Lonewolf, that is some good shooting there. 85 grains of powder might not seem like much, but for a Whitetail it would be plenty still. A five inch group is a Whitetail killing group. I guess the deer better put out new warning markers around your stand... It would be interesting to run the ballistics on that load.

The five inches to the side would be because of the cross wind I am guessing. A cross wind really plays the devil on most muzzleloader bullets. Even at the 100 yard station. I was shooting yesterday and the wind was gusting pretty strong and all the shots, while in a good group (for the most part) were to the right about an inch and a half.

I thought about getting out one on my flintlocks yesterday, but really wanted to test the American Pioneer Powder in another rifle. So I brought out the knight rifles and shot from them. Maybe today I will take out the flintlocks and throw some roundball around.

Also I found a chunk of maple firewood that must have fallen off the wagon when I was hauling in on the road of the range. It was about 12 inches in thickness. I was shooting 100 grains of American Pioneer 2f and a 250 grain Shockwave and wanted to see if it would penetrate that. Not even a sign that it would come through. I shot a couple rounds into it. A second projectile I put into that stump was a 200 grain Hornady XTP 10mm. I think today I will split that chunk of wood and see if I can recover the bullets and also see how deep they penetrated.

Those 375 grain Buffalo SSB's are a good bullet. I talked to a person that elk hunted with them shooting 110 grains of Triple Se7en 2f out of a Black Diamond XR. While the shot he had was only 60 yards he said the internaldamage that bullet did was very impressive. The elk managed to walk, if I remember, about 30 yards and just layed down dead.