Getting The Most Out Of A Multi-Reticle Muzzleloader Hunting Scope

There are several different riflescopes now on the market which feature a reticle having multiple cross-bars, cross-plexes, cross-hairs or circles, offering built-in holdover for shooting at longer ranges...well, long range for a muzzleloader anyway.  Do they work?  Most certainly, but to fully benefit from using such a scope, today's muzzleloading hunter needs to know a thing or two about setting up a rifle and load in order to tap the full benefit of such optics for today's top performing muzzleloading big game rifles.

Here, we will be using the TB-ML muzzleloader scope from Hi-Lux Optics to provide pointers which will allow the muzzleloading hunter to sight in the primary crosshair at 100 yards with an accurate combination of powder...charge...sabot...bullet...and primer...then rely on three lower cross-bar plexes for placing shots at 200...225...and 250 yards.  The reason why we've chosen this scope is that the TB-ML model was developed out of all the shooting conducted for all of the information packed muzzleloader performance articles and reports that are published on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website.  We know that the locations of the longer range plexes were not determined through calculation...but rather through placing thousands of rounds downrange... because we did that shooting.

Take a look at the TB-ML reticle in the drawing at right.  Note the three shorter cross-bars below the center crosshair.  The locations of these "aiming points" were determined more by velocity and bullet ballistic coefficient than any other factors.  The reticle was developed using  a .50 caliber rifle loaded to get a saboted 250- to 300-grain bullet with a .210 to .250 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle at between 1,925 f.p.s. and 2,000 f.p.s.  If you are saying to yourself that such a wide range of bullets and velocities cannot all print "on" exactly the same at all these ranges...you are absolutely right.  But, for hunting, they don't have to.

                              

The rifle shown in the photo at the top of this post actually belongs to a very good friend, and this summer (2013) I tweaked his load and scope to make it a deadly 250-yard big game rifle.  However, it is exactly like one of the rifles I now tend to shoot more often than any other - the .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK model.  And like all four of my VORTEK test rifles, this one is also topped with one of the Hi-Lux Optics 3-9x40mm multi-reticle TB-ML muzzleloader hunting scopes.  The load it tends to like more than any other is 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 behind the saboted 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet and black Crush Rib Sabot, both produced by Harvester Muzzleloading.  At the muzzle of this 28-inch barreled No. 209 primer ignition in-line  rifle, the load is good for 1,952 f.p.s., generating 2,535 foot-pounds of energy.  On a really good day, when conditions are ideal, and the shooter is up to it, the rifle and load will often punch a great sub 1/2-inch cluster at 100 yards, such as that shown here.

More typically, the groups I shoot are more like 1 1/4- to 1 1/2 inches, measured center-to-center.  While little things like 20 to 30 degree warmer or colder temperatures...shooting at 2,000 to 3,000 feet different elevation...or say a change of the humidity by 30- or 40-percent can cause the exact point of impact to shift a 1/4 to 1/2 inch from day to day, the fact remains that such accuracy will still take any big game animal with a center chest cavity hold at 100 yards.

Through the course of a year's worth of test shooting, I punch a lot of standard paper targets...and often get a little bored.  One enjoyable way to get in some beneficial shooting, especially when shooting with a multi-reticle scope, is to play around with cardboard cut outs that simulate somewhat life size shooting at game.  The above piece of cardboard is roughly 18 to 19 inches from top of what would be the back to bottom of the chest cavity.  It also measures right at 40 inches in length - relatively closely simulating the body size of a whitetail buck.

That 10" diameter paper plate also roughly simulates the so-called "kill zone" of a whitetail.  In other words, any reliable bullet design that can be put into this area with AT LEAST 800 F.P.E., and which is capable of transferring that energy to the target, will cleanly bring down a mature whitetail or mule deer buck.  Keeping hits in that "zone" is the key...and this is where the multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes can be key to being successful.

The 9 shots inside the kill zone shown on the cardboard silhouette at right include 3 shots at 200 yards (3.1 inch spread)...3 shots at 225 yards (3.6 inch spread)...and 3 shots at 250 yards (4.7 inch spread).  The proper hold-over cross-bar reticle of the Hi-Lux TB-ML scope was used at each range...and the three overlapping groups have an extreme spread of 6 inches (center-to-center). 

