Black powder guns are different than a regular rifle in that with a regular rifle, it really doesn't take much practice. With a black powder you need to try all different powder/bullet combos and find out which one you can be the most accurate with. You mentioned using 100 or 150 grains of powder. I wouldn't reccomend using 150 even if you have a gun that says it can shoot "magnum" loads.

Fishduckdog:
Cob is right I shoot Between 85 and 100 grains of pyrodex behind a 50 cal round ball. Get and and shoot try all the combos you can good luck this season.

When i was looking at buying my black powder gun an old timer in a gun shop told me "don't sacrifice accuracy for power" I think if you go out and shoot 150 grains of powder you'll find you just can't get a very tight group, and if you can't hit a deer it doesn't matter what kind of power you're packing.

Thanks for the info guys! I'll keep on trying till I find the right mix.

I just thought of another tip for you fishduckdog, take your rifle varmit hunting. I realize 50cal is overkill for a rabbit or prairie dog but its fun and it provides more of a real-life deer hunting situation than a paper target does.

Here is something else to consider for your muzzle loader being that you have an Encore. It has a rifling twist of 1:28 which means it is designed more for shooting conicals or sabots. As far as a powder charge I would start out with a lighter load and work all the way up to 150 and see which load produces the best accuracy. Another suggestion is to contact Thompson Center and see what they recomend.

I shoot 300 grn sabot bullets through mine, I like the idea of the punch, and like you 100 yards is about the farthest I shoot, I think one hole in and one hole out is the best chance for taking a deer, and the added bullet weight is what gives the punch through affect for me. I have heard nothing but good about those power belt rounds also.

I shoot 295 gr. powerbelts out of my cva firebolt 209 and killed a deer at 55 yards, I had really good luck with 130 grs. of pyrodex pellets,, it kicked like a mule but I thought I had better accuracy with it, but all guns are different you just have to find the load that your gun likes the most!

I have been using a thompson 209 X 50 for about 5 or 6 years when ever it first came out. I use 150 grains of pyrodex pellets with a 240 grain bullet, I have probley killed ten or twelve bucks out to a 150 yards and 90 percent of the deer haven't run a step. I would not change my set up for the world. I hope this helps some.

I just bought a box of Pyrodex pellets today, I'm gonna try them for the 1st time Monday morning. It says not to shoot no more then 100 grains of them.

"1) Three (3) 30 grain pellets, or
2) Two (2) 50 grain pellets, or
3) One (1)50 grain pellet and one (1) 30 grain pellet.
Exceeding maximum load may cause excessive pressure and could cause damage to the firearm and cause personal injury or death to the shooter or bystanders"

This will be the 1st time shooting my Bighorn since I got it. I was wanting to try pushin 150 threw it. It says it will handle 150 grains or 3 pellets.But im not sure now.