# Thompson Pro Hunter 50 cal



## Eye Dr (Mar 23, 2010)

I’m going to get a 50cal muzzleloader barrel for my Thompson Pro Hunter. My question is how many grains of powder, and which bullet does everyone prefer? I’m new to the in-line but have a flintlock.


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## 0utwest (Mar 21, 2017)

Lots of subject on muzzle loader charges and bullets if you look back thru this site , Me I use 3 50 grain triple seven pellets in my knight with a 26 inch barrel and I use barnes bullets only .


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## 1more (Jan 10, 2015)

Trial and error, takes time to figure ballistic on charges and which lead thrown down the pipe.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

This and this. Anything else is just a waste. 
Someone has to pick on you Barnes guys.


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## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

i had that gun , hope its stainless. that rascal was a tack driver for me with 240 g copper sabot and 150 g of shakee . when ya get a load worked up mark your ramrod so you can compress bullet and powder to same mark each re load, i used granuler only because the more i shot the tighter the push needed to seat the powder and bullit. tack driver


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## Morrowtucky Mike (May 2, 2018)

X2 on trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try loose powder in 5-10gr. increments from 90-150 grains. Lots of guys stick with 50gr. pellets and might be giving up accuracy.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

Morrowtucky Mike said:


> X2 on trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try loose powder in 5-10gr. increments from 90-150 grains. Lots of guys stick with 50gr. pellets and might be giving up accuracy.


i'm willing to give up a little accuracy for the convenience of the pellets. if you try pellets you can start with 1 50 gn and 1 30 grn for an 80 grn load shoot a 3 rd group. clean the gun then shoot a different bullet. shoot a few bullets and see which gives the best group. now move up to 2 50 grn pellets and start with the best bullet with the 80 grn load. then try 3 50 grn pellets and try different bullets starting with the best shooting bullet with 100 grns. now pick the best load and bullet and your ready to sight in and hunt.

its best to use a good shooting rest for this. no human error with a shooting rest.

80 grns is good to mid ranges out to about 100 or 125 yrds. it has enough knock down for deer at these ranges. 100 grns or 150 just gives a little more range flatter trajectory and more knock down at longer ranges. but if you hitting a tight group with a lighter load and not so good with a heavy load then you should consider using the lighter load.

I use 3 50 grn 777 pellets with cva slick loads in my encore. the accuracy was just as good with 150 grs as with lighter loads and other bullets.

I just bought the new cva 45 long range rifle. i'm going to start with the new 45 180 grn elongated power belt bullet with 150 grns of 777 powder and see how it shoots. if its good then I wont change. its a little hard to find the bullets but I found them. they are much longer and look more like a rifle bullet than the other rounds out there. they have a very pointed tip for accuracy and flatter trajectory.


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## wildlife53 (Jun 12, 2011)

Test several different combinations to see what works best. My TC Encore likes 90 grains of loose Triple 7 best with TC Bonded Shockwave bullets. I tried many different combinations and this is what worked best for my gun. I couldn’t get good accuracy with 150 grains of powder. What will help with the accuracy is swabbing the barrel after every shot with a cleaning patch.


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## dirtandleaves (Sep 28, 2009)

^^ This. I do pretty much exactly the same. 90 grains 777 loose powder under a 250 grain Barnes TEZ.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

There are some great posts here with great advice. Especially those posts stating you have to work up the load your rifle wants.

And I can give you my current load out of my Pro Hunter...110grns Blackhorn 209(measured by volume)-Barnes 250grn TEZ-Remington STS 209primers, but that doesn't mean yours is gonna shoot/group the exact load like mine does.
A friend of mine with another Pro Hunter shooting the same possibles(bullet,primer,powder)as what I shoot, groups better with 100grn of Blackhorn. Yet another shoots 95grns of Blackhorn.

All Pro Hunters but all group better at different charges.

Bottom line...like has been said, while it's great to get others loads to give you a general guideline, in order to get the best out of your rifle, you just have to spent the range time working with it.

Far as shooting either Hornady SST ...or TC Shockwave bullets, they are the same steel cored pistol bullet made by Hornady. I shot them for many years because they are surgical out of my PH.
The problem with them, is being a steel cored pistol bullet designed to expand at greater velocity than m/l'ers shoot at, their terminal effect on Deer is not good. It's a flip of a coin whether they will expand or not often having the same small diameter exit wound as entrance wound resulting in very poor...if any blood trail.

Thanks to the advice of a few on here, especially Lundy, I finally decided to switch to the Barnes TEZ's that are specifically designed to function/expand at ml'er velocities. Must say they are just as accurate as the Hornady SST's and Shockwave's and have been very well proven to expand as advertised.

Have not shot the Precision Rifle Bullets bobk uses but knowing Bob, they perform great as well or he wouldn't be using them.


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