Wanted to give everyone a big thanks for all of the information I have gotten off of this site over the last couple of years. I purchased my ML a couple years ago for an elk hunt in Colorado. So far I have been unsuccessful in getting drawn for an elk hunt and have used the time to work on loads and learning. Since the elk hunt will be with a full bore conical I have tried various combinations but have not achieved much accuracy past 50 yards. After reading several posts about TC Omega synthetic stocks I finally decided to glass bed the stock last month, to improve the accuracy. I epoxied a stainless steel washer in each of the lug pillars to get a good metal to metal fit between the stock and barrel. Then I filled in between each pillar with fiberglass to strengthen the stock and glassed around the barrel lugs to get a perfect fit everytime between stock and lugs. I used a dremel tool to remove some of the stock so that the barrel is free floating also. I have not had the time to shoot at 75 and100 yards but did confirm my POI at 50 yards.
Using all of the information I have gleaned here I made my first ML kill on a small (60 lb) hog. I went hunting with my brotheryesterday morning and we saw a young boar feeding. There was a small shrub nearby so I used it for support and took the shot when the hog turned broadside. We stepped it off later and the distance was 32 steps. I was loaded with 100 grains of 777 using the vari-flame primer system, a 350gr Hornady FPB in a TC Omega 50 cal and a Williams adjustable peep aperature rear sight. I had hoped to get a shot at a bigger hog to get some actual terminal information on the FPB, the hog I took did not stretch the capabilities of this bullet much. Obviously it was a pass through and did not seem to expand much. It broke a rib on each side and punched a good hole in each lung and ruptured the aorta. Tracking was not an issue since the hog flopped in place. I did not have my digital camera so there are no pictures of the entry/exit wounds.
I have done a penetration test on dry telephone books with this load at 50 yards. It went through five inches of dry paper and the rotten 1/2" plywood backstop. I was able to find the bullet within 5 foot of the target. It was somewhat deformed (no suprise). Across the widest point it was about 3/4" and had retained about 60 percent of its weight. My brother chronographed this load in his TC (Encore) and found it to have an average speed of 1772fps.
Since it is too late to make a long story short. Just for anyone's information a 50 cal PRB over 40 grains of powder in a 1 in 28 twist will shoot accurately for target practice. I introduced my daughter to ML with this load and she loved shooting it. My step-son enjoyed shooting it also, but said it is a tad slower to reload than what he has been using in Iraq. Again thanks to everyone for all of the information you share, hope you had a Merry Christmas and may you all have a Happy New Year.