Blackhorn and Cold Weather

[sabotloader]

spitfire100

You are OK with T7-3f - In my case it does not do as well with light bullets as it does with the heavier bullets 250 grains and up....

T7-3f burns so much faster it reaches peak pressure so much quicker but it moves those light bullets up the barrel so much faster that the bullet gets out the barrel before T7-3f has reached it peak...

 

[dodge]

probably with goex black powder, but with 777 the bottle says .45---.50---or .45 ruger old army. like i said before me gun seems to like fff compared to ff. just a matter of trying differant powders and differant loads--bullet and powder combinations and see which one your gun likes best. it would be nice if someone sold differant powders and bullets in smaller quantities so someone could try differant cobinations and keep the cost down.

 

[dodge]

i shoot 92 grs. of 777-fff with a 250 gr. shockwave super glide,and 777primers clean with wet patch and then dry patch between shots at the range to sight in. i have shot up to 4 shots without cleaning with no problems. also bought the .25 acp breech plug but had trouble with missfires, and it was getting close to season so i stuck with the 209 primers until i can figure the .25 out.

 

[sabotloader]

dodge

also bought the .25 acp breech plug but had trouble with missfires, and it was getting close to season so i stuck with the 209 primers until i can figure the .25 out.

Were the misfires occuring with T7 or BH.... I have the 25 acp installed - been using it for 4/5 years now and have never had a problem starting T7 with it.

I do get hangfires and misfires with BH using the 25acp and a small rifle primer. When I switch to samll rifle magnum primers I c an get BH to go off great but I have not tried it in cold weather.

 

[smong2000]

BH209 = deer

Second year with BH209 in NH and Vermont for me and now I've 'converted' 3 of my camp buddies. So far, so good - all rifles went off when asked to despite rainy/snowy days and down to 12 degree temps this season. We all left our guns charged and outside so no condensation. I pulled a damp charge out of my rifle saturday night after killing a deer and reloading a partial load that morning. There was a coyote chasing the deer I shot and it was 15 degrees so I was in a hurry and spilled some of the charge. Didn't get to shoot it. When I got home knowing I was going to reload, I took the rifle in the house with no tape or spent primer sealing it and it frosted up and got wet. Not sure what would have happened if I'd hunted like that yesterday. It's standard practice for me to keep tape on the muzzle all season and put a spent primer on as soon as I take the rifle to standby.
The damp powder I took out clumped up and was stuck to everything so I put as much as i could knock out into a cup and left it out overnight. It was dry last night and I'm going to try it next time i get to the range to see if it changed POI (after I make it up to my load weight). I did this before after wetting it on purpose and it was right on so i'll repeat the test one more time.

 

[dodge]

i think mostly from not cleaning it enough between shots , i did try to see if i could shot two in a row without cleaning in case i needed a second shot which i never need (lol) but just in case. it did'nt go off. so i took the breach plug out and put in the 209 , it went right off and left it in for hunting season. i was using the primers they suggested without looking i think they were cci small rifle. even called them up and he said it was due to the crude ring and there was too much space between the powder and the primer. can't figure that one out because i'm using loose powder and i know the load was seated properly.-- i'm using 777-fff powder i know we're getting off the subject that was started sorry.

 

[rogo]

BH209

I loaded my rifle on 11/04 and hunted all week. Finally got a shot on 11/11 and the gun went off perfect. Missed the deer but it was not the powders fault. Reloaded again. This rifle was brought into the house each night and back to the truck each morning. Still went off when needed. No muzzle covering either.
However on 11/13 with the reload in the rifle, went hunting and it snowed, again no muzzle covering, and had no shot at a deer. When done for the day at the truck I aimed at the ground to unload and all I got was a pop! Waited a couple minutes with muzzle pointed in safe area and then inserted a new primer and pulled trigger again. This time got a pop, pause, boom. First hangfire I have ever gotten with BH209. I believe this was caused by moisture due to no muzzle covering.
Also when cleaning the rifle it was extremely dirty. Real black and filthy. Never had that problem with BH209 before. Took several patches with Hoppe's #9 to clean it up.

 

[spitfire100]

Thanks everyone. Why do you put a spent primer in? Is it to prevent powder from coming through the breech or anything getting in there?

 

[smong2000]

I always put a spent primer in just to make a better seal from moisture. It's a holdover from the old sidelock days and probably not doing much good but it makes me feel better. I had some soft plastic plugs that worked great but lost all of them.

 

[Chasam60]

probably with goex black powder, but with 777 the bottle says .45---.50---or .45 ruger old army. like i said before me gun seems to like fff compared to ff. just a matter of trying differant powders and differant loads--bullet and powder combinations and see which one your gun likes best. it would be nice if someone sold differant powders and bullets in smaller quantities so someone could try differant cobinations and keep the cost down.

I shoot a 260 Nosler Hg in my Omega,and it seems to like 37/fff better. last deer I shot was last tues at over 150 yds using 130 gr loose. The damage to the deer was awsome

Charlie

 

[spitfire100]

Ok makes sense on the spent primer. I've not hunted with mine yet so everytime I load it I fire it because I'm at the range.

 

[Lee 9]

I always use a spent primer with the idea that it should be as sealed up as possible. I also keep a finger cot over the muzzle till its fired and put an other on after I reload it. Started with black powder in 1963 worked my way up through them as they came out never had a misfire while hunting even in a down pour. There is several other things I do like rubbing wax on either the nipple , or the sides of a 209 to make it seal it only takes the smallest amount. Lee

 

[spitfire100]

Interesting, but what is a finger cot?

 

[Semisane]

Interesting, but what is a finger cot?

It's a tiny little fold up bed that you lay your finger on when it's tired.


They are latex finger covers used to cover/protect cut finger, something like one finger from a rubber glove. They're available at any drug store.

 

[spitfire100]

Ha...funny.

I have seem them; just unfamilair with the name. I'm going to try it.

 

[saxman1]

We haven't had a freeze yet so don't know about the cold but I hunt in very Humid/Wet conditions and except for one hang fire the BH 209 has always fired with the quickness.

 

[Little Pirate]

CVA Wolf loaded for almost 2 mounts with BH209. Pull the trigger on a doe December 6th; dead deer on her tracks. Have never got any issue with this powder at any temperature for the last two years. I use no lube and clean the breach plug flash hole every shooting session.

 

[Lee 9]

Actually put it in the freezer and left it there in the gun loaded for a couple days when it first came out, took it out side and shot it with out giving it a chance to warm up, it shot fine .

 

[Critter]

We had a couple issues last year with extreme cold temperatures and loose fitting sabots. Started shooting sabots that fit the bore much tighter and problem solved. This was in a Knight Extreme and my Elite. My buddy was shooting with the superglide sabots with shockwaves and switched to the regular black sabots, that solved his problem. I went from PR 220s to shockvave 200s that fit much tighter in the bore and it solved it.

 

[spitfire100]

Quick question. I shoot some BH 209 and Triple 7 loose powder in the same day at the range to see what I like best. BH 209 needs to be cleaned with Hoppes # 9 and Triple 7 just a standard blackpowder presoaked patch or T/C #11 solvent on the patches. Is this ok to do or am I damaging the gun by shoting both powders at the range? What's the bes way to clean it at this point?