After my first date with the Omega X7 (http://www.huntingnet.com//forum/tm.aspx?m=3265624) and experiencing a little difficulty with the fiber optic front sight, I decided to put a scope on it for this range session. I had an "elChepo" Tasco 3X9 that I bought on sale at WalMart at the end of last season, so I mounted it on the gunwith a Leupold base and rings. In my view, this size scope is too big for the X7. At almost 13 inches long with 40mm lenses, it just doesn't look righton thelittle gun, at least to me (my brother-in-law liked it). I thinka simple 4X scope is in this gun's future - a7 inch tube with a 32mm lenswould be just right I think.

My objective in this range session was to establish a base line comparison of several bullet/sabot/powder combinations to use as a starting point for future range sessions. I decided to use 95 grains of GOEX, Pyrodex RS, Triple Seven FFG, and Blackhorn with the following bullets.

Speer 300 grain .452 Gold Dots in Harvester crush rib sabots.
Speer 300 grain .452 Gold Dots in Harvester short black sabots.
Speer 210 grain .410 Gold Dots in Harvester blue 50/40 sabots.
Hornady 200 grain .40 XTPs in Harvester blue 50/40 sabots.

I would like to have shot 5-shot groups of each combination, but time was limited (shooting between morning and evening hunts), so I shot 3-shot groups. In my view, a 3-shot group is enough to tell you a load combination is no good, but a good3-shot group could be a fluke.A good 5-shot group is almost certainly telling you the truth.

This first set of four targets is with GOEX FFFg and each bullet. I wiped with twosides of one alcohol patch between shots (2S1AP)for the entire range session. Shooting was from a bench at 100 yards with the scope set on 9X.

GOEX Targets:











Pretty disappointing all around, although that 2" group on the first target gives me some hope for a GOEX load.I was a little surprised that the crush rib sabots gave a better group with the 300 Gold Dots thanthe short black sabots. It's usually the other way around in my Mustang.

Let's repeat the sequence with Pyrodex RS.

Pyrodex Targets:











Really disappointed with how the .41 and .40 bullets are doing. The 300 GD in the short black sabotmade me smile though. Add or reduce the load by five or ten grains and I might get something really shooting.

OK, on the the Triple Seven FFG.


Triple Seven Targets:












Once again, pretty disappointing except for the 300 GDs in short black sabots. I can work with that load. The .41 and .40 bullets still stink though.

On to Blackhorn.

Blackhorn Targets:

. [:-]
OH NO!!! [&o]It's almost 3:30 p.m. Time to head for the stand for the evening hunt. Dang! I really, really wanted to be able to report onthose Blackhorn groups. I promise to do it next week end.

EDIT: OKguys, I shot the same sequence with Blackhorn last week end. Here are the targets.






Man, was that disappointing. Considering all of the good reports on Blackhorn and the pretty good groups I got with Pyrodex and Triple 7 and Harvester short black sabots, I expectedBlackhorn to do better, or at least as well. It sure didn't. I used both sides of one alcohol patch between shots the same way I did with the other powders. Maybe that was amistake with Blackhorn. I would have tried another group without swabbing, but was running out of time and decided to save the little BH I had left to shootin the Mustang when I get a new 209 breech plug for it.

Conclusions:

1. The 300 grain Gold Dot in Harvester short black sabots show a lot of promise in this gun. That's good because it's my favorite bullet (and the best shooting bullet in the Mustang also) so I should have no troublefinding my "hunting load" for this gun.

2. I suspect the 95 grain load I was shooting is pretty near the maximum useful powder charge for this 22" barrel, but I may be wrong here. I need to chronograph a few experimental loads to see what happens.

3. I do want to add Blackhorn to the comparison (but hope I end up finding a T7 or Pyrodex load that shoots as well as, or better thanBH ).

4. I need to repeat the entire shoot with a lower powder charge, maybe 80 grains or so, and see what happens.Those .41 and .40 caliber bullets mightdo better (or worse?) with a lighter charge.

5. I wish I could have included250 grain Gold Dotsin this session, but didn't have any on hand. Gotta try them in this gun.

6. Somewhere down the road I need to try some .457/.458 bullets in orange sabots. I have a good supply of Lee castbullets in 340 grains and 420 grains, and Remington 300 grain jacketed hollow points. Any one of them would make a fine hunting bullet if they shoot well, and the Lees would sure be cheap shooting.

FINAL CONCLUSION: New guns are fun!!!