After shooting a doe earlier in the season with the .58 Hawken, I switched guns to the .50 GM/LRH TC Renegade. It was loaded with its standard load of 85 grains GOEX FFFg under a 300 grain Gold Dot in a Harvester short black sabot.

After a few hunts with the Renegade without getting a shot I got to thinking that I've already shot deer with the 300 Gold Dot (excellent results), but never with a 250 grainer. So after the Saturday morning hunt I decided to switch to the 250.

I went to the club rifle range and shot the 300 grainer at a 100 yard target to unload the gun. It hit exactly where it should have. I was happy with that as the gun had been loaded for three weeks.

Although I've shot the 250's from this gun before, I couldn't recall what load shot best and didn't have the gun's target file at the camp. I also needed to see if the scope needed to be adjusted for the lighter bullet.

I wanted to push the 250 a little harder than the 300, so I loaded up with 105 grains of GOEX FFFg and took three shots at 100 yards.

The results were disappointing. So I dropped the load to 95 grains and took three more shots. Now, THAT'S WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR.

Two three-shot groups do not always tell the tale. But I didn't have time for a lengthy range session and was confident enough in the results here that I cleaned the gun completely and loaded her up with the 250's for the evening hunt.

It's amazing the difference reducing the charge by ten grains made.