Nice wood pile Dave! I'm jealous, mine is tiny right now... way behind as usual.

super_hunt, you also might try Speer Deep Curl Hollow Points. Excellent bullets both in accuracy and terminal performance. I personally favor the .429/240gr in my .50's. Certainly the Barnes are excellent bullets all around, but they can get pricey - if that is a concern of yours.

I'll pass on the pellets, but a cheaper price would be good. The price just went up again. The biggest insult is the lousy 10oz they put in the bottle instead of 16oz like every other powder. Do they think we don't notice that?

Was the first thing I noticed! But I got it on sale for around 29 bucks a can. (bought 2 since I knew I was going to be testing)

Unless one is a pretty good wage earner without a bunch of bills and kids, Blackhorn powder is meant for the one can per year crowd.

I can't blame guys like Muley, Sabotloader....etc... for using the likes of Pyrodex, 777.....etc. These guys burn many jugs of powder every year and the cost for Blackhorn and expensive custom bullets can empty wallets in a hurry.

I used an entire Blackhorn jug for experimenting / testing this past month / six weeks. I'll buy another, but that should last me for the remaining 2015 season. Then in 2016, I'll probably burn one jug a year.

I was shocked at how fast that 10 oz jug emptied at the range. But I remain hooked on it's benefits, so I will be forced to pay $34.99 + tax at Bass Pro Shop, for another jug next week. I'm not driving 120 miles roundtrip to Cabelas, to get it around $5 cheaper.

Even though I hate the price of BH. I did just switch to it. It's advantages out weigh the price. Sort of.

Even Carlos has had to raise his price to $34. It's good to buy from Carlos, because he doesn't charge a Hazmat fee. He does have a two bottle minimum though.

Nobody in my area sells BH, so online is my only option. I love living in a small town in the Rockies, but it's a pain for shopping. Outside of gas and food. I buy almost everything else online.

Trip7, the only time I burn through a lot of ML powder is when I am changing bullets, or I buy a new muzzleloader, for load development. After I get everything dialed in to my particular tastes in accuracy, I might burn an ounce or three over the next 3 or 4 months to stay in shooting form. Some people just don't realize that firearm as well as archery is a LOT of muscle memory and muscles have SHORT memories!

Muley, thanks for the heads up. I know well how hard the Barnes CF bullets are to open up. It's why I was on the fence with them. Price wise they are about the same. But the Barnes are 290gr not 300gr. But maybe I'll just have to pack both on my hunt since I have about a dozen of each left and they shoot pretty much identically on paper at 100. It's a VERY rare instance that I get a shot past 120yds where I muzzle load hunt whitetail around here so further down range performance is negligible for me.

I normally hunt elk and mule deer in different seasons. This year it will both be at the same time. So, I need a bullet that will work on both animals.

I'm also recoil sensitive now due to some medical problems, and don't want to shoot over a 250gr bullet. I have faith the 250gr Barnes will get the job done on an elk, and of course no problem with deer.

A lot of times a certain bullet will be fine, but if I don't have confidence in it I can't use it. I have confidence in Barnes bullets.

It forces me to use the muzzleloader during rifle seasons, but that's ok. Colorado has dumb muzzleloader laws, and i'd rather not deal with them. A muzzleloader in rifle seasons has no restrictions.

Pete, how does he get away with not charging that fee?

We can't figure that part out. He must have a way.

I just bought a jug of BH at the local Sports Store...$39.95 I coulda swore it was $35 last time I looked. This Optima Pistol is getting to be an expensive journey.