Update,
Guys, I believemy powder was the biggest part of my problem all along
now. I picked up a fresh can of Hogdon 777 ffg last night. Today I took
it out to the firing line. And at 50yrds it shot within 4" groups constantly
and stayed within the 8" dia black circle just above the bullseye on a 100
yard smallbore target. Funniest thing happened though, on one of my
loads my ball starter kinda wobbled and deformed the hollow point on the
conical. It was the only shot that cut through the quarter sized bullseye.
There were no strays, flyer's etc...Istarted out with 60grs and worked
my way up to 75grs of powder. I was shooting both Maxie-Balls 240gr and
and Hornady 285gr HP. I think I can play with someloads and tighten the
groups up now. "Hopefully"

The old PyrodexRSpowder,
The reason I didn't give the powder much thought before is, I was on
Hogdon's website reading the FAQs. There was a statement on there
about aged powder. I think they were referring to Pyrodex, but it may
have beenpowder in general. They said if it didn't have a strong odor
and wasn't rusty or reddish in color, it should be fine.Going by this I
assumed mine was ok. It shot as good as ever with no mis-fires or
hesitation in the shot. But apparently it does lose it's spunk over time
regardless.

Cayugad,
With the grouping in the pic, I'm saying your squirrel problems should be
over real soon. (Nice shoot'n) When I get my 45 tuned in, I'm going to
take out my 54s and play with them some. Now that I've changed powder
I'll have to work up a new load for them aswell.

Many Thanks!
B. Smoke