Can anyone recommend a good elk load? I have a stainless Remington 700ML in .50 caliber. Thanks in advance.

225 grains of H50BMG over a 750 grain Hornady A-max, Lake City Brass, and CCI primers.

Kills anything with legs

OK, it was a joke.

9.3,

I use a Remington 700 50 cal also. My load is 120 grains of FFg, a lubricated felt wad and a cast 395 grain soft lead Lyman great plains conical sized to a tight sliding fit. I'll guarentee it will kill elk if you put one through the boiler room. We have shot this load in four different Remingtons and they will put three shots in a clover leaf at 100 yards when we do our part. There have been several deer and elk taken by us with this combination.

Hope this helps.

Due yourself a HUGE favior and post this same question at the fallowing websites:

Doug's message boards
Modern muzzleloder

I have spent over ten years on the net at various ML websites and those two are the best I have found with Doug's being the better of the two.

This is the load my friend used in NM back in 04 to take a 330" class 6x6.

Encore 209x50
110 grains 3-F 777
300 grain XTP
Hornady black HP sabot
Winchester 209 primer.
I will add there has been major improvements in sabots and BP subs since my friends hunt.

There are quite alot of fine choices out there interms of .45, .457 and .458 caliber bullets used with sabots you could use to kill any bull on the mountain.

I suggested Doug's website as I belong there and the two seperate boards dedicated to inlines and the Savage 10ML have quite a few members who hunt elk and moose with MLs so you will have a wealth of bullet information at your finger tips.

I'm not BSing when I say there is not a bullet out there that is suitable for use in a .50 caliber ML that has not been used and evaluated by members of Doug's (or Modern ML for that matter)and the memebers of Doug's will be more than happy to help you out with thier considerable knowledge.

If I was lucky enough to be going elk hunting this year and could not use smokeless powder in my beloved Savage 10ML-II,I would use which ever of the fallowing loads shot best out of the Savage or the Encore:

130-150 grains by volume of Black Horn 209
300 grains .458" Barnes Original semi-spitzer
Harvester Black crushed rib sabot
Federal 209A/Savage
Winchester 209/Encore

130-150 grains by volume BH209
Barnes 290 grain TMZ
Harvester yellow crushed rib sabot for BT bullets
Fed 209A/Savage
Win 209/Encore

130-150 grains by volume BH209
300 grain XTP
Harvester red or black crushed rib sabot
Fed 209A/Savage
Win 209/Encore
Harvester red Crushed rib sabot

All of the bullets I listed shoot very accurately out of both my Savage and Encore. All have a excellent record of taking elk sized game.

I suggested Black Horn 209 as I have shot one jug of it out of my Encore and it has performed beyond my wildest expectations. I have been suming up my opinion of BH209 like this: I would rather pay $28 for a 10oz jug of BH209 than get Pyodex or 777 for free!

I strongly suggest you visit the websites I listed as you will get all the information you will ever need for muzzeleoder hunting of elk, as well as all information as it relates to inline MLs.

Hope this was helpfull and good luck.

9.3,
If I can be of any help, please let me know. Thanks....

BH209 will have ignition problems with the open breech plug of the 700. I'd also stay away from T7 pellets. I couldn't get them to ignite reliably in a 700ML.

Loose t7 and pyro work well. Pyro pellets work great in the 700 as well. Might want to try 300grn bonded SW over 2 50grn pyro pellets.

Good Luck

Reloader