ELK LOAD FOR TC ENCORE

[OwnMoreBone]

I drew a LE Dutton Muzzy tag this year so I just had to go out and buy a new TC Encore Muzzleloader in 50 Caliber for the hunt and I am looking for a good load. Has anyone found a good combination for this gun. I have tried 295 Power Belt HP with 100 and 150 grains in Pyrodex Pellets but I would like to tighten up my group a little better. Thanks in advance.
Reed

 

[APBT]

Thats the wrong load for elk!

338grain Platinum,348 Aerotip,405,444 Flat Point Powerbelts are the recommended Elk bullets by Powerbelt.

338-348= 80 to 90 grains Powder.

The 405 Powerbelt or heavier 100+grains Powder.

Dont buy into that Magnum powder charge BS, its an attempt to make you suffer from the recoil, unburnt powder and also to have your pocket book suffer.

I'd use the 405 and 444 powerbelt.

With the 444 Flat point, drive it through the shoulder as it needs to hit heavy mass in order to expand.


www.GandersPowerbeltForu.Powerguild.net

 

[txhunter58]

As stated, if you want to hunt with a powerbelt, use a bigger bullet and no more than 100 grains of powder or the bullet will disentigrate when it hits something.

Your best bet for a smaller bullet conical would be the new Hornady FPB bullet. Otherwise, I would use a better constructed sabot bullet. I beleive it was Jim Shockey that says he uses 100 grains and a 300 grain bullet to kill everything up to a polar bear BUT, he uses a sabot that is constructed to take abuse and blow on through. I believe it was the nosler partition.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[5yearcoueshunter]

I would use a heavy contructed bullet like a Barnes or a Nosler Partition in at least 250 grains. I like the 300 grain Barnes sabot. Killed a few elk with them and they rarely go 20 - 30 yards on a good lung shot. Because the bullet only pulls back so far, it will break through bone well if you don't get a perfect shot. I differ from the previous posts and use the magnum charge. It does kick quite a bit more, but will gain you almost 300 fps in velocity which will give you more energy to plow through a big animal like an elk. It will also give you a little more range in open country.

Travis

 

[APBT]

A 45-70 shooting a 405 grain bullet with 70 grains of black powder seemed to do a darn good job on buffalo Without a magnum charge. FPS dont mean crap, Its the Energy behind that bullet and the type of bullet thats used that will make the difference.


www.GandersPowerbeltForu.Powerguild.net

 

[txhunter58]

>I would use a heavy contructed
>bullet like a Barnes or
>a Nosler Partition in at
>least 250 grains. I
>like the 300 grain Barnes
>sabot. Killed a few
>elk with them and they
>rarely go 20 - 30
>yards on a good lung
>shot. Because the bullet
>only pulls back so far,
>it will break through bone
>well if you don't get
>a perfect shot. I differ
>from the previous posts and
>use the magnum charge.
>It does kick quite a
>bit more, but will gain
>you almost 300 fps in
>velocity which will give you
>more energy to plow through
>a big animal like an
>elk. It will also give
>you a little more range
>in open country.
>
>Travis

I would have to disagree as well. 100 grains of powder is more than enough to kill any bull elk walking. The only thing more powder does is give you a slightly flatter trajectory, and in my case more flinching. Most muzzleloaders will not even burn the full 150 grains before the bullet exits.

Here is a formula to figure out if your load will handle an elk. Ft/lb formulas give too much emphasis to the velocity and muzzleloaders basically shoot big slow bullets. So use your ft/lbs for your high powered rifle and use the Taylor index to compare muzzy loads. Here is the link:

http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/July02.htm


txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[dleonard3]

I would go with the Hornady SST/ML or T/C shockwave 300 grain, with their new superglide sabots. I shoot three 777 pellets in my Encore Pro-hunter. I would also recommend CCI 209's because they seem to be a little cleaner than the others. Be sure to treat the bore with Bore Butter when storing the gun, and wipe it out before loading. Then after loading, wipe the bore again with Bore Butter. I also like to wet patch & dry patch the bore between shots if I have time. You'll be amazed at the accuracy and consistency.

