Here is what happened. I told a little fib. I said I was going to only hunt with my FL this year, but I took my Knight LRH out yesterday.

Since I had a problem with a can of 777 "clumping" before I was careful to check my powder before I loaded it in my LRH. The can of powder was a little over a year old.

I shot a doe last night. When I shot the deer I noticed that the shot seemed to be delayed, and the charge sounded like a "squib" load. I always hold high on the front shoulder since tracking a deer is a real problem for me. The high shoulder shot drops them in their tracks. The deer was about 140 yards away. So I held my first crosshair down on the B&C reticle(dead on at 150). The doe took off. First she ran straight toward me, then turned to the left and ran down over a pretty steep embankment. If I had not seen her favoring her off leg I would have thought I missed(she was running fast). Thank goodness my friend was with me. The deer went into the ravine, then up hill another 75 yards before she expired. So in total she ran close to 300 yards.

The bullet impacted extremely low in the chest. Another inch and it would have been a miss. The bullet dropped about 8-10 inches below where it should have hit.

I shot the rifle at fifty yards. Heard the same "squib" sound, and experienced the same slight delay in ignition. The bullet hit 8 inches low. There is no doubt in my mind it is the powder!! I think I am done with 777. However I have a year to work up a new load.

I have never experienced a problem like this with BP. I though I did a good job in storing my 777. This stuff is too finicky for me.

I wonder if this BH209 stuff is as finicky as 777. Tom.