may have stumbled on to a good combination
 

Playing around with the T/C NewEnglander .50 today and took along the can of Jim Shockey Gold fffg powder to see if it would light off OK in the sidelock. Tried a group wit 70 grains fffg Goex BP and 320 grain Lee REAL bulletsfirst to see how fffg shot (circled in blue). At 50 yards it was not really that good. Tried a few round balls with lubed & un-lubed patches to see if the Shockey Gold woud burn OK. The powder did fine, no sign of a hangfire or even any hesitation at all. Lit as well as BP does in that barrel.
Then I decided to shoot a group with 100 grains of the Shockey Gold and the 320 grain REALs. The group iscircled in red (3 shots) and I was pleased with it. Tried an empty 1-liter water bottle at 100 yards next, and hit the right side of it the first shot.Good enough to give me something to look forward to testing further!

RE: may have stumbled on to a good combination
 

Excellent!

I bought my first canister of JSG (FFG)last week to try in my guns, mostly because it was priced at $16 a pound. I don't know if that's a great price, but it seemed OK.

I'll be trying it in my New Englander with 250 REALs. Hope I get groups as good as the ones you got.I'm still awaiting arrival of the 320 REALs I ordered from Black Jack Hill two months ago.

My experiencewith the 250s and Pyrodex is that they like a hefty charge - 100to 110 grains - and a fiber wad.

How was the JSG on clean-up? What about swabbing between shots?

RE: may have stumbled on to a good combination
 

I shot some Goex before I shot the JSG, so I had to give it the normal scrubbing after I got home. I ran a couple wet patches through after I shot the BP and the JSG seemed to be very clean. The group was without any swabbing between shots.
One wierd thing, though. The can of JSG says use un-lubed patches with round balls. I only had a few un-lubed, so I tried a lubed patch on one shot. Almost no recoil, felt & sounded like a "squib" load, and hit way low?????
I like the JSG's performance so far. It ignited fine, and seems to be very clean. I plan to try it in the Lyman Mustang with Barnes bullets this week and see if it will group them as tight as Pyrodex. If it does, I'll probably switch to it.
It cost me $21.95 at the local department store, but they are high on everything. I bought the Lyman Mustang from Mid-South, but asked the local store to price it first. The asked $80. more, and when I told them what I could buy it for they said that was more than it cost them. [:-]

RE: may have stumbled on to a good combination
 

Sweet shootin Wabi.;) I sure will be glad when it cools off a little.

RE: may have stumbled on to a good combination
 

A very interesting and excellent range report. I will have to try some of the loads you mentioned in my New Englander..