i had a post on here about trading my optima's for the cabela's timber ridge, well i traded and set up my scope with what i thought was 80 grains 777 and a 295 grain powerbelt. today the friend i traded with wanted to go shoot to get used to his gun, and when i loaded and fired my groups was high about 4 inches and the best group was 4-5 inches. when i set the scope the other day i had 1and 1/2 inch groups. i shot a little more but my shots were no better than 4 inches, i was thinking the scope, then my friend asked was i sure about the grain i used the other day. so i decided to drop down to 70 if that didn't work go to 90, but i was sure that i used 80. well i used 70 when i loaded and fired bullseye then a second shot about 1 inch to right but still in center circle. i thought about trying for 90 to see how they group but decided that if i can hit at 100 yds then i'm good to go. but after i got home i got to thinking is 70 grains of 777 enough for deer out to 150yds?, i have never used that small amout of powder. and i'm wondering why my gun won't shoot 80 good?,and if 90 would be better or worse? so have any of you all shot just 70 grain of 777 and if so is that enough to kill a deer cleanly? thanks for any help.

I used to kill deer with 60grs of FFF Goex and a .440 round ball that weighed 128grs...

150 is a pretty far poke though, I'd say to 125 easily...

yep, perfect out to 150. If they are around 100+ dont be afraid to take low shoulder shots.

Should do the trick nicely around 100~150 yards. I prefer as fast a load as I can get--makes things easier for longer shots. There's nothing wrong with shooting 70gr. But hey, there's nothing wrong with shooting 90 either.. as long as you can hit what you're shooting at

70 should be plenty. But if you're sighted in at 100 yards, the bullet is going to drop quite a bit by the time you get to 150. You'll need to shoot it at 150 to see how far its dropping.

OSH makes a point---I'm gonna guess you'll be in the realm of 8" drop at 150, but this is easily helped out by sighting in high at 100yds (say, 2 or 3").

Sorry, overlooked your other question 'why won't my gun shoot well at 80'. Well, the gun chooses the load it will shoot well. A gun might shoot well at one charge with a certain bullet, and then 5 or 10gr away, it just ain't gonna feed the bullets out quite right. Now, if you try different bullets, you will probably find one that your gun will shoot accurately with a heavier charge. But, as MDevil will tell you, powerbelts are better shot slow than fast when it comes to terminal performance. They're soft, which is great for low-velocity performance. Give the bullet credit--a bullet that big doesn't hafta be going fast to do serious damage.

I forgot to mention as well- Sometimes even 5 grains of powder can make a huge difference in accuracy. Some rifles are fussy, and get like that. Mine shoots 1.5" groups at 100 yards all day with 95 grains of 777. When using 90 or 100 grains instead, I get 2 - 3" groups. Go figure.