I have a jug of APP 2f that I had not opened. So I wanted to try that. I decided to shoot another of my Wolverines. This one is a LK-II with a 22 inch blue barrel, and composite stock. Also this rifle sports a 2.5x20mm Simmons $19.95 scope. I am determined to shake it apart.

I loaded 90 grains of the APP 2f and got out a box of 375 grain Buffalo Bullet SSB's. I figured this would be a good test as this rifle will normally shoot about anything put down it. The recoil, if any indication of the power, with that heavy bullet was most noticeable. Again, just T shirts in the summer, so you are at the mercy of the rifle.



While the rifle shot well, I think a little powder charge playing is in order. I really think it could do better then stringing along. I did not swab with this powder.

I then shot some different conical bullets at the center of the target using APP. Here was a shocker... it sprayed all over the place. I would not even call that a group.

To double check the rifle, I got some Graf's & Sons 3f powder out and some 250 grain Hornady XTP's in a Harvester Crushed rib sabot. I did swab the rifle clean before testing to be fair to the black powder.



My notes indicated that 80 grains was the load it liked, and the little rifle with the cheap scope did not let me down. It shot a nice three shot group.

I then did not swab after the last shot and wanted to see what happened if I kept shooting black powder without swabbing.



The three shot group was not too bad. But then it really started to throw them around. And since it was now raining, I decided it was a good time to end the range session.

Overall the APP is a very clean powder, but I noticed that since I was not swabbing, there was an accumulation of white crusty stuff just inside the muzzle. When loading once you passed that area it loaded real easy.

The rifle ignited fine in the 77 degree very humid weather. The powder is like fish tank gravel in size so I could not use a measure that cut the charge because it would not pour through the funnel.

There was a good stout recoil, but then again there was the same with 80 grains of 3f black powder. The little LK-II is a short light rifle I use when I walk around the woods deer season. Easy to carry, fast to get to point, just a nice little rifle. But I like the way it shoots with black powder a lot. And a 250 grain XTP I have been told is good deer medicine by some well respected people on this and other forums..

I don't know if the results are due to the powder or the bullets or both because you changed both at the same time. If only the powder were changed then at least it would reveal if the groups were the fault of the bullets or not.
Either way, I suspect that because those 375 grain bullets can damage big game in ways that the 250 grainers can't, that the perfection of the overall group isn't quite as important as the terminal performance of the shot.
The game kill zone would most likely be larger than your target, the barrel may be cooler, better performing powder may be selected and the scope may also be sighted in to match that bullet's trajectory at longer range. I think that you may have even shown us better groups fired with that same bullet from a different rifle before.
And even then, if you can put that same bullet in the chest of a big game animal I'd bet that the bullet would do its job in a way that would more than make up for the lack of MOA accuracy.
And maybe that bullet and/or powder just won't shoot satisfactorily from that rifle. So you tried it and weren't happy with the results. If the weather or powder were different, then maybe some adjustments could be made to improve accuracy.
But I'm convinced that shooting groups isn't quite as important as where the first shot out of a cold clean barrel lands and then what it does to an animal.
Knowing your accuracy expectations, you probably wouldn't select that combo. anyway. But if you absolutely had to, I'll bet that if anyone could that you would be able to find a way to make it work.

You make a lot of good points articap. But I think there are two kinds of shooters here.

Some guys are looking for one good hunting bullet and load for a particular gun and, once found, are going to stick with that.

Others (and I'm one) are just playing around with a lot of bullets and loads just to see what they will do. It's fun to find a "one holer" now and then, even if it's with a bullet we wouldn't necessarily hunt with. I would guess that 99.999% of our shooting is at paper or fun targets, and only 0.001% at game.

I sit here with seven muzzle loaders in the closet, each of which I'll be carrying at some point during the next hunting season. I know exactly what load I'll be using in each one. Not all of them are the most accurate load for that gun, but are with bullets that I know are likely to perform well.

I have a lot of different bullets to try. And the APP 2f is a testing powder only. I will shoot off that pound in no time. I wanted to see what it would do with conical bullets mostly, heavy stuff. I really had little to no expectations for the powder.