Two deer on opening day of muzzleloader season this past week. My son and I each shot one and spent the rest of the week strictly hunting for a big buck as we had only one more tag to fill. My son passed up several good shots at does. Eating lunch in the truck one day we saw a big buck through the binoculars across a large plowed field rubbing the overhanging tree limbs of the bordering woods - just taunting us because we had just left that area. But we never got a crack at it even though we were hunting it at that location. The weather did not cooperate for about half the week either.
I shot my deer standing broad side at about 45 yards with my Knight 50cal with iron sights. It was different as I have been using scopes for most of my big game hunting for years. It was kind of fun for a change. The irons on my Knight seem quite good to me too. One shot and it was literally bang flop.
I was shooting a duplex load of 5 grains of black powder tossed in ahead of 90 grains loose PyrodexRS by volume. It was topped off with a .452 300gr XTP in a black crushed rib sabot. The black powder is supposed to help to get the loose pyrodexRS burning. I use musket caps for more flame as I have had misfires before with just straight pyrodexRS - but none so far when using a pinch of black powder down the spout first. After I shot number one doe, a second one ran closer to me and stopped. I had to glance at it milling around for some part of a minute while I fiddled around with my duplex reloading. By the time I had capped my piece, at 30 yards there was just air left where a doe used to be. Good fun and that deer will be bigger next year too.
My son shot his deer using my borrowed SavageML with an old Lyman steel fixed 4x command post scope. It worked just fine as the deer fell within 8 feet of where he shot it at about 30 yards out. That rifle is designed to handle certain smokeless powder loads. So he was using 42grains (weighed) of SR4759 behind a .452 300gr XTP in a black crushed rib sabot and CCI 209M sparkers.
It was a very enjoyable week which I think both of us will remember fondly for years to come.
Here are a few pics of one of my set ups - my blind with my Knight rifle.
Looking at sun just rising from my blind
I shot my deer standing broad side at about 45 yards with my Knight 50cal with iron sights. It was different as I have been using scopes for most of my big game hunting for years. It was kind of fun for a change. The irons on my Knight seem quite good to me too. One shot and it was literally bang flop.
I was shooting a duplex load of 5 grains of black powder tossed in ahead of 90 grains loose PyrodexRS by volume. It was topped off with a .452 300gr XTP in a black crushed rib sabot. The black powder is supposed to help to get the loose pyrodexRS burning. I use musket caps for more flame as I have had misfires before with just straight pyrodexRS - but none so far when using a pinch of black powder down the spout first. After I shot number one doe, a second one ran closer to me and stopped. I had to glance at it milling around for some part of a minute while I fiddled around with my duplex reloading. By the time I had capped my piece, at 30 yards there was just air left where a doe used to be. Good fun and that deer will be bigger next year too.
My son shot his deer using my borrowed SavageML with an old Lyman steel fixed 4x command post scope. It worked just fine as the deer fell within 8 feet of where he shot it at about 30 yards out. That rifle is designed to handle certain smokeless powder loads. So he was using 42grains (weighed) of SR4759 behind a .452 300gr XTP in a black crushed rib sabot and CCI 209M sparkers.
It was a very enjoyable week which I think both of us will remember fondly for years to come.
Here are a few pics of one of my set ups - my blind with my Knight rifle.
Looking at sun just rising from my blind
