Has anyone tried or had anything to do with this powder?

Just saw the other topics about blackhorn 209.

Finally got to try Blackhorn 209 in my .50 T/C Omega. WOW! It was the most pleasant powder I have ever shot in a muzzleloader.I purchased 2 cans at Sportman's WHS, they were $9.00 a can cheaper than Cabelas. Shooting 110 gr. under a barnes 285 grain spitfire produced a 100 yard, 3 shot group of 1.26 inches. I eventually fired 30 rounds before my shooting partner asked "are you ever gonna clean it?". I then ran a patch with solvent followed by 3 dry patches wrapped around a brush. The third dry one came out clean.

I stopped by Grafs today on my way home from taking my daughter to college in Penn. I bought two cans, hope to shoot it this weekend.

Well, as luck would have it, I went by Cabela's today, which is only 15 miles from my house instead of 150, and they also have Blackhorn209 for those that are interested, albeit $5 more per canister.

Shot some Blackhorn 209 this morning, 17 shots total.

I had run some alcohol through the bore and breech plug of my KP1, then blew it all out with air - or so I thought. Put in a partial charge of powder followed by one of the thick wads that I use, then seated it down tightly. Snapped a Winchester 209 primer on that squib load but the only pop was from the primer. I tried about 5 more of the W209s trying to get the charge to ignite with no success. Finally went into the shop and used compressed air to blow all that first charge out of the bore. Put another charge in the bore and got it to fire on the second primer. I had read that a fouling charge is needed with this powder but I think someone forgot to mention that charge needed to be a full load. As difficult as the powder was to get going, I have to wonder how it will do in very cold weather.

I was using a cylindrical flask with a 100 grain spout installed. A spoutful of powder was topped with a 200 grain Hornady XTP (10mm) in a blue MMP .50/.40 sabot. The rifle had only been boresighted since changing from a Sightron to a Leupold 3x9 scope, but I felt it would be close enough to start my shooting at 100 yards. It took a few shots to get the point of impact about where I wanted - roughly 2" above POA. Once there, I shot a group of five of the XTPs which opened dramatically with a "called" high shot. The remaining 4 shots in that "group" went into roughly 1.75". I then shot four of the more expensive TC ShockWaves of the same weight and in the same sabot type. Those four went into roughly 2". I was satisfied at that point with the point of impact for both bullets, the Shockwaves hit a bit lower than the XTPs but still close to that 2" high on average.

Being a person that likes to shoot cast conicals of pure lead, I decided to give a 440 grain .503 conical a try. In spite of reading reports to the contrary, I decided there was no good reason why a conical couldn't be fired with the Blackhorn. I switched to a 70 grain spout and load for the conical. I took careful aim at one of my upper targets, knowing the big conical would strike considerably lower than the featherweights I had been shooting. When the W209 ignited, there was a double stutter as the rifle hang-fired badly. Not only was there a terrible hang-fire, blowback into the KP1's action area (which had been nearly nil up to that point) was terrible. The plug now had a thin coating of carbon deposit on all exterior surfaces and a thicker deposit inside the primer pocket. The deposits were spread to the interior of the barrel around the plug and the face of the KP1 action, and in particular a heavy circular deposit around the firing pin area - just bigger than a 209 in diameter.

I decided to quit at that point as I had found out what I needed to know and by that time the humidity level was getting to me.

I was not satisfied with the groups I shot but I'm convinced a little tweaking of charge level will get me there with the sabot'd rounds. Conicals and the KP1 seem totally not made for each other. The newer hammer/trigger assembly now in the rifle has a trigger pull set considerably higher than I would prefer - something may need to be done about that.

I never swabbed the bore at any time during the session. Loading was consistently firm with the sabots from start to finish. Of course the conical loaded easily - too easily I guess.

There was very little smoke but I do get a whiff of odor from that smoke - not a bad odor, just an odor. The odor might compare to a faint hint of acetone. The conical round made cleanup take a bit longer than would have been the case had I not fired it, but it still cleaned up easily. I had only put tape on the breech plug and, as others have noted, the breech plug came out as easily as it went in. Pure alcohol is great to clean up the deposits left behind both inside the plug and elsewhere. The plug did have a pretty good amount of carbon buildup inside, especially after that conical shot.

All in all, I would say the cleanup was easier than it would have been with any other powder I have used.

My shooting was not at all impressive but by the end of those 17 shots, I was sweating like mad. It wasn't that hot out, but the humidity was pretty thick. I think the KP1 is most definitely a sabot rifle and with a little tuning would be quite accurate with the BH209.

