High Performance Muzzleloading is exactly what muzzleloader hunting has become these days. Loaded with one of today's hotter black powder substitutes and a sleek spire-pointed saboted bullet, modern primer ignition in-line rifles are amazingly accurate - and have more than doubled the range of the muzzleloaders from the past.
Still, one thing that plagues the muzzleloading hunter once shots extend to 200 yards, and farther, has been bullet drop. Today's rifles and loads can easily maintain more than enough energy to cleanly take big game out past 200 yards, as long as the shooter can contend with 10...20...30 or more inches of bullet drop at extended ranges.
Well known muzzleloading expert Toby Bridges fired more than 1,000 rounds to to determine the location of lower cross-bar long range holdovers for shooting at 200, 225 and 250 yards.
Bridges settled on powder charges that would get saboted 240- to 300-grain spire-pointed or spitzer style bullets out of a .50 caliber primer ignition in-line rifle at velocities of 1,950 to 2,000 f.p.s. Once the rifle is sighted "dead on" at 100 yards with the primary crosshair, these lower cross-bar holds do a surprisingly great job of keeping the various bullets of this type in that weight range within 2 inches of point of aim at those ranges.
The bullets tested include the Hornady SST (250- & 300-grain), the Parker Ballistic Extreme (250- & 275-grain), the Barnes Spit-Fire TMZ (250- & 290-grain, and the Harvester Muzzleloading Scorpion PT Gold (260- & 300-grain), plus other similar bullets with a .210 to .250 ballistic coefficient. And using a dead on hold with the appropriate reticule, hits at 200, 225 and 250 yards can be easily kept in the kill zone of deer sized game.
The Leatherwood/Hi-Lux HPML scope is a high quality 3-9x40mm scope that incorporates the company's All Terrain Riflescope construction, and this scope is built to take anything that Mother Nature can dish out. This is one tough recoil proof muzzleloader hunting scope. Features include bright fully multi-coated lenses of photographic quality, Tri-Center spring tension on windage and elevation adjustments (1/4" click), fast focus eyepiece, one-piece aluminum scope tube, and wear resistant finish - all backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
The Toby Bridge's Muzzle Loader 3-9X40 scope retails for $170.00.
KENNY
March 12, 2020
I HAVE TWO OF THESE SCOPES AS WELL AS FOUR OTHER BRANDS FOR A MUZZLE LOADER. I WILL HAVE TO HONESTLY SAY THAT THE HI-LUX CAN’T BE BEAT BY ANY OTHER BRAND AND THEY ARE NOT ALL CHEAP SCOPES. THEY ARE JUST SIMPLY CLEAR AND SEEM TO ME EASIER TO GET ON TARGET OUT IN THE WOODS OR WHERE EVER I AM HUNTING. THE DIFFERENCE TO ME REALLY DOES MADE A MARKED DIFFERENCE. I DON;T QUITE UNDERSTAND HOW THEY GET IT TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BUT IT DOES. THE ONLY REASON I DON;T USE ONLY THEM IS THAT I LIKE TO TARGET SHOOT AT 300 YARDS WHEN I CAN. AND OF COURSE THEY ONLY GO TO 250 YARDS. WITH A LITTLE EFFORT YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE TO HOLD AT 300 YARDS WHEN HUNTING, BUT AT A TARGET IT IS NOT EXACT EVERY TIME. I KNOW THAT IS KNIT PICKING, BUT THAT IS THE ONLY COMPLAINT I CAN COME UP WITH FOR THE TBML SCOPE. I REALLY DO LIKE THE SCOPE., AND IF IT HAD THE 300 MARK, IT WOULD BE THE ONLY ONE I WOULD USE.