Encore and BH 209 works

[wayles]

Got 4 jugs of powder from midway last thur and had a chance to try it out today in my encore .45 barrel. Shot 200 grain sst tan sabot at 110 gr, 120 gr, and 130 grains all at 100yds. Its a tight barrel so I had to clean between shots , used 2 alcohol patch then a dry patch . Its dirtier than I thought it would be but much better than T7. 2 wet patches had it looking pretty clean and the pressure required was acceptable . Groups were 1.5 in. to as much as 2in but grouping was consistant . Shot the same 110 , 120, and 130 grains with the light blue sabot and the 200 grain sst and the pressure required to shove them home got about right. Still had 1.5 to 2inch groups . All loads hit 6inch high no matter what the grain very consistantly. Last of all I tried the Knight 175 grain red hot with the brown sabot and almost did not get it seated . Switched over to the light blue harvester and they went down fine. The 175 gr shot identical to the 200sst . Agin 1.5 to 2 inch group ,6 inch high consistant groups [ All groups were 3 shots ] . Other folks were shooting so I could not go down and read the sabots with each combo but they all opened great. The bases had the little splits around the edges more than what I liked to see. I sure wish they made a sub base for the .45 cal. Has anybody found a wad that protects the bases as good as the sub bases?? I dont have a crono but I sure would like to know how fast the 175 red hots were going.?? That 130 grain load with the red hots had to be smokin. Bad medicine for the deer and antelope here in western NE All in all very pleased with the BH 209 . I hope the groups shrink with .50 cal encore barrel
Wayles

 

[kevinbrian]

Great report and great shooting Wayles!

 

[acasto]

Good news! Thanks for the report.
BTW, where did you find the .45 Encore barrel?

 

[wayles]

encore barrel

I found it on e-bay /TC before they shut down the guns and barrels. I still see them on the gun auctions
Wayles

 

[frontier gander]

www.bergarabarrels.com make high quality .45 barrels for the TC Encore, Among other barrels for it.

 

[wayles]

Went down in the old reloading room and cleaned the encore. I had to grunt to get the plug out and put a sharp rap or two on the ratchet to get it moving. Maybe because of the hot loads , don't know for sure. When i drilled out the large end of the plug it was harder than T7 and the concave part or face had a black carbon that had to be scraped and wire brushed in conjunction with hoppes. That part was worse than t7 agin maby due to the 130 grain loads. Heck! mabey it had something to do with the alcohol I used to swab with. The barrel cleaned up fairly easy. BH 209 is deffinatly better stuff but it ain't perfect.

 

[frontier gander]

What are you using as plug lube? I use the term "Finger tight" when it comes to tightening the plug.

Also found a great lube called Lubriplate no.105 motor assembly grease. This stuff works great on plugs and washes off with plain water and does not stain.
Check into it. I use it in my Winchester Apex.

 

[wayles]

lube

Hi
I am useing the T/C grease in the small tube . I go a little tighter than finger tight so that might have been the problem
Wayles

 

[DW]

The bases had the little splits around the edges more than what I liked to see. I sure wish they made a sub base for the .45 cal. Has anybody found a wad that protects the bases as good as the sub bases??

These will raise your pressures, especially the .060 wads, might want to reduce your charges some with those. I use the .030 wads in my smokeless .45, one .030 keeps the sabot from failing in warm weather for 1 load I shoot and 2 .030 under a bullet gives a good seal for sabotless shooting.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... &noImage=0

 

[big6x6]

Personal opinion....

I would never clean between shots with Blackhorn 209. I have never done it. I've shot thru two pounds of the stuff thru 4 of my personal muzzleloaders and have never cleaned between shots once. To get the best consistancy between shots you are probably going to be better off NOT swabbing between shots.

Breech plug...hmmm. I've never had problem one with getting out breechplugs. I just tighten the breechplug snug and stop. I've been using Knight breechplug lube and T/C SuperLube...never a problem and night and day between BH209 and Triple Se7en. Your breechplug problems really may be due to the alcohol used.

 

[NimrodRx]

Personal opinion....

I would never clean between shots with Blackhorn 209. I have never done it. I've shot thru two pounds of the stuff thru 4 of my personal muzzleloaders and have never cleaned between shots once. To get the best consistancy between shots you are probably going to be better off NOT swabbing between shots.

Breech plug...hmmm. I've never had problem one with getting out breechplugs. I just tighten the breechplug snug and stop. I've been using Knight breechplug lube and T/C SuperLube...never a problem and night and day between BH209 and Triple Se7en. Your breechplug problems really may be due to the alcohol used.

Amen!

My experience in terms of getting accuracy has been similar to smokeless and center fires. Accuracy actually improves with a couple fouling shots. I'm willing to bet your accuracy would improve if you didn't swab between shots.

 

[BIGT]

if the alcohol was not 100% pure, then water was in it!

 

[wayles]

alcohol/water

So what chemical reaction occurs with BH209 and alcohol/water? Alcohol and water are fairly beniegn .The patches were barely damp[ I air dried them if they appeared to be very wet while the barrel cooled ] I made it a point to shoot slow It was a 55 degree day with a 5 to 10 mph wind almost perfect day to shoot. Next time I go out I will try to load without cleaning. This may or may not be possible with this barrel. We will see what happens. I think it was the hot loads and winchester 209's that left the hard carbon. The carbon inside the concave face of the plug was very thin almost like a blueing and was not affected at all by the hoppes . It all had to be scraped/brushed
Wayles

 

[omegaman]

Re: lube

Hi
I am useing the T/C grease in the small tube . I go a little tighter than finger tight so that might have been the problem
Wayles

The T/C grease in the small tube sucks,you might as well use nothing at all.....get a better lube and finger tighten and you won't have a problem again...

 

[big6x6]

So what chemical reaction occurs with BH209 and alcohol/water? Alcohol and water are fairly beniegn .

I have no idea BUT..on the bottle of Blackhorn 209:

Clean with Standard Oil-Based Solvents

and..."Residue is easily removed with standard, non-water based cleaning solvents."

So that is what I'd use. I use Hoppes #9 and it does a great job.

 

[Doohan]

+1 for HOPPES.. works great!

 

[wayles]

175 grain velocity

Could someone venture a guess as to the velocity of the 175 grain barns red hot and the light blue harvestor sabot useing 120 and 130 grains of BH 209
Thanks
Wayles

 

[NimrodRx]

A SWAG would be 2500ish.

 

[wayles]

175 grain velocity

I am so hopin accuracy improves when I get back out to the range .I will retry the 175 grain redhot barns with the light blue harvester and an over powder wad with 120 and 130 grain BH 209. I intend try with out swabin if at all possible. The groups should shrink . The addition of the wad and not wipin should both add improvment. At 2 inch its min.of deer now at 200 yds. but I hope to improve some yet
Wayles

 

[wayles]

blackhorne 209

One thing I forgot to report on was the recoil. I was shooting very light bullets in the .45 cal barrel . 200 grain sst's and 175 grain barns but the powder charge was not light. I shot 120 gr and 130 gr. of BH209 on most shots and the recoil was less than 110 gr of 2f t7 and a 250 gr sst out of a 50 cal. barrel . If memory servs right it was also less than 100gr. tf 3f with the 200 grain sst. Definatly less recoil imo. The sound seemed to crack rather than boom if you can tell the difference with earplugs?
Wayles