Well, finally got out to do some shooting. It was a great day, other than the Little Boulder Rock Pit was an ice rink - but I am not complaining.

With the change of ML rules in Idaho I have been learning how to shoot conicals. I haveto use agun with a "pivoting hammer" an all lead bullet 10/1000's ( I refuse to shoot powerbelts) of the bore andpercussion cap ignition... So I have decided to use my TC Hawken with the GM barrel - now being called"my Idaho White."

My first goal was to get some velocities and then final touch up on sighting in. In all I got off 41 shots this afternoon - 41 because #40 missed a clay pigeon on the rock wall @ 102 yards... I was just a bit high - so I was forced to shoot #41 - I wanted that pigeon... got it... Gosh it was fun today.

Here is the target I shot with the velocities recorded. I am really happy with the 90 grains of T7-3f and 1500 fps. The recoil is not that bad especially for a hunting load. I could reduce the felt recoil a lot by moving the barrel over into a Renegade stock with a recoil pad but it really doesn't bother me that much so it will probably stay where it is.

The only real difference I could tell between 2f loads and 3f loads were the 3f loads seemed sharper - really quick bang - while the 2f loads seemed to be longer - if any of that makes any sense. No real signs of the "crud ring" and I did swab between shots as this will be the condition of the barrel while hunting.

Right now it does appear that the 90 grain load will be my hunting load. That should drop a whitetail or an elk out to 100 without a problem if I do my part...