All 9 of these shots would have effectively put down a 200+ pound buck.  At 250 yards, a 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet (.250 b.c.), that left the muzzle at 1,952 f.p.s., would still be flying at around 1,300 f.p.s. at that distance, and would hit with 1,125 foot-pounds of retained energy.

The 260- and 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullets were the bullets shot most during the development and refinement of the TB-ML scope, shooting 110 grains of FFFg Triple Seven.  The charge got the 260-grain .220 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle of a 27-inch barreled Knight Long Range Hunter model at 2,018 f.p.s., and with the rifle sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar would print right at 2 inches high at that distance.  The same rifle, loaded with 110-grains of FFFg Triple Seven and the .250 b.c. 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold was good for 1,909 f.p.s. at the muzzle.  Again, sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar reticle, at 200 yards the heavier and slower bullet would print on the average 1 inch below point of aim. 

Due to the lower b.c. of the lighter 260-grain bullet, somewhere between 150 and 200 yards, it begins to slow faster than the higher b.c. 300-grain polymer-tipped spire-point.   Using the 225 yard cross-bar at 225 yards, the 260-grain Scorpion PT Gold will print pretty much "on", while the 300-grain version of the same bullet prints about an inch high.  Out at 250 yards, the 260-grain bullet hits the target around 2 1/2 inches below point of aim - the 300-grain bullet averages nearly 2 inches above point of aim.  Still, when it comes to maintaining "minute-of-whitetail", all of this is a moot point.  On more than one occasion I have conducted similar tests, shooting three shots at each range (using the proper cross-bar) with each bullet (with rifles sighted to print 1 inch high at 100 yards), and the extreme spread of all 18 shots rarely opens to more than 6 inches.

With a center chest cavity hold on deer sized game every one of these shots printed inside the "kill zone", and would have taken game.  Since developing the TB-ML scope with Hi-Lux Optics, I've only had to rely on the longer range cross-bar reticles a half dozen times to take game for the table.  However, I have used the scope on several different rifles to bust some 200 to 250+ yard coyotes, groundhogs, and other predators or vermin.  My longest shot was on a coyote that I had lasered at 256 yards.  I held just above center, and squeezed off the shot.  That yodel dog never knew what hit him.

The 110-grain charges of Blackhorn 209 I'm now shooting out of the .50 caliber 28-inch barreled VORTEK and the 30-inch barreled VORTEK Ultra Light LDR are just a bit faster than the charges of FFFg Triple Seven used when determining just where the longer range cross-bars of the TB-ML would be located.  Even so, that really has not changed the points of impact much once out at 200...225...250 yards.  The overlapping three 200, 225, 250 yard groups (9-shots) punched with my friend's Traditions VORTEK were shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,952 f.p.s., not 1,909 f.p.s. - and all 9 stayed in the kill zone.

The multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes do indeed work...and work very well.  However, no one should ever shoot at game at a range they have never shot at - no matter what some scope makers may lead you to believe.  The best advice anyone could give the muzzleloading hunter that's either new to a multi-reticle muzzleloader scope, or who is anticipating the purchase of one is to get out and shoot often at those longer ranges.

Another tip is to make absolutely sure that the reticle of the scope is perfectly squared with the bore.  If the crosshairs have even the slightest tilt (not square with the bore) to one side or the other, it will result in the shot being off to the side.  Sure, the crosshair itself is centered in the scope, and can still be sighted to print dead on at 100 yards.  But if the crosshairs are not level with a perfectly leveled rifle, then the 200...225...or 250 yard reticles will be off to one side or the other of the primary crosshair - which should be directly above the cross-bar being used. 

If it's not, then the scope is not squared with the bore.  If you already have a multi-reticle scope on your rifle, next time you are aiming with one of the longer range cross-bars, plexes or circles of your scope...note where the crosshair is on the target.  If it is slightly off to the right...your shot will go off to the right.  If it is off to the left...guess where your shot is going. 

