I centered the crosshairs on the big buck's rib cage and squeezed the trigger. As usual, my Knight muzzleloader belched smoke and copper. The buck never knew what hit him. Deliberate he came across the burn, grunting his challenge, bell swinging like the pendulum on a doomsday clock. Dramatics aside, there's no way of knowing for sure just how serious was the threat, and I had no intention of finding out.
Continuity is the foundation upon which successful muzzleloader hunting is built.
Both the animals I described, the latter, a hulking monster of nearly 1,500 pounds and the former, a relative wraith at 300 pounds, were taken with a .50 caliber Knight muzzleloader loaded with 100 grains of Hodgdon Pyrodex select pushing a 300 grain Barnes X bullet. By the time the next hunting season rolls around, I'll be an old hand with a new load. If you must switch, do it once and practice. By the time the next hunting season rolls around, I'll be an old hand with a new load.