I see a propellent, BLACKHORN209 is now available, as is BLACKMAG3.

Anybody try these products ?

Curious how they shoot in an Inline.

Black Mag'3 has been around for a while. It has been on and off the market with small improvements made each time. Powder works well in most rifles and is easy to ignite with even #11 percussion caps in sidelock rifles. It is Ascorbic acid based and as such is very similar to American Pioneer and Goex Pinnacle. Blackhorn 209 is another story completely. It is the new powder from Western Powders and for all purposes it performs very much like smokeless as far as corrosion and fouling. Black Mag is clean but Blackhorn 209 is even cleaner and less likely to cause even slight corrosion which BM3 or the other ascorbic acid powders can due to the moisture conditions they promote. The down side of Blackhorn 209 is that it takes a 209 shotgun primer to ignite it. It will not work with #11 percussion caps and likely will not work in any sidelock regardless of how much fire you put into the primer. I have shot Black Mag'3 and like the performance and relative lack of fouling. I have not shot Blackhorn 209 as it is not available anywhere other than online which is too expensive for me at this time. When it reaches my stores I think it will become my number one powder.

MLKeith is spot on.

I have shot both. While BM3 is a fine product, it's not even in the same ball park as BH209.

Here are a cpl pics from yesterday's trip to the range.

Two questions:
1. is Blackhorn readily available yet?
2. Has anyone tried the MDM Lightning Loads for ordering just enough BlackMag 3 for testing?

I would like to try both and was just asking.

Blackhorn is apparently available only online at Midway and Grafs from what I can find out. It is not on any of the shelfs at Sportsmans Warehouse, Cabelas, or Bass Pro. I suspect it will hit the shelfs about next month. Black Mag'3 is also online order only and no shelf stock as I think they have distributor problems as they have always had. Personally if I had an inline and could use 209 primers I would not fool with BM3 for the same price as BH209. The only reason to use BM3 as I see it is if you are using a sidelock with #11 caps. I still have about three pounds of the older Black Mag'3 which shot well but it is way too expensive and difficult to get for my taste. I have tried getting Magkor to get on the stick and get the powder out at a reasonable price and distributed to dealers for the last two years with no success.

UPDATE: Just bought first can of Blackhorn 209 at my local Sportsmans Warehouse. They got two bottles yesterday and I got one of them today. The customer help counter didn't even know they had it yet but it was on the shelf. $29.99 plus tax. Beats paying the hazmat fee also. Range time next week if things work out.

Excuse me for pouring water on the bonfire, but at $3.00/oz for this new superwhamadine powder, I can buy a lot of patches and expend a fair amount of elbow grease!

I admit to having done worse things. Sushi is more than that. Just playing with you.

No excuse needed Doubless. It is what it is.

The stuff is rediculously over priced in my humble opinion.

I'm not afraid of elbow grease. What does $uck is the need for me to unload/clean my BP sub rifles after each hunt. I'm not a lazy man, but my opportunities to hunt are govorned by my wife and kids. A powder that allows me to load my rifle for a hunt, not see a deer, leave said rifle charged in the barn until the next hunt is most appealing (and NOT have to worry about it wicking moisture). When I'm pushing it to get home and see the kids before they're in bed, spending 15-30 mins cleaning my rifle is just another chore on the list before I have to be up at 0500 to go to work the next morning.

I completely understand opposition to this powder if the intent of your MLer season is for a primitive hunt (maybe even before rifle season). I wouldn't support it in that case either. In my case, we have a MLer season to attempt to harvest more deer/doe. This is a fine powder for that means.

Now, if my state would get on the wagon and allow me to use smokeless during MLer season, I wouldn't pay the premium for this stuff. Unfortunately that's not likely to happen.

The last retail price I paid for T7 was $22 per pound. This stuff cost me $32 per 10 oz. Now, keep in mind that it is bulkier than T7 and 10 oz is a volumetric equivalent to 1 lb of T7.

So, for a difference of $10 per "pound" I'm able to get groups that I've never gotten with T7, velocities that I've never gotten with T7, and sleep at night when I can't clean my rifle after a hunt....

Sign me up.

I wait tell the end of the season and get loose triple 7 for $8.00 to $15.00 a pound at Wal-Mart. The stuff lasts forever in closed bottles. I picked up 10 pounds for $80.00.

As for BlackMag3, I never liked any of the other Black Mag and I did not like how no one carried it.

Enjoy Redhawk....

I also buy T7 on sale after the season. I've hunted 2 weeks in the UPPER never unloaded the rifle till the day I pack for home and every thing worked fine.
this last year I hunted two weeks in the UPPER removed the cap then hunted the two weeks of ML season in the LOWER with the same charge worked fine when I fired it off.
I have gotten as good of groups with it as any thing else.

But I am not going to pay $4.50 a gallon for diesel fuel to mow the horse pasture either when the horses do a fine job of mowing it them selves.

Al

You're a braver man than me....

quote:

Originally posted by alleyyooper:
I also buy T7 on sale after the season. I've hunted 2 weeks in the UPPER never unloaded the rifle till the day I pack for home and every thing worked fine.
this last year I hunted two weeks in the UPPER removed the cap then hunted the two weeks of ML season in the LOWER with the same charge worked fine when I fired it off.
I have gotten as good of groups with it as any thing else.


Al

I do the same thing, I load my muzzleloader with triple7 at the start on muzzleloader season, and if I don't shot it, the gun stays loaded tell the second season comes in. I have NEVER had a fail to fire.

RH, this seems inconsistant.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had several posts (mostly on the other board) priding yourself in cleaning every rifle after every trip afield.

Denying the hygroscopic properties of BP subs is fool hearty at best. Clean your rifles boys. It will catch up with you.

My appologies RH. I read your post again. You said, if you don't fire the rifle.

That tracks.

I would never leave my ML loaded after I had fired it, yes that would not be a good thing. If I fire even one shot it gets cleaned.

But to leave it loaded with a clean barrel, I do not have a problem at all...