Also, keep in mind that these scopes are still very, very useful when shooting considerably slower loads or much lower ballistic coefficient bullets.  While the so-called "200 yard" reticle...or the "225 yard" reticle...or the "250 yard" reticles may not be on AT THESE DISTANCES...they will still allow you to hold on at some longer range...and that would be up to you to do plenty of shooting to determine exactly where each prints the load you are hunting with.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

www.namlhunt.com

            
NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Special Offer For The Hi-Lux Optics TB-ML Muzzleloader Scope...

Here is a great way to save $50 on the Hi-Lux TB-ML Muzzleloader Hunting Scope...and to support the website's efforts to keep on bringing you the best muzzleloader hunting coverage on the internet today.  Just go to the following link for all the details...

http://www.namlhunt.com/specialoffers.html

Muzzleloading Continues To Evolve!

Have any of you NOT yet shot and hunted with Blackhorn 209?

 

While a few other so-called "black powder substitutes" have claimed to be the powder that revolutionizes muzzleloading - this is the only black powder substitute that truly lives up to the claim. This report takes a look back at the accelerated evolution of muzzleloading from the late 1830's and on into the 1860's - then shares how this modern formulated powder has done more today for modern in-line ignition rifles than any other product during the past 25 years of in-line muzzleloading.

 

http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-5.html
 

 

The article/report published at this link takes a look at the 25 to 30 year period prior to the Civil War...and how muzzleloading went through a very stepped up evolution as rifle makers and shooters refined the elongated conical bullet...fast twist bore bullet rifles...and telescopic rifle sights (a.k.a. "rifle scopes"). Muzzleloading has gone through a similar stage of evolution during the past 25 to 30 years - with the popularity of the modern in-line ignition rifles...introduction of the saboted muzzleloader bullets...and the development of several black powder substitutes.

 

This article/report features the exceptionally accurate Dixie Gun Works reproduction of the hexagonal bore Whitworth long range rifle...the well made Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics copy of a circa 1855 Wm. Malcolm rifle scope...the superb accuracy of the .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK Ultra Light LDR in-line ignition rifle...and of course Blackhorn 209. Check out all of the qualities and benefits this powder brings to today's muzzleloading hunter.

 

If any of you are attending the NRA Show in Houston, TX this coming weekend, be sure to drop by the Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics booth and say hello. I'll be working the show with them. Also, the good folks from Blackhorn 209 will be at the show as well...look them up if you have any questions about the powder.

 

Toby Bridges

NORTH AMERICAN

MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

 

 

America's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information!

 

www.namlhunt.com

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter...Winter-Spring 2013

Here is something new for NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING followers, a twice yearly Newsletter.  On or about April 15th each year, we will now distribute and publish our Winter-Spring Newsletter.  Then on or about October 15th, we'll distribute and publish our Summer-Fall Newsletter.

 

            The NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website has now become America's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information.

            By the end of 2012, traffic on the website topped 1.5 million, and the audience it reaches just keeps on growing.  Over the past 12 months (April 14, 2012 to April 15, 2013) more than 2,000,000 muzzleloading shooters and hunters have referenced the website.  All indications are that by year's end, muzzleloading hunters in the U.S. and Canada will call upon www.namlhunt.com 2.5 million times.

            Why the phenomenal growth in the number of muzzleloading hunters turning to the site?  The answer is pretty easy, they cannot find anywhere else a wider range of muzzleloader performance information and "how to" muzzleloading accuracy tips, load data, technical information, history, or updated details on the latest muzzleloader hunting legislation, which can and will dictate what you can or cannot hunt with during the Muzzleloader Seasons, than what is now published on this one website.

            Currently, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING is fighting an extremely non-serving muzzleloader hunting regulation in the State of Nevada, which makes it illegal for the modern day muzzleloading hunter to use one of the most popular muzzleloader hunting powders available today - Blackhorn 209.  For more on this, copy and paste this link -

http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-2.html    

            Since being first published on the internet in 2003, NORTH AMERICAN  MUZZLELOADER HUNTING has done more than the NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION and the NATIONAL MUZZLE LOADING RIFLE ASSOCIATION combined to get such non-serving and often extremely discriminatory muzzleloader hunting regulations changed in order to allow ALL muzzleloading hunters to enjoy our sport.  Since 2006, that includes the legalization of riflescopes during the muzzleloader hunting seasons in Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin...for ALL muzzleloading hunters.  In 11 other states which still proclaim it is illegal to use a "riflescope" during such seasons, the federal government has since also mandated that these states MUST make special provisions for sight impaired muzzleloading hunters to use a scope - thanks to the efforts of NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING.

