This comes from my 30+ years of trial and error and thousands of dollars in muzzleloaders and supplies that often left me disappointed. I have consistently shot sub 2 MOA groups down to 0.8 MOA groups at 100 yards with this setup. I've hunted a full week on the original load in wet conditions and it fires reliably. My last buck was taken at 190 yards.
Glean whatever is helpful.
Rifle: Knight DISC Extreme, 50 caliber. I believe it's Green Mountain barrel is the best conical bullet barrel on the market today. I own three of them now for family hunts with my kids. I use this muzzy in Oregon with Western conversion kit and Colorado with standard 209 primer bolt kit. I was once told conical barrels have "deep lands and gloves". I have no way to characterize that but I am sold on these barrels.
Rear Sight: Williams FP peep, very rugged, easy to adjust, can switch out peep apertures depending on lighting. Use as fine of a peep as you can get away with under current lighting conditions.
Front Sight: XS Sights - White Line Patridge. XS will send you a dummy plastic sight. With your load, you trim the plastic blade until you determine the correct length. You can then order the permanent blade in 0.05" height increments. This is a heavy duty rugged sight with a fine white line on it. You aim off the TOP flat of the sight. For load development and target practice, I use a 2" fluorescent orange sticker as the point I aim at at 100 yards. I cover the bottom half of this with this front sight. This gives me a very accurate point of aim. I prefer this sighting technique to a bead that will cover several MOA at 100 yards. I also really don't like fiber optics as they give you a hazy aiming point and inconsistent sight picture depending on lighting.
Bullet: No Excuses, 50 caliber, 460 grain. Order these online from the manufacturer. This is a LONG HEAVY bullet. Realize that even in centerfire long range rifles, long heavy bullets are the bullet of choice for higher ballistic coefficients and better energy retention at range. These bullets are precision die sized after casting which gives you a consistent diameter. One other piece, the vast majority of muzzy barrels today have fast twist rates suited for sabots. Just like in centerfires, fast twist barrels like long heavy bullets. The longer bullets also give you a longer area of engagement of the soft lead to the rifling.
http://www.muzzleloading-bullets.com/shop/
Vegetable Fiber Wads: Two 0.06" thick "vegetable fiber wads". These are loaded after the powder and before the bullet. They prevent flame scoring of the bullet and have cut my groups noticeably.
Powder: With a 209 ignition, there is no better powder on the market than Blackhorn 209. It burns clean and is far less corrosive than other blackpowder substitutes. This lets you hunt on a fouled barrel for over a week without corrosion issues. [Note: I lost a stainless barrel once by not cleaning the residue for 6+ months].
Blackhorn 209, 80-85 grains by volume (56 to 59.5 grains by weight). Multiply the volume measurement by 0.7 to determine the weight (the weight is always a smaller number than the volume!) Don't try to get a hotter load with more powder because conicals do not like to be loaded hot. If a conical is loaded too hot it will cause the lead to strip from the rifling, affecting accuracy. Don't worry about energy with this load, this will have all the punch you need. It hits like a freight train. It drove through my Colorado bull lengthwise.
Powder Vials: I don't like speed loaders since the ones Ive used can let water get to the powder. I buy my vials off of eBay. There is a seller who goes by “jesuslives2saveyou” that sells an excellent vial and has sold them for years. I get the “10 ml” size which is just right for holding powder.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blackhorn-209-Muzzleloader-Powder-Compatible-Charge-Tubes-25-Speedloader-Vials/181908788174?epid=1447231304&hash=item2a5a9bd3ce:g:N~EAAMXQVT9TAiNP
Primer: Fiocchi 209. These are a "softer" 209 primer that reliably ignites the powder. If the 209 primer is too hot the bullet can be pushed off its seating before the powder ignites.
Fouled Barrel: I always hunt on a barrel that has had at least one shot fired through it after cleaning. I've found my accuracy most repeatable after that.
Waterproofing: There are four paths for water to affect your load, some of these cannot be done on a 209 primer setup:
Barrel Waterproofing: Two strips of electrical tape over the muzzle with about 50% overlap. A couple wraps around the barrel to secure it. I use good stuff like Scotch 33.
Nipple Waterproofing (#11 caps): Use a Treso (#11-50-01) nipple and a tight fitting RWS cap. It should be somewhat difficult to seat requiring you to "swage" the cap on to the nipple with some force. These are target nipples and have a small flame path. For hunting, I open the original 0.028" diameter of flame path up
VERY slightly to 0.031". That is only 0.003" (three one thousandths of an inch!!) DISCLAIMER: ENLARGING A FLAME PATH EXCESSIVELY WILL ALLOW EXCESSIVE BLOWBACK IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR FACE THAT CAN BE HAZARDOUS!!!
Nipple Thread Waterproofing (#11 caps): I used Makron blue primer sealer for Midway on the nipple threads to prevent water intrusion.
Breach Plug Thread Waterproofing: Knight breech plug grease. [Note: In my 45 caliber "sabotless" Remington/Brux muzzy (AZ legal), I use a few wraps of teflon tape on the breech plug. Some guys like this with Knights as well.]
