I hate it when I learn things . . . later have to re-learn them . Haven't shot either Black Diamond enough in a single session for this problem to raise its ugly head in quite awhile.Last month- when I was crawling on my hands and knees through the sage brush sneaking up on those elk . . . I looked down and noticed that I had sandy soil on the left side of the rifle sticking to the stock and left side of the receiver. Not quite in the "ejection port", but almost. All it would have taken was one grain of sand and I don't think the gun would have fired. Next time I'm taking the Omega.

Cayugad - let us know how the XPB's work. This whole little exercise, for me, started out with a box of Nosler Partition HG bullets on sale and thoughts of an inexpensive alternative to the Barnes Expander MZ's. I have also thought about trying the 265 gr. Hornady's. They have a great reputation in the .444 Marlin.

As good as those 250 grain Shockwaves load, shoot, and drop game; I sometimes wonder why I am still playing with loads. [8D]