Sighting in a patched ball muzzle loader

[Fly]

I have always sighted in my PB muzzle loaded at 50 yards.I don't know if
thats the norm or not.

What distance do most of you sight yours in.

Fly[smilie=2:

[Jim]

I have a Lyman GPR in .54 caplock. I sight it in at 75 yards using .535 RBs.

[northmn]

While I hunt in a forested area, I still get some longer shots over hay fields. I usually sight in at 75 yards as that will get a hit out to 100+ yards.

DP

[stubshaft]

I usually hunt in heavy vegetation and try to limit my shots (when I can see the far) to 50 yds. or less, so I sight in at 50yds. also.

[Omnivore]

My longest shot on a deer so far has been about 85 yards. The others have been taken at under 30 yards. That's all with my chosen hunting load for a 50 cal PB-- 120 grains Goex FF or 110 grains volume Pyro RS.

I zero for 100 yards, on the theory that a) I'm comfortable shooting at 100 yards in good conditions so long as I'm concentrating on the prey rather than fudging around with holdovers, and b) anything closer is perfectly good hunting accuracy with a dead-on hold, i.e. no adjustments to the hold for distances closer than 100. That's point blank out to where I would question taking the shot due to my abilities with those sights and that rifle. So it works for me. It just depends what you want for your conditions.

The main thing is to shoot as much as you can and find what you like or are comfortable with.

Stub; "...he wouldn't have made them out of MEAT!" THAT is the best ever.

[smoked turkey]

I don't have a good sight picture above 50 yards with the open sights on my rifles. My old eyes probably. As such I limit my shooting to neighborhood of 50 yards. The two whitetails I have taken with muzzleloader were 40 and 30 yards. I think however the advice given above of 75 yards is best. I think I will stretch myself next time and try 75.

[DIRT Farmer]

35 grns of fg and round ball in my fifty is dead on at 35 yds, 60 grns of ffg/ PBR at 75. squirrels to deer, same gun.

[mooman76]

It really depends on what I'm shooting at for a norm. Usually 25-50. If I'm taking it hunting I see how it does at 100y because I up my charge for hunting anyway compared to a my usual plinking loads and they work out about even anyway or good enough for minute of deer.

[NickSS]

My cap lock 50 cal round ball gun is sighted in a 100 yards with 90 gr of FFG GOEX. It will hit point of aim at that range. The same load at 50 yards hits about 3 inches high which is more than minute of Deer. It hits about 5 inches low at 125 yards which is as far as I would shoot at game with a round ball gun. I have fixed sights on my rifle so they only change with powder charge. I can load 50 gr of powder and it will be right on POA at 50 yards and shoots 6-7 inches low at 100.

[missionary5155]

Good morning have a great Independence Day !
I always plan on my longest shoot being the sight in distance. But then I hunt river bottoms and thickets in woods so the longest shot I ever made on a corn cruncher with my muzzleloaders was 35 yards. But I still site them for 50 yards. If I was to ever get out to field hunting I would probably sight for 100 yards as under that distance just means I would aim a shade lower.
Mike in Peru

[thunderthud]

I sight in everything @ 25 yds. Reason being the sight error at 50 yds. or beyond is doubled. I use a big target so I can see what i'm doing and when its dialed in I use the same load @ 50yds. for target. Hunting is almost always offhand and in NW Ohio the shooting is usually within 50yds. My longest shot about 40 yds.

[Tatume]

My 66 caliber stalking rifle is sighted in at 100 yards.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I always sight in a new gun ( MLer's or center fire or rim fire) at 25 yards, as "thunderthud" said "sight error". After sighting in at 25, I sight in again at what ever distance I think I might be shooting at. Out here in Arizona (unless you are hunting in the Cedars) Most shots can be expected at around a 100 yard. When my ML is sighted it at a 100 it will shoot inside an 8" circle at 25 yards out to 125 yards. Of course it will do much better than that but shooting at different distances the slug will hit at different spots on the target yet within an 8" circle.

[10 ga]

I sight my open sighted BP MLs at 50 yd. and the peep sighted at 85 yd. With my inline scoped BP MLs I sight in at 100 yd. With my smokeless .50 cal ML Savage MLIIs (2) and custon Encore smokeless ML .45 cal I sight in at 200. I practice with the open and peep sighted gunsfrom 15 out to 150. The Savage and Encore I practice from 15 out to 300. Good shooting! 10 ga

[thunderthud]

just curious 10 ga., how big a target do you use at 200 & 300 yds. At our club we shoot offhand @ 100 yds the farthest distance but we only shoot patched rb. and use the 2 ring buffalo w/ 6" centers or the nmlra reg. 100 target and sometimes novelty targets of the same size. Our club has talked about a 150 ot 200 yd. range but frankly a lot of folks find the 100 about the limit of their ability. Btw, I have shot my 20 ga. Tulle @ 100 yds and can usually keep all the balls on the paper, but maybe not in the rings.:smile:

[Omnivore]

Our club has talked about a 150 ot 200 yd. range but frankly a lot of folks find the 100 about the limit of their ability.

thunderthud; respectfully, I find irony in that statement. If people only shoot at 100, then that will in fact be about the limit of their ability. The point is to practice outside your comfort range. Practice at 200, including load experimentation, and I guarantee your 100 yard groups will shrink. Shooters of 150 and 200+ years ago would sometimes compete at 200 yards and more. There are 1,000 yard black powder competitions.

[firefly1957]

It helps to tell us what you are using it for! I do sight most iron sighted long guns in at 50 yds.

[10 ga]

Thunder.... For the 200 and 300 yard shooting use regular targets. 6" black bullseye with a 2" orange or white dot in center. With the Savage MLIIs i'm shooting a 250 gr. FTX at about 2400 fps. With the Encore I get about 2600 fps with a 195 gr. Barnes. Please be aware that is with smokeless powder which is what the guns were designed for and is legal for ML hunting here in VA. Those Savage MLIIs are really nice "beanfield" guns for ML season. There are even some guys that are shooting Swinglock ML rifles. The company guarantees MOA out to 300 with their MLs. 10

[thunderthud]

Omnivore,
At our club I shoot with some men & women that are using patched rb and open sights, no glass, no peeps. we split about 50/50 flintlock, percussion. we shoot offhand with no support. From what I have witnessed on the line and having been a range officer many times over after 50 yds the "groups" begin to wander , sight error, wind, high sun, low cloud, rain, snow , whatever. We shoot in all weather every month of the year. At the extended ranges of 200 + a six inch bullseye is covered up by a front sight if it can even be seen at that range. For open sighted patched rb in a traditional muzzleloader using bp 100 yds. is about the limit of practical shooting
No disrespect meant to anyone or to get anyone riled up.

[T-Bird]

Keep in mind that roundballs are light for their given caliber. They have a terrible BC. According to Lyman (I think) they are only traveling 1/3 of their muzzle vel. at 100yds. Not important unless hunting- both for penetration and energy. T-Bird

[thunderthud]

out to say 75 yds the rb is devastating, all the deer I've killed have fallen to rb. none had to be shot twice or tracked the next day. all fell from a well placed shot quickly. Blood loss is enoromous. the ball uses up all its energy in the animal and still sometimes passes through. the balls I've been lucky enough to recover have expanded to twice their original size. I have a .490 ball that took down a buck and expanded to .810 . many snear at the lowly rb but in practice it is a lethal projectile when shot at practical ranges.