It finally warmed up a little around here and I went to the range, hoping it would be reasonably dried out from the snow we had last Friday. Not. Major mud bowl. Nonetheless, I hadn't shot a smokepole for over a month and wanted to get an idea of how the Jim Shockey Gold in the 2F and 3F would perform out of my scoped Omega.

I tried 135 grains of the 2F with a 250 Shockwave. It grouped about 1.5" and shot maybe 3" higher than the same bullet with 130 grains of Pyrodex pellets. Recoil was fairly stiff. I blew one over the chronograph and it read 2428!! I decided to confirm that reading with another shot, and the sabot hit the readout part of the instrument - putting a 1/2 dent in it. I could still see the first two numbers on the digital readout flickering 24, so I'm figuring the first one wasn't a fluke. It's goingback to Chrony for repairs. Sure hope they stand behind their stuff.

I then tried 110 grains of the 3F with a 200 grain Shockwave. This was a real nice load to shoot. Grouped a little over an inch. Loads nice too - just the right balance of firm, but not too tight. Same point of impact as the 250 Shockwave. Sure would like to know what the speed is . . . .

I had also, for some time, wanted to try some different sabots with the Barnes Expanders. The regular Harvester 50/45 (H5045SB) was just right with these bullets. Shot well too. I brought some Harvester Crush Rib sabots along in case the regular Harvesters were too tight - wound up not even trying them.

The Jim Shockey Gold powder, as advertised, leaves only a light coating of beige colored dust in the bore. One patch wetted with Cayugad's swabbing solution got it out. So far, I'm impressed.