Contender (one item I'd like to have). I like them big bullets not necessarily going the speed of light, I think they really get the job done. In fact one of my beers that I made that was a big and heavy bitter we named "Big Bullet Theory". Knocks down big game one slow glass at a time. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

ShadyRascal "Big Bullet Theory" i like that.I bet that beer has a kick to it!!!

 

It's so thick you have to wash it down with another beer. :0

 

I use an Encore 209X50 with the 3-9 Hawken scope. Love the gun. We get going Oct 14 here for deer. Early bear is open now and I was in my stand this evening. A nice 7 pointer came in and stayed within 15 yards of me for just over an hour. Bow starts Sept 27 and hope he or his big brother shows up then. NY hunting can be good but you may only see one buck (or none) for the season.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]I have been hunting for about 15 years with muzzleloaders. I had aThompson Center Hawken, and its
sights couldn't be adjusted enough to shoot with any accuracy. I now have a Remington, ML207. black barrel,
and a scope. I had a very hard time getting this gun to be accurate also. I now can shoot good groups,
out to 200 yds. I also use 100 gr or pyrodex pellets. and Barnes xpander 300 gr sabot. I sometimes substitute
ThomCen Sabots which are quite accurate. I thought the powder pellets, could be improved on by measuring
out a selected amount of powder. This worked out poorly for me, and I went back to pellets. I needed a scope
to get good accuracy past 50 yds. Otherwise I was all over the paper. Not now though.

 

Just a follow-up about the Austin & Halleck Select Mountain rifles I mentioned before. A guy I know kept bugging me shortly after I wrote that post about selling them to him. To shut him up I sold him the pair and traded for another gun he had that I sort of wanted that he would never sell to me. I decided couple of days ago to order another matched set from Austin & Halleck and discovered to my abject horror that as of a couple of weeks ago they had gone out of business. They made about the best traditional muzzleloaders on the market. I immediately called up the guy I had sold them to so I could wheel and deal to buy them back and he'd already traded them off to someone else and they'd went through 2 or 3 other owners already I guess and the price skyrocketing each time.

The phone call ended with thumping myself on the head over and over with the telephone repeating the words ?stupid, stupid, stupid.?

I'm never selling another gun again. I'm just going to horde them. Every dang time I do I regret it.

 

I have had to re acquire a few guns myself .I now keep them even if they are seldom used.My TC New Englander may not be too much of a looker now but i know that it will hit what i am aiming at and it will stay with me forever.I am headed out in about 30 minutes to sit in my tree stand and my TC will be with me.