            There are still a few other non-serving muzzleloader hunting regulations on the books in several other states, which we fully intend to keep on tackling.

            In late summer 2011, the website went through a complete overhaul.  Beginning in late July of that year, we eliminated all older articles and reports...and started out with a clean slate.  Since then, we've built and published more than  100 information packed and well illustrated pages.  This newsletter is being put together and distributed in mid April.  So far this year, we've added 18 Feature Articles/Reports, plus added to the menu links to shorter articles, reports or news we've published on the four affiliated muzzleloader hunting blogs we also host.  NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING also has its own Facebook page. 

            The four more recent (April) articles and reports include a new page that looks at how Blackhorn 209 actually produces its best accuracy when the bore is NOT wiped between shots at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-4.html ) ...

            A feature written by our new Associate Editor Dr. Jim Clary, which takes a look at the benefits of the Harvester Muzzleloading "Crush Rib Sabot" and Scorpion PT Gold bullet at...

( http://www.namlhunt.com/mlperformance.html ) ...

            A look back at one of the most widely used saboted bullets of the 1990's - the 300-grain Hornady .452" diameter XTP hollow-point at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/mlbullets11.html )...

            And how today's muzzleloading hunter can best determine his or her maximum effective range at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/mlmaxrange.html ).

            Our goal for 2013 has been to add another 50 pages to the website by the time 2014 rolls around, and we're right on target to do just that.   In May, we plan to add several more great feature articles or reports. 

            One of the big arguments against the use of a riflescope on a muzzleloader has been that such optics were not used on "original" muzzleloaders - which is far from the truth.  Muzzleloading target shooter and hunter James R. Chapman is often credited for "inventing" and "perfecting" such telescopic sights, about 1840.  He wrote about such sights in his book, "The Improved American Rifle" - written in 1844 and published in 1848.  Those early "riflescopes" were made much like a pair of eyeglasses - for the individual shooters' eye sight.  Quite a few of the finest rifle makers of the 1840's and 1850's  also built these early telescopic rifle sights - with the help of a local optometrist. 

            A May feature to be published on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website will take a good look at how the riflescope was developed hand-in-hand with the long range bullet rifles of the 1840's...leading to the establishment of the first ever riflescope manufacturing facility in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1855 by William Malcolm.  The accompanying photo shows a modern made copy of a circa 1855 Malcolm scope, mounted on a circa 1855 styled hexagonal bore .451 Whitworth long-range rifle.  The scope has been reproduced by Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics.

            The other feature scheduled for May will compare the long range trajectories of a dozen or so currently popular saboted muzzleloading bullets for the .50 caliber in-line rifles.  Check back to see if we include the saboted bullet you currently hunt with, or at least a bullet with a very similar ballistic coefficient.  Several new product test reports will also be featured through the month.

            Likewise, we plan to publish from 3 to 5 information packed Feature Articles/Reports each and every month.  While the majority of the materials presented on the website will continue to cater to the 90+ percent of today's muzzleloading hunters who have turned to the modern in-line rifles, we will also include a number of pages devoted to the muzzle-loaded hunting rifles and loads of the past.

            NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING will continue to be the leading source for everything that is Muzzleloader Hunting.  Go to the site at  www.namlhunt.com and save it as a favorite.  -  Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING 
 

Watch For The Summer-Fall 2013 NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter About October 15th. 

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING is a free site for visitors, no matter whose rifle, scope, powder, sabot or bullet they may load...shoot ...and hunt with.  Right now, a small handful of sponsors help keep this site on the internet.  For continued growth and to insure the site stays on the internet, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING needs a few more members of the muzzleloading industry or the hunting industry in general to pitch in and help cover the cost of building and maintaining this website.  Muzzleloader hunting is hunting, and more muzzleloading hunters keep up with their sport right here than anywhere else.

World's Best Deer Camp Chili!

The following link will take you to what it takes to turn out a first rate gourmet chili. It's been a hit in every deer camp I've brewed a batch...and a favorite of family and friends.  If there's a special large get together in your future...here's a meal that will make it just that much more special.

http://www.namlhunt.com/wildharvest2.html

If you have some special ingredients that make your chili special as well, please take a minute or two and share with us in a comment.