 

[OwnMoreBone]

Thanks everyone for all of the information, I am going to go and pickup some of the Hornady SST Low Drag 300 grain Sabot's and go to the range and see if I can't work up a good load.
Thanks again,
Reed

 

[jims]

Ownmorebone, I had your tag last year and got a great bull with my TC Mtn Hunter. Shoot me an email and I'll give you some pointers. [email protected]

 

[OwnMoreBone]

Well I went out yesterday and tried a bunch of different loads in my TC Encore and in doing so I came up with a fantastic combination. I ended up loading (4) 30 grain Triple 7 pellets with the Hornady SST Low Drag 300 grain Sabot's and that did the trick. With that load I was able to put a 3 shot group at 100 yards that you could put a silver dollar over. Now I just need to put another 20 or 30 shots thru my new gun and I will be ready for my hunt. Thanks again for all of the help that everyone gave me.
Reed

 

[jims]

Reed,
One word of advice..you may want to try your setup at 200 yards? Dutton has a lot of open country and you may need to shoot that far! I would be interested to hear what your 300 grain's drop is at 200 yards? If my memory is correct there was a substantial difference in drop between my 245 and 290s at 200 yards with the same amount of powder. I also seemed to be able to get a tighter group with the 245s...but that may have just been my barrel and the amount of powder, etc?

What ever the case I would definitely consider shooting a lot at 100 to 200 yards! Depending upon what type of scope/site you are using it really makes a big diffence and you can fine tune your shooting ability if you practice at the longer ranges! You'll find out it is pretty tough with a 1x scope at 200 yards but with practice you can really group your shots. Good luck!

 

[OwnMoreBone]

Thanks Jim,
I plan on doing shooting a bunch more at longer distances on my next day off. I bought the Bushnell Holo site for my Encore and I really like it for distance. I will let you know how it goes when I get back from shooting.
Reed

 

[Oakbuck]

The SST and low drag sabots is exactly what I used on my last elk. For my Encore 90g of 777 gave the best groups but sounds like 120 is working good for you. It's a great combo.

Best of luck with your hunt!

Rick

 

[OwnMoreBone]

Oakbuck,
I didn't try the 90 grain load, I started out with (2) 50 grain Pyrodex pellets and worked up from there. My next time out I will try 90 grains and see how my Encore does with that load. As far as the SST low drags you shoot were they the 300 grain?
Reed

 

[Oakbuck]

> My next time out
>I will try 90 grains
>and see how my Encore
>does with that load. As
>far as the SST low
>drags you shoot were they
>the 300 grain?
>Reed

Yep 300g.

I started at the range with the Lock-N-Load speed sabots and 2 50g 777 pellets with pretty good results but then went to the regular sabots and dropped the powder down to 90g loose 777 which tightened up the groups even more.

Since that hunt I have changed to the 300g Hornady XTP with Harvestor Crush Rib Sabots using 95g loose 777. I did this because the crush rib sabots load ALOT easier up to 6 or 7 shots with these results

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID14/1402.html

This target is at 100yards with a scope.

I also have gotten away from the hot 209s which has helped reduce the crud ring.

After much trial and error this is the load I hunt everything with.

Oakbuck

 

[Oakbuck]

One more thing about the Harvester Sabots, I pick up all my sabots and most of the other sabots I have used, including Hornady, have at least one wing missing usually because they are too thick and tight to load. Not so with these.

They load snug but not too tight or too loose. They are just the right thickness for my Encore.

I use the 45cal black ones.

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0012633216130a.shtml#customer-product-reviews

Best of luck to you.

Oakbuck

 

[Bambistew]

IMO powerbelts are the softest lead bullet you can buy, and they offer them in such small leight weights that you're asking the bullet to do more than its capable of. If you can shoot sabots, I'd shoot Barnes or something that will hold together, and shoot a magnum load. If not look for 400gr+ lead bullets and keep the charge around 90-100 grains.

Good luck.

 

[dleonard3]

I agree with Bambistew, well constructed and heavy bullets with heavy powder charges from a long barrel will generate the highest energy. Elk are BIG, TOUGH animals. But if the bullet hits the heart/lung area and expands without fragmenting, that bull will go down.

The trick is to find a heavy bullet/powder charge that shoots consistently accurate out of your gun. Once you've found that combination, stick with it and practice, practice, practice, so you'll know where the bullet hits at all distances and angles.

 

[rdd627]

Yes, I have a triunph and I seem to be going through the same issues. I am getting good patterns at a hundred and 150 but im going to try and tighten it up. Im shooting 3 pellets and 250gr. what unit did you get drwn for?