Endeavor and .430/265gr. FTX range report

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Hulions

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Went to the range this morning to get the Endeavor sighted in for the upcoming blackpowder season. I had sanded the ears on the new stock and floated the barrel to make sure there was no contact with the barrel.

I wanted to see if I could get the first shot of the day to shoot in the group. I have been using the Montana Extreme bore conditioner and the other day I posted a question on what everyone else was doing to get their barrel ready for the first shot. I decided to try what Cayugad said. I used a couple of dry patches, then an alcohol patch followed by two more dry patches and then fired two primers to foul the barrel. To my sruprise, the first shot was less than an inch from the rest of the group. This made the group some where under 2 inches. I was happy with that.

The group was about 1 inch low and an inch to the right so I adjusted the scope up three inches and one inch back to the left. Then I tried another group. The first two shots almost touched. I was getting excited. Trying not to think about the possibility of a sub one inch group I reloaded and fired the third shot. The last one opened the group up to just over an inch best I can tell. I was using 110gr of BH209, a .430/265gr. Hornady FTX and a Harvester green Sabot. The temp was about 75 degrees with a 5-10 mph breeze in my face. Since I had other guns to shoot I that decided that would have to be enough for the muzzleloader today. Here are some pictures I took when I got back to the house. Didn't get any from the range. I forgot the camera. Oh yea, I was shooting 110 yards.

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That is some outstanding shooting there. And that load should stop about anything you want to hunt. That sure is a nice looking rifle and set up you have there. Good luck in the upcoming season.
 
im gonna have to comment on how nice that gun looks, you dont see to many encores with stainless and laminate wood together. Oh good shooting too
 
That group looks great and your gun looks awesome! Looks like a keeper there.
 
+1 on the good shooting and a great looking rifle.
 
Thanks guys. What kind of velocity do you think I am getting with 110 gr. of BH209. Im thinking of trying 120 gr. next time. The bullet is made for the .444 marlin. Hornady is pushing this bullet at 2300 fps. I don't think I can push it to hard with a muzzleloader. Just don't want the accuracy to go away. What do you think?
 
Looks like the load combo you're using is pretty darn accurate. I don't shoot BH, so I have no idea about the velocity. I do see that your rifle is shooting "dead-deer" accurate. I recently took part in a deer harvested with a 250gr. .452 FTX using 110gr. T7-3f and it bang-flopped with a high shoulder shot. Looks like your load would have the same effect. Accuracy is golden. Big holes = big gut piles.
 
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