Muzzleloader Load

[bodark]

80 grains of Goex 3f with a .490 patched round ball out of my cap lock Hawken will put a thump on some whitetail boy. Barrel is a 1:48 twist generally round ball guns shoot 1:60 twist but I can shoot 320gr MaxiBalls or round balls out of a 1:48.

Any more load than 80 and accuracy suffers a bit because the ball is moving too fast for the twist and It’l skip the threads. The MaxiBall can handle 100 but I usually just stick to 80.

Now my .32 cal squirrel gun is my favorite one to shoot. There’s something romantic about loading from the pouch and powder horn. My hunting buddies joke that I like to make things harder than they need to be but that’s part of the fun for me.

 

[iamcorey]

I switched to Blackhorn 209 last year. My Accura V2 likes 110 grains by volume and a 300 grain Harvester Scorpion White Lightning. Had a three shot group touching at a 100 yards. Also much cleaner shooting than pellets.

Cleaner shooting as in its easier to clean? Those pellets leave a lot to wipe off.

 

[BuffaloBill]

Cleaner shooting as in its easier to clean? Those pellets leave a lot to wipe off.

Yeah it's way cleaner. Before I was using Pyrodex pellets and I could shoot maybe three times at the range before i had to clean the barrel because I couldn't get a bullet down the barrel. I've shot about a dozen times with BH209 and just ran a dry patch through after about six shots.

 

[sdoyle1]

Cleaner shooting as in its easier to clean? Those pellets leave a lot to wipe off.

Blackhorn 209 is all I’ll use. It’s as fast as anything and definitely the cleanest I know of.


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[iamcorey]

Yeah it's way cleaner. Before I was using Pyrodex pellets and I could shoot maybe three times at the range before i had to clean the barrel because I couldn't get a bullet down the barrel. I've shot about a dozen times with BH209 and just ran a dry patch through after about six shots.

Now that is good info to know. In addition to dry patch, removing/cleaning the plug after 3 was a chore.


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[Nutterbuster]

I've heard good things about blackhorn but couldn't get it this year. Been shooting triple 7 which is cleaner than perplex for sure.

All I did at the range for 17 shot was run a dry 20 gauge bore snake through the barrel after each shot. I needed to scrub the breech plug and threads when I got home but otherwise it stayed clean

 

[Kyhunter1]

I also use Blackhorn 209. 100 grains by volume. Shockwave 250's. Ive tested it to 250 yards. It does ~ 1900 fps @ muzzle in my TC stainless omega 50 cal. Usually 1-1.5 in groups at 100. Bullet drop is around 9 in @200 with a 100 yd zero. These are all numbers I have tested with rangetime. Im confident in the setup to 200 yards if the shot situation is right.

 

[kyler1945]

My elk setup is 70gr ffg. 490gr no excuses bullet going about 1400fps ish. 3 shot groups under 3” all day at 100 yards.

100 yards open sights with a muzzleloader in a hunting situation is a poke.

i shot an 8pt two seasons ago with it. Any concerns about a big slow moving bullet disappeared. Big hole. Very leaky. Very dead deer. Very quick.

I almost needed a shoulder replacement to finally get down to that amount of powder. Less is more.


Also I can’t remember which gun it is, but they have a muzzle end treatment to make loading them easier. It doesn’t impact saboted bullets too much. But the insert often isn’t perfectly square. Gas escapes unevenly behind naked boolets and causes big groups, no matter what you do. Maybe some of you having issues it’s this thing. I have a thing in my head that tells me the device is called an MLA.

 

[Topdog]

Cleaner shooting as in its easier to clean? Those pellets leave a lot to wipe off.

Cleaner is an understatement, that stuff rocks, no more mess, zero work, if I had to go back to normal powder I would punt my smoke pole, just remember blackhorn is wicked hot and it’s better to measure it with a true powder scales by weight, not volume.

 

[Nutterbuster]

Cleaner is an understatement, that stuff rocks, no more mess, zero work, if I had to go back to normal powder I would punt my smoke pole, just remember blackhorn is wicked hot and it’s better to measure it with a true powder scales by weight, not volume.

Brings up a good point. I'm shooting 60 grains by volume. Not sure what that would be by weight.

 

[Topdog]

My understanding is Hodgdon when creating blackhorn 209 somehow basically made a smokeless powder safe to use in modern smoke poles with same ass as powder I use for regular rifle reloading, hence increased pressure and cleaner burning, they have a nice chart online to convert volume to weight for black horn, the stuff is hot and I like it, but it should be handled more careful than pyrodex, I have a cva accura mountain rifle and the thing shoots like a real rifle with black horn, zero delay, instant ignition, the problem I always had with normal powder in muzzleloaders is the small delay, I have a flinch when I shoot that is multiplied by the delay, not anymore with this new stuff.

