I had been wanting to work up a small game load for my .50 hawken rifle. One of my interests was to try some things which might allow me to continue shooting without swabbing. Not wanting too much power for the rabbits I plan to hunt, I settled on trying to achieve 925 fps with a PRB. I figured about 20 grains of 3f goex would do that.

I have been wanting to try mixing the cornmeal with bp to see if there was any reduction in yield and to see if it help to keep the bore cleaner. I mixed 480 grains 3f goex with 120 of cornmeal and put in my powder flask. So it was 80% BP and 20% cornmeal.

I began shooting 20 grains. Literally like shooting a .22 in terms of recoil, I averaged 854 fps +- 8 fps with 6 shots. I should also say that I was using blue Walmart pillow ticking which I had pre-saturated (actually several months ago) with olive oil. Not for any particular reason, it was available in the kitchen so I thought I'd try it. I should also say, I left my ball starter at home.

I then began loading 25 grains of the 80/20 mix. In thirteen shots, I averaged 931 fps +- 12 fps. This happened to be what I was hoping for with 20 grains and there happens to be 20 grains of BP in 25 grains of the mixture. So I don't know if there is any better yield by mixing ( though I found yield was better when meal was used as a filler over the top of powder). I may try testing that later.

Throught the session, I kept adjusting my rear sight up until I was got the POI to 1/4" high at 20 yards. From 8 yards to 40 yards the elevation should be +- .300" from line of sight. 40 yards is as far as I intend to use it for small game.

During the entire range session I never swabbed and loaded each shot without the assistance of a ball starter. Some were kindatight in the first 6 inches, but after that, they all went right down. As I was picking up things toleave, I inspected the muzzle of my rifle. It was moist with olive oil and the bore was shiny and clean looking. So I thought I would swab it to see what was down there.

I did somthing I would have never tried until the end of a session. I swabbed with a dry patch, just like the ones cayugad buys at Walmart. The patch slid right down to the breech without sticking! When I pulled it out it was very black and dirty, the fouling was soft and had kind of a sheen to it. I turned it over and swabbed it again and it came out about as dirty as before.

I'm looking forward to trying this loadwhile hunting.