Finally got back home today and my brother in law this morning was nice enough to take me to the store to replace all of the powerbelts we shot before deciding the scope was done for. He didnt have to buy any replacements but you know...

Anyways the stores in town didnt carry anything worth a darn, just about every powerbelt package was out except the 175gr .45s and a single pack of 245s.

I settled on 2 boxes of 385gr hornady great plains conicals just to sight in the new open sights while i order some 348s or maybe even the 338 plats.

They loaded pretty nice in the Optima so i will see how well they shoot on paper and get these sights on target.

Starting with 80gr Pyrodex P and a CCI 209M primer for starters.

I ended up using winchester w209 primers for starters, after 8 shots i am dead on at 60 yards and my front sight is maxed out, I will try 100 yards tomorrow and see if it drops badly or not. I can get a little more elevation but i dont want to go over the edge to much. I will first try the W209s at 100 and then the CCI 209M's as they seem to shoot about 4" higher than the other primers i have. That should give me plenty of room to play. These sights are more than likely calibrated for 150gr mag loads.

Good news is, the Optima Loves conicals! I was cutting holes at 25 and still cutting holes @ 60 yards of my shooting sticks. I feel a bit of crud less than half way down the bore but its nothing to whine over as i can push through it with no problem.

Thank goodness i had those sights ahead of time! And they are really darn good for aiming too as my orange dot was only 1" DIA lol.

Well what size powderbelt was the favorite in your Optima .50 caliber?

FG you don't have a direct line to Powerbelt central to get what you need imediately wen you are out.

Ive only shot the 348gr hollow points in it so far. Scoped my best group was dime size with 90gr Pyrodex P. I havent shot open sights on this thing since i got it and it was wearing tc sights that i borrowed from the omega i had

I just needed something to sight in with as i am out of powerbelts until my next trip to the store on monday/tuesday.

i wish! I told the guy at the local store you replace those varmint 175 grainers with the 338 platinums.

My local hard ware store has a good supply of Muzzy bullets and lots of Powerbelts it different variations.

FG
you Optima doesnt seem to be picky,thats good.
Tomorrow ends hunting for 6 days till the start of general gun.
I will use shotgun and Marlin 30/30 when I hunt with dad but at my lease it will be muzzy and crossbow
I want to shoot the Optima during those 6 days so I dont mess up anyones hunt

Rifle is shooting just a tad over 1 1/2" 3 shot group @ 100 but am still 4" low. I tried RS with cci 209m's and they opened up to 3" so i am packing up again to try 3 shots with RS and the Winchester w209 primer.

90gr RS and W209 primer gave me a horrible 8" group today.

I am going to swab the barrel clean and then go out with 90gr pyrodex P.

Low on powder,bullets,primers and especially money. I may end up having to use either a 270 or 30-06 this year if i cant get something going today.

Edit:

90gr Pyro P, W209 primer, First shot on clean bore was 5" to the left, shots 2 and 3 were right at 6 o'clock and 2" apart. If i have to use this load i will fire a fouling shot first. I only have a 5 day hunt so it will be fine.

I am hoping the store will have some powerbelts in stock so i can resight in again with those.