Well I took the Black Diamond XR out today and loaded it with Black Mag 3.Again all shooting was done at 50 yards off a single bag rest. I was shooting 100 grains and a 250 grain Shockwave. While the accuracy was good, I have to admit I got better accuracy with the Shockwaves using 777 2f. 10 shots and never a swab.. I could get used to that. And loading was easy. All of them hit about 3 inches higher then normal.

Then without swabbing, I loaded some 300 grain Hornady XTP's. This time the rifle shot outstanding. I had one flyer, and I think that was truly my fault. The trigger got away from me. I was trying to be so careful and before I was ready the gun went BOOM! Counting the flier it was 1-1/2 inch group. The other four were just a hole out there. All the shots were hitting much higher then with the 100 grains of Goex 2f I normally shoot. Almost 2 inches higher then normal. At 50 yards they are suppose to hit almost an inch high. They were actually hitting 3 inches high. I fired five of them taking the unswabbed total to 15 shots.

I then broke out some .458 300 grain Hornady HP's and orange Knight MMP sabots. Again, excellent groups. Just over an inch with five shots, taking the unswabbed total to 20 shots. After that I got some .458 405 grain all lead flat point projectiles I cast. They shot a 2" group. Because of their weight I dropped the charge down to 85 grains. This was the first projectile that did not hit high. They actually hit right where I was aiming. I was now up to 25 shots without swabbing the barrel. Loading was still as easy as always.

I then got some 460 grain Bull Shop conicals. I was shooting 85 grains of BM3 and it threw them all over the paper. I blame a lot of this accuracy though on the fact that the rifle had fowled the breech area so bad with the Remington Kleenbore 209 primers I was shooting, that the trigger was starting to get sticky. So I only shot three of them taking the unswabbed total to 28 shots. Not too bad for a Black Diamond XR to shoot that many without a swab. With a little scope adjustment, I could have any of the sabots I tried hunting ready in just a few hours.

I then broke the rifle down completely. I wanted to see what would happen to the barrel if I dumped some hot soap and water down it. So I took it to the kitchen and made up some dishwater. I poured that through the barrel of the rifle. Two cup fulls to be exact. Looking down the barrel, it was clean. After scrubbing out the breech threads, the trigger assembly, and the breech itself plus the hammer, breech plug, and nipple... Back at the bench I pushed a clean dry patch through the barrel and it came out clean. I was amazed at how easy this powder is to clean. So I ran a patch with Rusty Duck Black Off through the barrel and got back a patch with Rusty Duck Black Off on it and nothing else.

While this powder does show a lot of promise with SABOTS and clean up is really easy... I still am not convinced that it is worth the money ($25.23 without the hazmat). I can get almost three pounds of Goex ($8.99 a pound without hazmat)for the price of one pound of Black Mag 3. For someone that shoots a lot, that can mean some big savings. After just two days of shooting, I have shot off almost the entire pound of powder. I've saved a little of the Black Mag 3 for a certain flintlock that needs to hit the range, maybe tomorrow...