What's the realistic effective range of the best muzzleloaders out there today and which model would that be?

Mine, Traditions .45 cal. 1:20 twist with 26 inch barrel and muzzle break. It is a magnum in-line and shoots up to 150 gr. of powder. I am getting muzzle velocities upwards of 2700 fps and have shot a deer at 225 yards with it. My buddy who has the same gun took an antelope with his in west Texas at 340 yards. I shoot with luminesent open sights. If I had a scope, I would feel comfortable shooting out to 300 yards with it.

How much does it drop from 100-200 yards? Do you prefer the .45 over the .50 due to trajectory? Traditions and TC were the two that looked the best to me

I only shoot open sights, because thats all we can use in Colorado. I limit my shots to 125 yds. max.

Any suggestion on gun elkman?

IMO, I have a Hawken 50cal. and a cheap traditions in-line and cheap CVA in-line that I paid less than 120.00 for brand new. You dont need an expensive one, they will all kill just practice practice practice. I have taken Elk,deer and hogs with both.

This: http://ultimatefirearms.com/
Have a friend who owns one and it will shoot a fantastic group at 400 yrds. He killed an Ibex in the Floridas in New Mexico with it 2 yrs ago at 275 yds. Very pricey but it will flat out shoot.

TC ENCORE-300 YDS ON MULE DEER.
MY BUDDY HARVESTED A 6X6 ELK, 420 YDS WITH HIS TC ENCORE
(I KNOW SOUNDS CRAZY)

Thanks guys

Yeah, It also depends what is your definition of "fantastic group".
I had a lease manager one time who told us at the camp fire how he killed a mule deer at 800 yards with .243Win.
When I asked him how much drop that thing had at 800 yard, he did not know. I told him that he would probably have hold it 4-5 feet over and the bullet (no cross wind) would barely walk in there with a 270 foot pounds. (Just gueessed).He got rid of me in 2 weeks.

those custom muzzleloaders are usually guaranteed 1MOA @ 500..some will guarantee .5MOA.

At 400 yds with a ML what is your definition of a fantastic group?

To listen to bunch of crap all I have to do is turn on a Foxnoise channel. I do need to read some stupid website. (How do you think Bernie Madowski made 63 billions?
Seling real stuff to some stupid people)???

Shooting my Knight 50cal.with 150grs. Triple 7, 245gr Hornady sabots in a group the size of an apple at 200 yards.

My old CVA was always sighted at 200 yards; took this elk at 154 yards one shot!
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v446/jimmer99/ELK2.bmp[/img]

Now that is more sensible.
Black powder extends your season and gives you a new specialty area of skill development.
And it has it's limitation like a bow or any specific rifle caliber.
Shooting muzzleloader at 400 yards on big game is just not ethical to me, considering both, the accuracy in the field setting and the retained energy.
But there is always some gunho's who have a diferrent opinion, "because their friend said so".

Not because their friends said so because I saw him shoot the ML at 200, 300 and 400 yrds. It was built to shoot that distance. BTW it was a 3 shot 3" grouping at 400 yds.

Folks used to lob bullets and kill buffalo with a 45-70... Basically the same thing and optics makes things much easier.

Cotula man, you crack me up!

Do a bit less writting and bit more reading, Sir.
The topic here was: The EFFECTIVE RANGE.
Read articles written by Russell Lynch founder of M.A.X.
or Randy Wakeman , ML expert.
It will explain how these things works.
10mph croswind at the target = 48" side movement
Sighted 3" high at 100yards 7FEET LOW AT 400 YARDS.

KAPIS??

Never heard of them: have heard of gunwerks & mcwhorter though.

Maybe you need to buy one then and prove the guy wrong who builds them. You might want to do a little more reading and a little less writing also.
From the site:
"The Ultimate Muzzleloader™ (BP Xpress) is second to none in accuracy and long range capability. It is the only muzzleloading rifle on the market that can be fired and burn 200 grains of Pyrodex Pellets (four 50 grain pellets). The rifle will fire a 300 grain bullet at speeds approaching 2400 feet per second (fps)".
Go the site it will explain how his ML works since you can't seem to believe what others have witnessed first hand.

I have a Knight Disc 50 cal. Outfitted with a 3x 9 x 40 nikon. I use 125 grains of triple7 ffg. And a 260 grain bullet. Can shoot 300 plus yards no problem. However shooting that far isnt really good idea. Can it be done..yep sure can. I really dont think thats ethical. But thats my opinion.

Ok I said thanks because I was getting no where fast! Let me put this in perspective... I have a .300 ultra zeroed n at 300 yards. It drops 1" every 10 yards past that with factory ammo. It shoots sub 4" groups at 400 so I feel REAL comfortable and have taken 12 or so animals with a single shot between 300-475 yards. I have also knocked down (I didn't confirm the kill cause frankly I don't care) a hog with a single bullet @ 636 yards. Yes I did it because i knew that it would drop about 3' and with little wind it wouldnt drift enough to push me all the way off target BUT NO it was not within the guns effective range. I guess I should have asked without spending over $500, what is the best bet for a ML and what kind of drop are we talking about at 200 yards. I'll be using this for hunting in Kentucky over a corn field mostly

It must have been a full moon too, huh?
Only really hungry ahole can ever swallow like this.

I don't bs for one, I don't call people names for two and I expect the same. 180 grains, scirocco shot out off a Remington .300 ultramag with a muzzle brake, custom thumbhole stock, free floated barrel. The bullet drops exactly 52" (yes I realize it says 3', and I apologize for the typo on my iPhone it should have said 4') at that distance. I guessed the hog to be 2' tall at the shoulder, so I held double his height over his back. There was little to no wind so I aimed dead center mass to compensate for what little wind drift there might be. I had actually killed a hog in the exact same spot at 375 yards the evening before but I had got out of my stand and walked almost halfway there before setting up on my bipod and squeezing one off. This time I had already ranged that spot just for giggles because hogs frequent that spot. They came out feeding and I didn't care whether I hit him or not, I didn't want to make the hike again over there. So I pulled up my ballistics calculator in my phone that already has my bullets specs and setup entered and saved, typed n the 636 yards and adjusted accordingly. At that distance you shoot, you may or may not come off target with your scope due to recoil (I did slightly which I usually don't) and had enough time to get back on the animal and watch him hit the dirt. It's was 636 yards and in some grass so whether he laid there and died or pushed off in the bushes I can't be 100% certain but he absolutely was taken off his feet upon impact. And btw I also received exactly two txt asking if I shot and how freaking far it was because of the time between report and the sound of impact. And just because you either a, don't do anything out of the ordinary or b, dont remember it, do not tell someone else that has and does that they are being insencere or ungenuine. Keep your doubts to yourself unless you are willing to take the time to come let me show you otherwise.