To each his own. I was worried about loading FPB's in my Omega, because they are known for having very tight bores, but at least in my Omega, they load fairly easy. Just the luck of the draw with my specific barrel. I suspect you got a tighter one. And to each his own with powder, 'cause with blackhorn 209 I can shoot as many times as I want without swabbing. To me, that is worth a lot, so I won't be running around the woods with my french maid suit either, not even after 3 or 4 shots.

I can tell you this too: The best group I ever got out of my Omega with powerbelts was 4 inches at 100 yards and I shot that once.

Doesn't mean one is better, just that each barrel/ each gun is different.

" I shot more than enough to tell me that they are not the conical for me!"

There have certainly been a lot of people who said this after using powerbelts. Granted, most of them are ill advised and pushing them too fast, but we don't know what the FPB's can do yet. Power to your "powerbelt hunting experiment" and power to my "FPB hunting experiment".