Best blach powder for white tails?

[blackamos]

I am new to black powder hunting and shooting. I recently bought a T/C Thunder Hawk in .54 cal that I plan to use this year in southern Michigan take a white tail. Any advice as too a load to achive this? Sabot v Ball? Black powder V Pyrodex? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Amos

 

[CD1]

Amos,

The sabots are going to be more accurate than ball ammo in a muzzle loader. Regardless of which powder you use, practice a lot. Go to the range and see how your gun shoots at 50, 75, 100 yards. You will definately see a difference in accuracy depending on how many grains of powder you use. The smoke pole isnt as forgiving of range estimation errors as a high powered rifle. Have fun and good hunting.

 

[BMiracle]

Hodgdons Pyrodex powder or Pyrodex pellets.

 

[Poodleshooter]

Pyrodex shoots cleaner. This means you will be able to fire more shots before you have to swab the barrel out. Use sabots if you can, they are superior at extended ranges, though they can be expensive for practice. Your thunderhawk probably is rifled for best accuracy with sabots and minie balls. Round balls , in addition to being ballistically inferior at longer ranges, are best suited for guns with approximately a 1 in 66" twist. Sabots and conicals stabilize better in 1 in 21"-1 in 30" (approx).
happy hunting!