After purchasing my Savage I tried several different loads. Some factory recommended loads, some not so recommended. The first coupe of times at the shooting bench had me wondering if I had made a good purchase or not. Then I started taking everyones advice and letting it cool. I only let mine cool a few minutes after every 2nd shot. I have found a load that my gun shoots extremely well. It is consistently shooting 0.5 - 0.75 groups at 100yrd. The last trip to the local shooting range I was busting water filled 2ltr and milk jugs out to 300yrds. I have shot about 3lbs of powder through my Savage and have only cleaned it 6 times. Try that with Triple 7 or any other substitute. There is no comparison on the price per shot. Pellets are very expensive per shot. It is actually cheaper for me to shoot my 300 Win Mag than you can shoot a standard muzzleloader. I cant wait to shoot a deer with this gun to see the on game performance. I know it is hell on a milk jug. I highly recommend the Savage. All things considered, there is NO COMPARISON. ;D