Muzzleloader shotguns confound me

[davesonic444]

How can you push any proper card or wad through a tight choke?

[mnbirdbuster]

Plain and simple...you cant! Guns with removable chokes of more than about .020 constriction are nearly impossible to push fiber wads and over powder cards through! Felt wads are great for this purpose as they can be loaded through a tight choke and will bounce back to their original shape after passing through the choke! Some guns just dont pattern great with felt so keep that in mind! The name of the game with guns and removable chokes is to remove the choke each and every time you load the gun and then reinstall!

[davesonic444]

What kind of payload can one shoot out of a muzzleloader?

[mnbirdbuster]

Depends on what gun you shoot, my Knight TK 2000 is rated for 120gr of powder and 2 1/2oz of shot My 10ga Pedersoli double is rated for 109gr of powder and 1 1/2oz of shot The CVA offering is rated substantially lower at 1 1/4oz and 100gr of powder i believe, the T/C offerings are somewhere in there also! They all work regardless of the amount of shot they push, a small percentage of pellets hit a turkeys head/neck anyway! What you want is a dense cluster of pellets that is true to you POA, regardless of what the payload is, as many of these guns produce sub par patterns when loaded to the makers max recommendations!!!

[mnbirdbuster]

Heres the biblical statement when it comes to killing with a  smokepole..."Less Powder and More lead, Shoots Farther and Kills Dead! Keep that in mind and you will achieve good patterns

[davesonic444]

Sounds like similar good advice I received for deer

[HartClemson99]

With my TK2000 that I got a Grand Slam with I used 100 grains of Triple 7 Hodgdon powder and I ended up cutting open Hevi-Shot 3.5" magnum blend shells to make my loads.  Buying bulk lead or Hevi-Shot is expensive. 

My patterns were awesome, BUT, I will warn you that a good pattern at a long distance (40 yards) doesn't always equate to killing power.  I learned that lesson well.

[joey46]

Good to see a new post (finally) in this section.  Just an FYI - the 100 grains of Triple 7 is maximum listed for a TK200 according to my manual.  120 grains is max for other powders.  I have been using 100 grains of Goex BP and the kick is almost of nose bleed proportions.  Can't even think about going up another 20 grains .  I may try a few with 80 grains and see what happens.

[WildTigerTrout]

In my TK2000 I shoot 110 gr. Pyrodex and 2 oz. of copperplated #6 shot. Throws good patterns but the recoil is STOUT!

[hoyt]

I built a 20ga. flintlock just for spring gobbler hunting made it real lightweight and had the Colrain Turkey barrel cut down to 36". I shoot 100grs. of FFG black powder with 2oz. of #6 lead shot.

[nhbones]

I have a 20 ga barrel for an Italian Hawken copy.  I bought all the stuff to shoot it and have some lead 6's, but never get around to shooting it.

I hope to use it for either turkey or on a pheasant hunt...