Hey guys,

Can any body help me with a decent powder-to-bullet ratio that will be optimal? I want to be able to hit elk from 100 yards and have enough weight in the round itself to knock one down inside of 100 yards. I know there are many different kinds, and jackets, etc., but does anyone here have a "old faithful" combination of powder-to-bullet that works best in case of any situation? I shoot a Thompson Center fire and currently use 90 grains of powder with 400 grain bullets. My shot group is all within a soda can from 50 yards and a foot low from 100 yards. Do I have the killing power too? Thanks!

Go to prbullets.com they have lots of info on optimal bullet weights and powder loads. Read through the Q&A section. I have a TC Black Diamond XR and shoot the 240 grain dead center/110 grains of 777. Excellant groups at 100 yards.

My advice is to shoot it some, find out what the most powder you can shoot and still get groups out of, within safety of course. My TC Blackdiamond XR shoots 120 grains of pyrodex and a 325 grain bullet great, but any more powder and it starts throwing shots. Haven't shot an elk with it, but I have shot deer and it dropped 'em. My friend has the same gun and his will shoot better with only 100 grains of pyrodex so you never know. Generally rule, more powder is better for killing power as long as it groups.

Heya Katch,
First off, it sounds like what you're using will work fine. It's close to what I use in my T/C .50 cal.
I use 85 grains of FFF with a 348gr powerbelt bullet(hollow-point lead). Powerbelt bullets are awesome I gotta tell ya! Note that I use FFF...it seems to have more reliable ignition and a quicker initial "ooomph". But if you go to FFF you don't want to use any more than 85 grains because it'll be too much pressure and you may crack your stock if it's wood. The couple times I've tried 90 grains my accuracy begins to diminish anyways. 85 grains seems to be just right in my rifle. The 348 grain powerbelt puts deer down "right now", assuming a hit in the neck or chest. And talk about expansion! Yowzza!
I can't tell you what it'd do to an elk hit in the neck or chest because the only one I've shot was right in one ear and out the other....never seen an animal drop so fast and so permanently!
Good Luck and straight shooting! Moe

I have a knight bighorn. My whole party uses 110 grain pyrodex with a 400 grain bullet. We started at 150 grains of powder and loaded down untill we got the accuracy we wanted and flames stopped shooting 3 feet out the barrel.
@ 100 yards you can hit a 4 inch plate, 150 6 inch plate, and beyond that i will not shoot. I am confident i would hit it but just to many variables. I think all the bullets expand very well, we shot different bullets into phone books @ 100 yards. They penetrated through 4 books before they stopped, all were flat and held together. What was funny is my brother shot those phone books with his 270 from the same distance, and the bullet penetrated 4 books, just like the ML bullets it just didn't hold together as well.. The dead center penetrated the deepest buy 3/4 of an inch.