frankwright
Senior Member
After many years of shooting sidelock muzzleloaders I broke down a couple of years ago and bought an inline that was on sale. The main reason I bought it is I had just missed a deer twice and I was frustrated. Old eyes and open sights are not a good combination.
So today I went to the range with it and I had several firsts. The first sabot I had ever shot. The first time with a scoped ML and the first time using the new Goex Pinnacle powder.
It took me a few shots to get on paper at 50 yards but eventially I was able to shoot three round cloverleafs at 50 yards. 100 yards was a different story, The best I could do was 3" for four shots but that will do just fine for a deer. I blame the 100 yard accuracy on several things but mostly shakey me and the CVA Magbolt does not have the smoothest trigger either.
I shot 85 gr weighed charges with a 260 gr Scorpion Funnel point bullet, .50 cal with the Harvester Ribbed sabots. I used 209 primers.
The Pinnacle still makes a lot of smoke but it does not have that egg smell and it does not dirty up your hands or rifle. The tenth sabot loaded just as easy as the first with no cleaning between shots. I started running a damp patch after every shot to see if it made any difference and it didn't. When you look down the barrel after shooting you see a white greasy film in the barrel and that is all. A damp patch and the barrel looks clean again.
The bullets and sabots were inexpensive ones I bought at cabelas but after reading some good reviews on them. They were $8.00 for thirty bullets and sabots. The sabots were a new design from Harvester that supposedly load easier and seal better. They could have been the reason they all loaded so easily or the powder or a combination of both. I had heard of people saying after two or three shots it was very hard to load another sabot without some cleaning but this was not the case for me. Also when I cleaned and inspected the barrel, I did not see anything that looked like plastic residue that I had heard about.
They say you can clean with just cold plain water and it did clean it up pretty good. The residue just wipes off. I followed up with my standard Windex with vinegar not ammonia. The front of the breech plug and the bolt did clean up with just a damp rag so cleanup is definitely easier that with the Pyrodex that I have always used. They also say nothing in the powder will rust your gun either but I still wiped down the outside and the bore with bore butter.
All I need now is for one to step out in front of me on October 14th!
So today I went to the range with it and I had several firsts. The first sabot I had ever shot. The first time with a scoped ML and the first time using the new Goex Pinnacle powder.
It took me a few shots to get on paper at 50 yards but eventially I was able to shoot three round cloverleafs at 50 yards. 100 yards was a different story, The best I could do was 3" for four shots but that will do just fine for a deer. I blame the 100 yard accuracy on several things but mostly shakey me and the CVA Magbolt does not have the smoothest trigger either.
I shot 85 gr weighed charges with a 260 gr Scorpion Funnel point bullet, .50 cal with the Harvester Ribbed sabots. I used 209 primers.
The Pinnacle still makes a lot of smoke but it does not have that egg smell and it does not dirty up your hands or rifle. The tenth sabot loaded just as easy as the first with no cleaning between shots. I started running a damp patch after every shot to see if it made any difference and it didn't. When you look down the barrel after shooting you see a white greasy film in the barrel and that is all. A damp patch and the barrel looks clean again.
The bullets and sabots were inexpensive ones I bought at cabelas but after reading some good reviews on them. They were $8.00 for thirty bullets and sabots. The sabots were a new design from Harvester that supposedly load easier and seal better. They could have been the reason they all loaded so easily or the powder or a combination of both. I had heard of people saying after two or three shots it was very hard to load another sabot without some cleaning but this was not the case for me. Also when I cleaned and inspected the barrel, I did not see anything that looked like plastic residue that I had heard about.
They say you can clean with just cold plain water and it did clean it up pretty good. The residue just wipes off. I followed up with my standard Windex with vinegar not ammonia. The front of the breech plug and the bolt did clean up with just a damp rag so cleanup is definitely easier that with the Pyrodex that I have always used. They also say nothing in the powder will rust your gun either but I still wiped down the outside and the bore with bore butter.
All I need now is for one to step out in front of me on October 14th!
