My most recent visit to the shooting range was a shocker. I was amazed at the care and loading practices used by other shooters when shooting their inline. Because my father was a passionate muzzleloader enthusiast, it seemed common knowledge to load and maintain a muzzleloader correctly. It’s not complicated. You can put in the powder, load the primer, and then fire away. This is not true. I will explain why. After the cap has been fired, I like to dry the barrel. The dry patch will get rid of any oil leftovers. After my barrel is prepared, it’s now time to begin shooting.

You must be consistent in your loading process to ensure that you get an accurate load that shoots well out of your gun. To get consistent results, do everything the same. Today’s muzzleloading bullets are equipped with a ballistic tip. These tips give the shell an aerodynamic profile, increasing 209 primers accuracy and flat shooting while allowing for rapid expansion when hitting targets. The bullet’s rapid development puts most of the energy and shock into your game.

These bullets must be loaded with care to ensure that the tip doesn’t get damaged. Many manufacturers offer particular loading jags that fit into the ramrod to make it easy to load these bullets. These particular jags have a deep cavity that allows the shell to sit on the powder charge without causing damage to the tip. These bullets can be loaded with the standard end of a ramrod. This will cause erratic bullet flight as well as crummy groups.

An adequately seated bullet is crucial for accurate shooting, whether you shoot pellets or loose powder. After the correct charge has been placed into the barrel, it’s time to load your projectile. Modern muzzleloaders have what’s known as a false muzzle. This aligns the bullet with the sabot and speeds up the ammunition’s loading process. You can easily see if your muzzleloader uses a false muzzle. False muzzles have the barrel’s end slightly wider than the rest and have no rifling at the very last inch.

A bullet starter is required if your gun does not have a false muzzle. There are many muzzleloading bullet starters on the market. Use a steady downward motion on your ramrod to push the bullet into the powder charge. Stop pushing the shell down until it touches the powder. Stop pushing the ramrod on. Pushing too hard or pushing the ramrod against a pellet charge can cause the pellets to crumble. These pellets should burn at the same pressure. These pellets can be broken up, and you will get different pressures or velocities. This will lead to inaccuracy.

If you use 209 primers with a pelletized powder charge, I highly recommend using muzzleloading 209 primers. Standard 209 shotgun primers can be too powerful and more dangerous than muzzleloading 209. Standard 209 primers are so powerful that they can push a projectile loaded with powder out of the barrel without any powder charges.

This is what the problem is. Primers are used to ignite the powder charge, not to add fuel to a bullet. That’s the job of the powder. Too strong a primer can push the shot and charge up the barrel, causing complete ignition. There is also the flip side. I have fallen in love with Blackhorn 209 powder in the last few seasons. This powder has a lot of power, so you will need a hot shotgun primer to seal the plug. To ignite this powder reliably, you need a hot flash.