My muzzleloading education has spanned 50 years, and fortunately, I'm still learning. One of the realities of muzzleloading today is that once your knowledge of muzzleloader hunting performance graduates you to the next level, it becomes increasingly harder to step back down to rifles and loads with far less efficiency, range, knockdown power or accuracy - except for maybe nostalgic reasons.
Loaded with my overall favorite load for most .50 caliber No. 209 primer ignition in-line rifles, the Traditions .50 VORTEK Ultra Light LDR has proven to be one of the absolute finest performing No. 209 primer ignition in-line rifles I have ever shot or carried on a hunt. That load consists of 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 behind Harvester Muzzleloading's saboted 300-grain .451" diameter Scorpion PT Gold bullet, using the Federal 209A primer for very spontaneous ignition. At the muzzle of the rifle's 30-inch barrel, the load is good for 2,009 f.p.s., with 2,690 foot-pounds of energy. At 200 yards, the load keeps the polymer-tipped spire-point bullet moving along at 1,451 f.p.s., and driving home with more than 1,400 foot-pounds of knockdown power.
While I do intend to do some hunting with several other rifles during the coming fall hunting seasons...the performance of the Ultra Light LDR has already insured that it will be my primary hunting rifle in 2013. Topped with one of the Hi-Lux 3-9x TB-ML multi-reticle scopes, using the proper long-range cross-bar for the range, the rifle and load shared earlier easily keeps ALL HITS in the kill zone at 200...225...250 yards - and with the knockdown power to insure the game will be laying very close to where it was standing when the shot was taken. Typical accuracy with the rifle keeps most groups right at an inch at 100 yards...and around 2 1/2 inches at 200 yards.
It's easy to see why I have so much confidence in the rifle and load. The combo for me, right now, is the culmination of five decades of shooting and hunting with a muzzle-loaded rifle...always striving for the best performing rig I could put together.
What are you hunting with this fall?
As something of a Fall 2013 Muzzleloader Hunting Seasons Primer, here are a few articles or reports you might want to check out...if you haven't already. - Toby Bridges, HARVESTER MUZZLELOADING HUNTER
50 Shots Through The Same 1.2-Inch Hole At 100 Yards
Go To - http://www.namlhunt.com/mltesting.html
Blackhorn 209 Country - A Charge Weight Is Just A Number
Go To - http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-6.html
Do You Know The 200-Yard Drop Of The Polymer Tip Saboted Spire-Point You Hunt With?
Go To - http://www.namlhunt.com/mltrajectory.html
Don't Let No. 209 Primer Fouling Build Up Hamper The Performance Of Your Rifle!
Go To - http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-7.html
Hot Weather Shooting - How It Affects AccuracyGo To - http://www.namlhunt.com/mltesting2.html
