I was all set to shoot yesterday. The target was up, the bench was all set, even the rifle was loaded. And then company pulled into the drive way and wasted the entire afternoon. So first thing this morning.. I headed to the range.

The rifle was loaded over night. My 50 caliber Remington Genesis. I had loaded it with 90 grains of BlackHorn 209, a 260 grain Harvester Scorpion PT in a MMP HPH-12 sabot. The sabot made loading very tight. Not impossible mind you. Just very tight.

Yesterday I had moved the bench (finally no snow) back to 102 yards. I knew the rifle was sighted in at 85 yards approximately. So I was curious where it would hit with the 15 plus additional yards tacked on.

Some of my concerns shooting today were; the winds were very strong. Right to left and to give you an idea of strength, it kept blowing my plastic bag with sabots, off the table and out into the yard. So I finally had to tell myself..put the bag in the shooting bag when your done. And patches... they were gone. Although shooting blackhorn I never did swab the barrel. And never had a single ignition problem with the CCI primers and the Remington STS primers.

I am not going to say I was upset with the first five hits. After all, it was sighted in closer then the current distance. But I did not think it should have been that low, if you know what I mean.

I decided to up the charge of BlackHorn 209 because it was shooting better before with stronger charges. And I remembered something Lee told me. The sabot should be tight, but not too tight. So I got out some HPH-24 sabots. and increased the powder charge 10 grains.

Now holding the exact POA.. why those next five climbed that much higher... I really had no idea. Could have it been the different sabot? Could the rifle just been warming up? Was it the extra powder? Again, I can not say why. Maybe you've seen this happen before. But I had a great four shot group going, and then the last one came along. I'd like to blame the wind. But I won't.

Something else I noticed... when loading the sabots.. about 12 inches down the barrel, they came to a I will describe it as a sticky area for about six inches. Then all was smooth again. The barrel has no flaws, and the sabots loaded well. But like I said.. I noticed that suddenly you had to exert more pressure on the ramrod to make it through that part. Maybe it was just the way I was positioned over the ramrod that made if feel that way. Have any of you ever experienced that?

But for a windy day, and the sun was still low on the horizon in front of me making a sun haze in the scope at times.. I was pleased with the group. And the fact that I can now move around the yard again. And it was fun to shoot.