sabotloader

cayugad, Do you remember "clear shot" by GOEX. The granuales there were sized in the area that I would call correct. I guess, I was hoping that the new Pinnacle might be more along that line, although as I remember it, itwas under-powered.

Pinnacle has not showed up out here, Northern Idaho or Eastern Washington, yet, but if it does I do want to try some it, but now I am wondering. is 2f ok or like clean shot do you need 3f?

cayugad

Yes I remember clear shotl... A friend of mine bought a pound of it, took it to the range, knocked the clumps out of it and shot it. He then offered to sell it to all of us for a very cheap price. We refused of course, so he told us to shoot it off at one of our group shoots. It was really under powered as I remember, although it did shoot very clean. And it did work in the sidelocks real good. Back then we did not know what an inline even looked like. Most of us were shooting Pyrodex back then.

MLKeith

I shot some clear shot out of my T/C Scout rifle using 348gr. powerbelts. I got some decent results and decided to use it as my hunting load. I shot a couple of times just before the hunt and found that the bullets were not staying stable and my accuracy had gone somewhat off. I had already decided on the load so I used it anyway. I managed to get a shot at a huge cow elk at about 80 yards and the powerbelt keyholed and went through the elk sideways. It passed through the center of the heart and lodged in the ribcage on the far side. When recovered the plastic aerotip was still in the bullet. CVA told me that the clear shot initial pressure rise rate was not sufficient to upset the base of the bullet and that was why the bullet keyholed. I think I poured it on the ground and set fire to it to get rid of it. Sold the Scout to buy an Omega; now I wish I had kept the Scout too.

Roskoe

That trend with Powerbelts may hold true for most powders. There seems to be a "window" of powder charge with the PB's where, if you are below that window you don't get sufficient upset - and you are above it the stem gets deformed and doesn't release the skirt consistently. All that might have been required to cure the problem with the Scout is to up the powder charge enough to get the bullet to flow into the lands and grooves. How much Clear Shot were you using?

cayugad

When I shot Pinnacle last winter with conicals I got terrible accuracy. Maybe this is another powder that does not really shock the conical like Triple Se7en or Pyrodex P does. When I shoot Powerbelts, I like the Pyrodex P because it does not heat the concial stem as bad as Triple Se7en. When I was shooting powerbelts and triple Se7en I had to make sure to loosen the button and grease the spike other wise I sometimes found the button as far as 35 yards down range. On a close shot that is not something I would want to see...

ENCOREMAN

I had a chance to get out this afternoon and shoot some of the FFg Pinncacle. Everything went very well, except it did take some additional time to get the FF through the powder measurer. In some ways it worked out good this way, because it slowed me down and helped keep the barrel from heatingup.The Pinnacle powderburns so clean that I was able to shoot and load time after time without cleaning. It was really nice not cleaning between each shotand the accuracy didn't seem to suffer either.
I was shooting my .50calT/C High Plains Sporter w/1-48" twist, the 348gr. Aero Tip Power Belts and a 100gr charge of FF Pinnacle. This rifle has a 24" barrel and I was getting 1450 fps with a 25fps deviation ina 5 shot group. At 50 yds. using a peep sight I was able to shoot 1" groups with this load.
Just for the heck of it I shot some Triple 7, FFg through the chronograph using the same 100gr, powder charge and the same 348gr. PB I recorded 1609 fps with this powder.
When I got home clean up was a snap. I'm very impressed 1st time out with this powder, but I would recommend the FFFg.
I did shoot some Goex Clear Shot today too.This little rifle always liked this powder and that's why I brought it along.I have about a 1/2lb. left. I got 1220fps with this powder. Same bullet and powder charge as above.

MLKeith,
I usually get great groops out of the 348 PB's @ 100yds. After that, the accuracy seems to suffer and is really bad once I get to 200yds. This is using a 150gr charge of Pyrodex Pellets out of my Encore.

cayugad

Encoreman.. great post. I was glad to see someone running it over a chronograph with different projectiles. I was pretty sure it was not as hot as triple Se7en but it looks like it is real close to Pyrodex or Goex. That is the second time I have seen those kinds of numbers. Thanks much.

With that kind of accuracy, it looks like you got a good hunting weapon on your hands.. keep on testing. I have no chronograph, all I do is listen to the steel ring.. in the bullet trap, and see how much it knocks the plates around. Goex 3f actually has a lot of power for that....

ENCOREMAN

I'm a little scared trying to post pic of my 3 shot group @ 50yds after my past failures at posting pictures.
These were my last 3 shots of the day and I shot 4 shots prior to this w/o cleaning at a gong target. It was a fun day at the range!

cayugad

WOW!! you really got that one down. Open sights and powerbelts.. Nice shooting.

MLKeith

This was a while ago but if I remember correctly I was using a charge of 80gr. Clear Shot with the 348gr. Powerbelt aerotip.