 

[Jtaylor]

For some of the guys that have the older CVAs, switching to Blackhorn can cause issues. I experienced it in my wife's Wolf and my Optima (hang fires or none at all) There's a replacement breech plug or other modifications for the CVAs if wanting to go to the Blackhorn.

 

[Weldabeast]

What, if anything, do u guys do for waterproofing? It rains a bunch in the sunshine state. Balloon on the end of the barrel but how about the breech/bolt/action...whatever u call it? Is there anything I can do to help keep moisture out?

 

[Nutterbuster]

What, if anything, do u guys do for waterproofing? It rains a bunch in the sunshine state. Balloon on the end of the barrel but how about the breech/bolt/action...whatever u call it? Is there anything I can do to help keep moisture out?

Last year's hunt i taped the end of the muzzle with electrical tape. Didn't worry about the breech.

 

[Topdog]

I tape all my rifle barrels, mainly because of snow, same with the smoke pole, nothing for the breech on the muzzleloader like nutter above.

 

[GCTerpfan]

For some of the guys that have the older CVAs, switching to Blackhorn can cause issues. I experienced it in my wife's Wolf and my Optima (hang fires or none at all) There's a replacement breech plug or other modifications for the CVAs if wanting to go to the Blackhorn.

How old is your Optima and were you able to find a replacement plug for it? I have found them for Optima's made after 2010 (I think) but not for the older Optima's. I would love to use it, my dad uses it and it's amazing stuff but I can't find a breech plug for my 2006 Optima.

 

[Jtaylor]

How old is your Optima and were you able to find a replacement plug for it? I have found them for Optima's made after 2010 (I think) but not for the older Optima's. I would love to use it, my dad uses it and it's amazing stuff but I can't find a breech plug for my 2006 Optima.

Ok so I looked at my breech plugs and I replaced the one on the newer than 2010 CVA V2 pistol with the Blackhorn (its labeled right on the plug). My wife's Wolf I could just use the Blackhorn plug (newer than 2010) The plug on my older Optima has a larger diameter flash hole (if that's what it's called) than the newer than 2010 breech plug and the distance from the primer to powder is very close to the Blackhorn plug so the Blackhorn 209 worked on the older model (pre 2010) rifle. I've attached a couple pics so hopefully that explains it. What I'm trying to say is give Blackhorn 209 a shot on your older than 2010 rifle but maybe stay away from magnum loads (although I'm unsure of any difference in metallurgy between years). I swab with a dry patch between shots and use a nipple pick too. I use a Federal 209A primer and it looks like a CCI 209M is acceptable as well.

First image from left to right is older than 2010 breech plug, stock breech plug on newer than 2010 model and Blackhorn breech plug.

 

[devildog]

Does anyone have experience with a Traditions NitroFire muzzleloader? I am planning on buying my first muzzleloader this year and this looked like a great choice for someone without experience using them. I love that you can get 8 or shots without cleaning and there is no way the powder can get wet.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Ok so I looked at my breech plugs and I replaced the one on the newer than 2010 CVA V2 pistol with the Blackhorn (its labeled right on the plug). My wife's Wolf I could just use the Blackhorn plug (newer than 2010) The plug on my older Optima has a larger diameter flash hole (if that's what it's called) than the newer than 2010 breech plug and the distance from the primer to powder is very close to the Blackhorn plug so the Blackhorn 209 worked on the older model (pre 2010) rifle. I've attached a couple pics so hopefully that explains it. What I'm trying to say is give Blackhorn 209 a shot on your older than 2010 rifle but maybe stay away from magnum loads (although I'm unsure of any difference in metallurgy between years). I swab with a dry patch between shots and use a nipple pick too. I use a Federal 209A primer and it looks like a CCI 209M is acceptable as well.

First image from left to right is older than 2010 breech plug, stock breech plug on newer than 2010 model and Blackhorn breech plug.
View attachment 51331View attachment 51332

Thanks, my Optima has the breech plug on the left. My son's newer wolf misfires occasionally with Blackhorn with the stock breech plug, I've shot Blackhorn once or twice with my Optima and haven't had a misfire but was always afraid of having a misfire when shooting at a deer. Maybe I'll get my son a Blackhorn breech plug for his wolf and and go ahead and make the switch and try it in my Optima.

I'm always jealous when my dads shooting multiple shots and then running one dry patch down his barrel and I'm spending multiple minutes between shots cleaning our guns.

 

[Hall17]

Following. I have a CVA I use one week out of the year. Last year was my first year and I wanted to go easy. Bought pellets and was using two 50's so 100 gr with 245gr Powerbelts. Shot a doe at 30 yards but had issues at the range beforehand. Bought a new scope and still need to sight it in for this year. I will def. be trying the 60-70gr range to see what I get out of it. Very interested to see if I get better performance from this CVA.