I will probably continue to use BH209 in that rifle and in my G2 Contender (which will be my next up to bat with the BH). Both those break-opens can be a chore to clean and the advantages of BH209 will be more appropriate for those two. My conical shooters will continue to get Swiss, T7, or Pyro.

Isn't that stuff $30 a can, and the can isn't even a pound ??? Is it really worth it to pay that much more per shot??

Depends on how you look at it and what loads you shoot today. If you shoot 150 grains today, then the price per shot is no higher since you load Blackhorn to a max load of 120 grains. It is also worth it to me to not have to clean the gun often, be able to use normal 209 primers, and no triple 7 "what the F***" crud ring that makes that powder stupid to use.

It's all perspective.

$30.00 per can.....I gave away my T7 and pyrodex. It was a bargain making life simple, nicer smelling and no crud ring. Went to buy one box of factory bullets for a 300 RUM, that makes BL209 look like a bargain. It's about what makes you happy, I'm hooked.

Thanx Couestaxi. I teach muzzleloading in our hunter ed classes and have gotten a lot of questions about it. I haven't used it myself, but was dreading blowing the $30 on something as promising as Shockeys Gold or American Pioneer. I think I'm going to have to start a bond fire and throw some of that stuff in there to get rid of it all. If it's that good, it sure will impact this inline market greatly.

One question: Does the label recommend shooting from a fouled barrel?

I FINALLY got to the range with my Blackhorn last night. I bought a new Simmons Pro Diamond 1X scope to put on the CVA Kodiak and needed to sight in and try the powder. I am impressed, to say the least. I was loading one at a time (no speedloaders) and it measured well. I still have the old brass powder measure. To clean the barrel before I took the first shot, all I did was to run a wet Windex patch through the barrel followed by a dry one. The load was 110 grains of BH and a 300Grain Hornady SST in their sabot. The first shot was a little hard to push down the barrel, but went off just fine. Since it was a sighter, I wasn't worried about much more than ignition and blastoff. The second shot actually went down the barrel easier than the first.

I had it sighted in by about the fourth round. At that point, I decided to shoot for groups so I ran alternating two wet Windex and two dry patches down the barrel. The last patch was almost clean, so I decided it was good to go. The next three shots went an inch at 100 yards. I had never been able to do that with my Pyrodex pellets. Knowing it was a fluke, I shot three more. SAME RESULTS.

Final opinion, great stuff! There was no heavy smell and it cleaned up easily. Actually I have not cheaned it since I got home last night. I will do that at lunch today. There were only two minor items that I will note. I did have one hang fire at about the second shot for group. I realized I had not cleaned the breech plug at all. I swabbed it with windex and a pipecleaner...problem solved. The second was also my fault. I got a little excited and was shooting pretty fast and let the barrel get a little hot. I found my error when I loaded the fourth sighter and when pushing the bullet down, I noticed just the faintest hint of smoke. NOT BRIGHT! From then on, I did let the barrel cool after every three rounds and I was fine.

Just thought I'd share the experience.

Thanx Larry. Guess I'm gonna have to invest.

After hearing how good B209 is I decided to buy a can to try out with magnum percussion primers. My thoughts were that since the inline brings the powder right down to the nipple and using a mag primer it would work OK. In Washington we can't use209 primers for hunting in the muzzleloader season.

The experiment didn't work out very well. I wasn't getting hangfires, but there was a definite delay in ignition of the powder load.

I'm back to 777, which is actually working very well. There isn't a black crud ring when using percussion primers. Accuracy is very good. Today I managed a 1" group from 200 yds, only two shots, but using iron sights. When sighted in at 3" high at 100, the drop was about 12 inches at 200 using saboted 325 grain 44 cal bullets with 110 grains of 777 in my Knight Bighorn 50. I'm finding that Pyrodex produced loads that strike about 4 in lower at 100 in my rifle.

ML elk season starts Oct 4th here.

PRW- There is quite a bit of info on ignition of this new powder. That is the only downside I have seen.

http://www.hpmuzzleloading.com/Technical6.html

PRW, Couestaxi is right, it requires a really hot spark. It also says on the cannister that the breech plugs with the open sides are not recommended, even though they are 209 primed. I will have to try that one out on the Stag Horn Mag.

I think your setup is made for T7. The ignition is not hot enough for the crud ring to form. Glad to hear you have good results with it. Let us know about the elk hunt.