Toby Bridges,
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

Modern In-Line Muzzleloading Pioneer William "Tony" Knight Dies

                                   December 21, 1945 - March 18, 2013

William "Tony" Knight passed away on March 18, 2013. The world of muzzleloading has lost one of its greatest contributors, and he will be sadly missed by all who truly knew him. He was one of the greatest people I've known in my lifetime, and at one time my dearest and closest friend. My hope is that in spirit he's up there still running the hills and hollers of northern Missouri, chasing those big whitetails and long bearded gobblers...with his favorite dog Ginger at his side. Let us never forget him. - Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING 
 

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING has published a tribute to Tony Knight,,,
Go To http://www.namlhunt.com/mltribute.html

Hunting With The .451 Caliber Hexagonal Bore Whitworth Rifle

                                                             Click On Photos To Enlarge

     One of my favorite rifles to take to the range five or six times a year is the big .451 caliber reproduction of the hexagonal bore Whitworth rifle shown in the photo above.  When summer temperatures soar into the upper 80's and 90's in Western Montana, and it gets just too hot to do a lot of shooting with plastic saboted bullets, that's when I pull out the Whitworth rifle.  But, first I have to make up a batch of bullets.  And while it does take a while, it's not difficult.

     The bullet starts out as a standard round sided cylindrical 500-grain cast bullet - produced with the Lee Precision 459-500-3R bullet mold.  The bullet, as cast, is right at .459" in diameter (for loading into the big .45 caliber black powder cartridges, i.e. .45-70, .45-90, etc.). 

     Next, I thread a custom built swaging die into my cartridge reloading press...feed the long spitzer shaped nose of the soft pure lead bullet into the die from the bottom...bring up the ram of the press and align an extension with the bottom of the bullet...and push the bullet through the swaging die.  What pops out the top is a "somewhat" hexagonal bullet that measures .448" across from hexagonal flat to hexagonal flat.  The die was formed with the same turn-in-21 inches pitch found in the hexagonal bore of the rifle.  (No "rifling"...instead, the bore is formed hexagonal and turns with a 1-in-21 inches rate of twist.)

Shown Above - The 500 grain cast Lee bullet as from the mold, right.  The same bullet swaged, center.  The 580-grain Whitworth bullet offered by Dixie Gun Works, left.

     The undersized bullet still makes some contact with bore...offering just a little resistance.  I have shot them as they are formed, but have easily gotten far superior accuracy when the bullet is wrapped with two layers of Alox lubed cotton-based paper.  The fit is a little tight, but the paper wrapped base of the bullet can still be worked into the bore, then using a short starter that's been shaped to fit down over the nose of the bullet, a healthy whack gets the paper wrapped bullet into the bore.  It's then easily pushed down the bore with the Whitworth's steel ramrod to seat on the powder charge.

     My particular Whitworth copy came from Dixie Gun Works, back in 2005.  The rifle is still offered, and sells for $1,300.  For more on the rifle, go to -

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=922

     Dixie Gun Works recommends loading 60-grains of FFFg behind the big 580-grain hex-shaped lead round nosed bullet they offer.  My first shooting was done with these bullets, and the rifle shot okay with the 1.340" long projectiles...but they loaded extremely tight.  That's when I had a friend, who is one heck of a machinist, produce the hex swaging die for me.  (Before anyone writes and inquires, he let me know in no uncertain terms that the die I have was the first...and last such die he would ever produce.)

     At first, I swaged the Dixie bullets, and found I could print 3 to 4 inch 200 yard groups.  Anyway, I could after I installed one of the superb Hi-Lux Optics recreation of a circa 1855 Wm. Malcolm 6x long telescopic rifle sights (as they were known back then).  My rifle came into it's own when I started casting the lighter, but slightly longer 1.360" long Lee 500-grain bullet, then running it through the swaging die and wrapping the bullets with lubed paper.  My favored charge has been 80 grains of GOEX FFFg black powder.  The rifle and load have printed a few very impressive 2- to 2 1/2-inch 200 yard groups.  At the muzzle, the big 500-grain bullet exits at 1,326 f.p.s. - generating 1,945 foot pounds of energy.  Out at 200 yards, it is still good for 1,053 f.p.s. and 1,231 f.p.e..

