Finally got out to shoot this morning. I had planned to use 260 pt golds in a BCR sabot over 90 gr. BH209 out of the Pro Hunter. The bullet went down under the weight of the ramrod. I figured it probably wasn't going to work but put a primer in and pulled the trigger. Got a poof of smoke. I pulled the plug to confirm the bullet exited the barrel. Loaded up again only this time switched to the regular Harvester black sabot. A little more resistance but not much. Pulled the trigger and only a primer pop. Second primer same thing.
Put the PT Golds away and got out some .458 325 FTX's in BCR's. This was just a bit too tight. It went down using the Knight range rod (which is well worth the investment for anyone that doesn't have one. Great product!) but I think if I had to reload in the field with the TC ramrod it wouldn't work. Certainly wouldn't be fast.
Went back to the bullet collection and still had a few .452 300 gr. XTP's. I shot my first muzzleloader deer with these. In the BCR they loaded real nice. Now it was time to shoot.
When the real shooting started it was 32* and breeze blowing right to left. Had some snowflakes falling on and off the whole range session. First 2 shots at 50 yards were touching about 3" low. Left/right was perfect. Adjusted up. Next shot was about an inch low. Raised the front sight as high as it would go. Next shot was an inch high. I was happy with that.
At this point I was pretty well cold and I have a tendency to get bored shooting paper. I have a 6" gong hanging at a measured 98 yards. I decided to take a shot at that and if I hit it first shot I was ready to hunt. Pulled the trigger and that gong about flew off it's hook. Packed up, came inside and made some coffee.
Come on December...