Semisane

One of the items on my list of planned range sessions was to try some FFFg GOEX in the Mustang. I've shot it withT-7, Pyrodex, and JSG - but never GOEX. So I gaveGOEX atry last Saturday.


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The best load I've ever found for this gun is 80 grains weight (about 103 grains volume) of Triple Seven under a 300 grain Gold Dot in a Harvester short black sabot. This load averages right at 1750 fps and will consistently shootone and a half inch five-shot groups at 100 yards from a clean barrel. I have not been able to find any otherload combination that does as well. Believe me, I've tried.

I figured something like 120 grains FFFg should match the velocity of the T-7 load, so that's what I used for the test. Unfortunately (stupidly?) I forgot to bring a new battery for the chronograph, so I was not able to verify the velocity.

The first target I shot was with the 300 grain Gold Dots. Here it is.




Now that was mighty satisfying. Shot #2 might have been a flyer, or might have been pilot error. I would really like to have shot another group with the GDs, but those were the last five I had in the bullet bag.

The gun is sighted in so that the T-7/GD load hits one inch high at 100 yards. I was surprised to see the GOEX load hit so much higher and a tad left. Maybe it was the temperature difference. It was in the high 80s on Saturday and the gun was sighted in last fall when it was in the low 60s.

One thing I noticed is that GOEX burned MUCH cleaner than either T-7 or Pyrodex in the Mustang, and was easier to clean. After wiping with both sides of one wet patch and both sides of one dry patch after each shotthe bore was shiny clean. I followed that with an alcohol patch to make sure the bore was dry, and the alcohol patch would come out as white as it went in.

The next bullet I tried was the 300 grain Hornady SST with the supplied sabot, again with 120 grains FFFg. Here's the target.





Now that load grouped right where I expected it to, and the group size was almost exactly what I get with T-7. As you can see, it's an acceptable hunting group but nothing spectacular. I've tried this bullet with T-7 and Pyrodex RS and three different sabots with loads from 80 to 110 grains and have not been able to get it to group any tighter. The funny thing is, regardless of powder charge or sabot, I get about three inch groups. This seems to be typical of the Mustang. It shoots almost anything OK, but only the heavy GDs real well.


Then I tried some 250 grain Gold Dots / Harvester short black sabots / 120 grains GOEX. Here's the target.





Now this surprised me. With T-7, the 250 GDs will shoot almost as well as the 300s, and group with just about the same point of impact. I did not expect such a big difference with GOEX.

The next bullet I tried was the 300 grain Hornady XTP with Harvester short black sabots. Same 120 grain GOEX load. Here's the target.





Just like with the SSTs, the XTPs grouped about the same as they do with T-7, and in about the same place. I can't figure out why 300 grain GDs will group 1 1/2" at 100 yards, and 300 grain XTP groupswill consistently be around three inches. The bullet shapes are very close. Anyway, that's what they do.

I need to get some more 300 grain Gold Dots and see if the group in the first target is repeatable. If it is I'll be in high cotton. I've got about a pound and a half of T-7 on hand, an equal amount of Pyrodex RS, and close to a pound of JSG FFG. I figure when those are used up I'll be sticking to GOEX FFFg in all of my guns. I really like the stuff.

Hope you enjoyed the report.

nchawkeye

When you get stocked back up with some Gold Dots try one more thing...After you clean the barrel, lightly lube a patch with your favorite oil, then run a dry patch down, see if that tightens up the groups...

When I clean my Knight with alcohol, the groups open up a bit after a couple of shots, I can oil the bore as well between shots and they come back together...

Semisane

Good point hawkeye. That has been my usual procedure with my regular GD/T-7 load, except I run the lubed patch after I load the bullet. Then I can leave the load in the barrel for months with no worry about powder contamination or rust in the bore.

cayugad

Goex or black powder for that matter is just a good powder. I know the trend is to get rifles and powder that you do not have to clean up after or you can leave dirty longer, but when the chips are down... its hard to beat black powder. With 120 grains of powder that must have had some snap to it.

Something I noticed with my inlines.. they like 2f black powder and sabots better then 3f. Now with conicals, it is a different story, but with sabots I almost always shoot the 2f black powders. Graf's & Sons 2f is an excellent sabot powder...

Nice shooting there. That Mustang sure has some pretty wood.

Semisane

It's kinda like looking at the chests of the models on Deal Or No Deal - you don't know if it's real or not. The Mustang has what Lyman calls their "Ultra Grain" finish. When you take the recoil pad off the wood appears to be plain white birch. I think the finish is applied with some kind of dipping process the way they do camo finishes. Anyway, it looks fine and has held up well so far. No chips, fade, wear or scratches. Nine out of ten guys who handle the gun never guess it's not really high grade walnut.