Colorado Elk Load For Traditions Vortek

Good Luck with your hunt. Best elk hunt I have ever been on was Colorado Muzzleloader. hope to do it again someday..
 
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PaJay 1962 said:
I picked up some 350 grain FPB at Cabelas as the 300 grain were on back order. Anyway, people mentioned doing a "fowling shot" prior to loading the FPB. Is that necessary? Since we will most likely be living out of a tent, I'd prefer not to do a fowling shot and if not fired during the day, empty the load and clean the barrel, only to repeat the process each day. Is it possible that the Triple 7 powder is not corrosive and I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning each day?

Thanks
Jay
Click to expand...

With any mz, you are better off with a fouling shot. Center-fires, too. Shoot the rifle at home, make sure the nipple is clear and go hunting. Triple 7 will not hurt your gun. I shot if for years and even left dirty guns till the next season. I now use Alliant Black MZ, which I believe is the best that I have used.
 
I have a new knight disc extreme. I am working on a Colorado load now and My gun is really shooting the 460 gain no excuse bullets with a fiber wad and about 73 grains BH 209. My muzzle velocity is right at 1400. I have been very impressed with the groups so far. I will say that I had to go to the bare primer system to get the Knight to reliably shoot the BH 209. I am shooting 2 inch groups at 100 yards with open sights (williams. Peep). The owner of No Excuse Bullets has a great order process. I don't think anybody else in the outdoor industry is as trusting.
 
I've shot several Whitetail bucks with my TC Hawken 50 cal. using 370 grain maxi ball pure lead with 80 grains of Goex 2f black powder set off by a #11 percussion cap. One was at 130 yards and the other 85 yards. Complete penetration on both. The 130 yard shot the buck ran about 30 yards and piled up the other DRT. I used the standard TC barrel sights.
Montana weapon restricted areas list no sabot and lead projectile only. You can use a double barrel rifle if you want. During rifle season anything is legal.
You might try the maxi ball they shoot well and hit hard. If you cast or have a friend who does it can safe you a lot of money.
Dan
 
utah400elk said:
I have a new knight disc extreme. I am working on a Colorado load now and My gun is really shooting the 460 gain no excuse bullets with a fiber wad and about 73 grains BH 209. My muzzle velocity is right at 1400. I have been very impressed with the groups so far. I will say that I had to go to the bare primer system to get the Knight to reliably shoot the BH 209. I am shooting 2 inch groups at 100 yards with open sights (williams. Peep). The owner of No Excuse Bullets has a great order process. I don't think anybody else in the outdoor industry is as trusting.
Click to expand...

The guy that sells Thors will send you bullets with an invoice to mail back a check. Crazy trust, hunters must be good peeps.

I bought the bare primer system and have yet to try it with BH209. I'm hoping.
 
It works great for me. Some times the primer will stick. Simple fix if it happens let me know and I can tell you the solution.
 
I had the same problem and I had to send my rifle back to knight. They said the threads on the breach Plug for the bare primer kit were "rolled" and it wouldn't allow the breach plug to seat all the way. In the end they switched out the breach plug and it worked fine. The only issue I have found is that some times the breach plug will swell when shooting BH209. If and when that happens you simply open the bolt, close the bolt and fire the gun on the already shot primer. The firing pin will push the primer back into shape. The used primer will then fall right out. It happens about 1 in 10 primers for me. Not a big issue.
 
250 or 300 grain thor with 100gr Blackhorn209.
250BTThor005.jpg


Its 100% copper and made by Barnes for Thor bullets.
 
Powerbelts are too soft for elk. It's about the worst bullet you could use. If you do use a Powerbelt, get the heaviest one they make, and not in a hollow point. (I think they make a 444 grain flat point?)

In Colorado, I would definitely be using Thor bullets.
 
Finally cooled down enough here to do some shooting with the 350 grain FPB - not happy at the moment. I shot groups of 3 at different loads of 100, 110 and 120 grains. The best "group" was 10" at 25 yards shooting open sights off of a bench! I started close as I had no idea what to expect with the open sights setting since I've only used a scope on this gun. I never saw a bullet group as bad as these in a gun. My Traditions Vortek DOES NOT like the combination. Before giving up on these bullets, I'll try some buckhorn powder as other people have mentioned as I still have about 30 of these bullets left. If they don't group with different charges with Buckhorn, you'll see them for sale on here! Anyone else experience the same thing? I hear Thor bullets a lot, may have to look at them soon. Hot now, will try shooting tonight and see what happens.

Jay
 
Yes, cleaned with wet patch, then ran dry patch through. Went to Cabelas to get some Blackhorn powder and talked with a guy working there that probably solved my problem (or one of them). I have always measured my black powder out using a measuring cylinder, but I thought I was being smart by using a digital scale to weight out the powder. He told me that his ML powder load is 110 grains measured out, but when he weighed it on the scale, it was only 85 grains. SO, I think I was screwing up as I had weighed out 100 grains, etc. on the scale, when in reality I may have been shooting 150 grains or more. Stupidly forgot about the rule of using a volumetric load instead of weighed load. We'll see if there are differences tonight! Hopefully someone else will learn from my stupidity on this one!
 
yep black powder like goex can be measured directly on a scale but the sub powders can not. 71 grains of blackhorn209 on the scale is equal to 100 grains VOLUME.
 
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