Muzzleloader loads for wife and kids. Looking for thoughts on how light to go. Any handgun hunters here?

[john 800]

I am looking for thoughts on loads for a muzzleloader for my wife and kids, mostly the daughter. I am looking for a low recoil load my daughter can shoot that will still take a deer adequately. She is an EXTREMELY small 10 year old for reference. Have a 50 cal youth gun, I have been shooting 240 or 300 grain 44 cal bullets at full speed. Am I better of with a 180 grain 44 bullet? Or slowing down a 240? Do I use a 180 or 200 grain 40 cal? I am not sure how a 40 cal bullet would perform going faster than it does from a 40 pistol.
Any handgun hunters here want to comment on bullets/weights speeds?

 

[Bojo]

I would venture to say that a 180 is going to always have less recoil that a 240. However with everything you said you did not include whether or not your daughter already shoots rifles or what her threshold for pain / recoil is.
In my opinion having a beginner shooter of any age jumping right into a heavier recoiling firearm can and often will cause issues.

 

[SSL]

A lot depends on anticipated distance. I would stick with 240 to 250-grain bullets, but run them at 1,000 to 1,200 fps and see how the ladies handle the recoil. That's fairly moderate even in a handgun and more than enough out to 75-yards or so with good shot placement. Lighter bullets far too often equate lighter jackets, especially with hollow-points, and blow up rather than penetrate well. We saw far too many wounded and lost deer here in Illinois when our handgun season first was created from 180 to 210-grain hollow-point bullets pushed hard and blowing up on even light bone. I have always used cast bullets in my .44 Magnum revolvers (where legal...many states insist on hollow-points or other 'expanding' bullets) in the 250 to 270-grain range. The mass of the heavier bullets really helps deep penetration if needed and, even if it doesn't expand, a .430" hole is better than many rifle bullets expand to. At 1,000 or so fps, even a hollow-point can't be relied on to expand, though.
You might want to check out Power Belt bullets too. They offer bullets from 250 to over 300 grains without having to use sabots. You do need a fairly fast twist for them though. My .50-caliber Pedersoli has a 1-24" twist and loves them.

 

[john 800]

The 10 year old is new new to anything over a 22. For practice with the muzzleloader I can down load light bullets pretty slow and gradually work up to whatever she is comfortable with, just not sure which direction to go for hunting loads.

Range is another thing that is undecided, meaning she will be limited to what she can be effective. We are in southern mn and will be hunting feild edges and such so more range is of value, we are not in dense woods often.

what kind of speeds are you shooting the cast bullets at from your 44? What ranges? Maybe a cast bullet makes sense, which is basically what a powerbelt is even though they look jacketed, i would say they are plated, i used them a bit years ago and they seemed to do the job.

 

[SSL]

The 10 year old is new new to anything over a 22. For practice with the muzzleloader I can down load light bullets pretty slow and gradually work up to whatever she is comfortable with, just not sure which direction to go for hunting loads.

Range is another thing that is undecided, meaning she will be limited to what she can be effective. We are in southern mn and will be hunting feild edges and such so more range is of value, we are not in dense woods often.

what kind of speeds are you shooting the cast bullets at from your 44? What ranges? Maybe a cast bullet makes sense, which is basically what a powerbelt is even though they look jacketed, i would say they are plated, i used them a bit years ago and they seemed to do the job.

I'm getting just under 1,400 fps with the 250s and around 1,300 with the 270s (LNFP). I won't take a shot past 75 yards simply because that's personally all I'm good for with open sights. Deer hit with either bullet at 75 yards have mostly been through and through shots. Only recovered bullet was a diagonal shot through a shoulder. Found it in the opposite hip.
And yes, the PowerBelts are plated, but they tend to expand well. If your gun can handle them, they are far more convenient than messing with sabots, though I have used sabots too with 300-grain RNFP cast bullets at around 1,600 fps. Hit like a hammer, but recoil increases.