This is a range report from a day before the health situation went FUBAR

I have a tendency to not be as methodical as I should when working up loads.  In this case I took a known good load for a cartridge, that's given consistent results, and changed one thing: overall length.  We were working with a .40-65, using the Lyman 400-grain Snover bullet(410 grains out of this mold when cast of 20-1), 58.0 grains of Goex 2f powder, a .060 Walters Wad, and a Federal Large Rifle Magnum primer, all loaded in Starline cases.  I crimped them using the resizing to for a taper crimp(yes, I probably ought to see about a actual taper crimp die) to lock the bullet in place and allow for easy-as-possible chambering for the load.

Messing around with a dummy found that in this rifle, a OAL of 2.975" means the bullet is engaging the rifling, and you have to give it a firm push to seat it far enough to close the block.  Previously I'd used considerably shorter, so loaded several with lengths down from there, and tried some groups.  These lengths leave the last lube groove exposed, which is find for ammo kept in a box and used on the range, I'd be iffy about using such as a hunting load unless you were sure to keep them protected from dust.

The max length shot lousy.  Shorter by a few thousandths less so, and so on.  Which led to the fact that the best OAL for this load was 2.915".  The wind was gusty which didn't help, but gave 3.5-4" groups at 200 yards.  For me with iron sights, that ain't bad at all.

A while back I was able to pick up some Olde Eynesford powder in 1.5f granulation to try*.  I'd fired some with their 2f before and it had definitely preferred a large rifle magnum match primer to the standard, so I decided to try something and made a basic error: you never change more than one variable at a time when testing loads, and on this I did two, from 2f to 1.5, and used Federal Large Rifle Match primers.  Bad handloader.  But there they were, so I fired them, and this I have to show.  I pulled one, and the other four,

well, I can live with that.  I'll have to load a couple more sets to try this again.

However, I now have to show another group, which puts screwing around with black powder changes into the 'It's just because you want to make it work' category.  I've used Blackhorn 209 black powder substitute before, and it's given good results.  I'd put together five rounds using the previous load: the same brass/wad/bullet/case as noted in the above, but using 30.0 grains of the propellant and a standard Federal Large Rifle Magnum primer, and OAL 2.819", which just covers the last lube groove.  And it did the same kind of thing it's done before

with one out on me.  It ain't the Holy Black the traditionalists yell about, but results count.

This was actually the first group fired that day, the one with OE 1.5f the last.  This rifle had just been fitted with a new spirit level front sight(this one, I believe) so some windage adjustments were made as things progressed.

Shooting that took a few minutes and shots to get used to.  To me it shows as a black bar at the bottom of the sight with a clear space in it, which moved left or right according to tilt.  And it takes damn little change to make it move over.  It was easy to get used to, and it emphasized just how easy it is to be just a fraction of level and not realize it.  If you were going to do long-range shooting I'd think this would be something you'd want to add on.

This probably isn't the best report I've done; the meds and problem is screwing with my sleep, I'm tired, and the weather(turned rainy and/or stormy the last couple of days) probably isn't helping, but here it is.

*There are half a dozen different brands of black powder available, in various granulations.  However, the only one normally available around here is Goex in 1-4f, others you have to order and that means hazmat fees; it also, from some places, means a minimum of a five-pound order, which gets expensive and is a no-go when you want to get hold of one pound so you can try it.  Local place was nice enough to add a bottle of OE 1.5f to an order and that's how I got this to try.