Photo At Right - Best 200 yard Whitworth group shot, so far, with swaged Lee bullet.

     Back when I first got the rifle, still shooting with the open sights, I took a couple of does with the Dixie bullet, both at about 50 yards.  Last year, I made up my mind that I was going to put something down with the Whitworth out at about 200 yards.  One area I planned to hunt in Montana (out on the plains) allowed the purchase of up to 7 doe tags, so I purchased several just to put some meat in the freezer...and to take one at longer range (200 yards) with the .451 Whitworth.

     The second evening in camp, I carried two rifles out to a small portable camouflaged blind I had set up at the edge of a river-bottom alfalfa field.  I packed my .50 Traditions VORTEK Ultra Light LDR just in case nothing walked to within 200 yards of the blind...and I took the Whitworth in order to take a doe that did get within 200 yards of the big and heavy bullet shooting rifle.

     About an hour and a half before sunset, close to 40 whitetails worked out into the field, including a small 4x4 buck, but I had already filled my buck tag on the first morning of the hunt.  I had forgotten my laser range finder in the pack I had worn all morning while looking for deer in the hills behind camp.  I rested the Whitworth on one of the Bog Pod CLD-3 collapsible tripod rests, and sighted through the Hi-Lux Malcolm scope.  The sun had already dropped behind a high ridge to the West, but I could still see the multiple targets in front of me very clearly.

     I had the scope set for 200 yards, and several does looked to be right about that distance.  I thumbed the hammer back, held for a center chest cavity shot on the larger doe, which was standing perfectly broadside.  The trigger slowly came back, and the hammer fell.  The rifle roared, and a huge cloud of black powder smoke blocked everything from sight.  Then, as it cleared, the only thing still in that field was the doe I had gone for...and the deer was laying exactly where it had been standing.  It was easy to realize why the Whitworth was so feared on Civil War battlefields.

Photo Above Left - The adjustable rear mount of the Hi-Lux Optics 6x Malcolm scope can be quickly moved from one yardage setting to another - once those settings are known.

     When I walked out to the deer, I saw why it had gone down so quickly.  The big 500-grain cast & swaged Lee bullet had caught the deer only about two inches down from the top of the back.  That big chunk of lead had blown out about four inches of backbone...and unfortunately ruined about six inches of backstrap.

     Mid day the following day, I walked out to where I had field dressed the deer, and took a laser reading on the front of the blind - 172 yards.  Back at camp, I set up a portable target board I had brought along...at 172 yards...and took a shot from the Bog Pod rest.  The hole was right at six inches above point of aim.  Then, I moved back 26 more yards, and took a shot from exactly 200 yards, for which the scope was set, and the hole in the target was right at one inch above point of aim - pretty much how it had been sighted.  It was clear that with the doe standing just 28 yards closer, the trajectory of that big bullet was close to six inches higher.

     This coming summer, I'll do a good deal of shooting to determine the 300-yard setting for the Malcolm scope...and will likewise do some shooting with the .451 Whitworth at 225...250...and 275 yards.  My goal for this fall is to fill one of those doe tags with the Whitworth at 300 yards.  Rest assured, I'll never forget my range finder again. - Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING    

Iowa Hunter Attributes 242-Yard Shot On A Whitetail Buck To Lot's Practice On The Range And Precision Placement Of Long Range Reticles Of His Scope!

"As the smoke rolled out over the field the deer ran at top speed for cover. He made it about 40 yards before crashing in the open field. The Barnes bullet had found its way to within 2 inches of my aim. The extra hold offs in the scope are precise and unbelievable."

Iowa resident Mike Ross, hunting the late muzzleloader season this past January, pulled off a great 242-yard off-hand shot with his Knight .50 caliber Long Range Hunter, taking a nice buck with a single bullet centered through the chest cavity. He attributed the success of that shot to spending a lot of time on the range with the rifle and the Hi-Lux Optics multi-reticle TB-ML scope - and to the precise placement of those reticles in the scope.

Here's a link to his story of the hunt.

http://www.namlhunt.com/mladventure2.html