Haven't used the T/C Encore in a couple of years because wasn't happy with the performance of the powder and bullets I was using. I am now going to try again with BH209 and a variety of T/C bullets I have on hand. Will have very little time on Sunday to find a good load before hunting on Monday. If anyone can suggest a near sure-fire winning load in terms of how much powder to use, I would appreciate it.

110gr and 250 Spitfire T-EZ Barnes bullet.

I use the same 110 Gr. load as willieb (by volume) with Hornady 250 Gr. SST muzzleloader bullets. All shots touching at 100 yds if I do my part with my T/C Omega.

Well, I thought I would report my results.

I bought CCI Magnum 209M primers (one of the 2 specific primers recommended by Blackhorn) and measured out some 100, 110 and 120 grain charges to go along with 250 gr. TC Shockwaves. After just 4 shots (as it was getting dark), things were looking ready to hunt, so I gave the rifle to the buddy that would be using it in the morning (as he doesn't have a ML of his own).

Mid-morning a buck and doe walk out to him and he takes a bead on the buck and cocks the hammer. When he pulls the trigger, it just goes "click". He breaks it open and removes the dented primer, replacing it with another one. Before he can try again, the buck fades away.

At lunch I checked out the gun to see what might have gone wrong. When I tried to fire it using the second primer he put in, it just went click again. I put in a new one from my supply and it also just went click. A buddy gave me one of his primers, a Winchester 209, and "boom". I didn't reload but just put in a fresh Winchester primer and when I pulled the trigger in went "pop" as the primer detonated.

It would appear that instead of there being a problem with the powder not igniting (which is a somewhat common problem, I understand), these 3 primers simply failed to detonate, as there was a clear difference in sound between "click" and "pop". These were brand new primers, as recommended by BH. Any thoughts?

Possibly a bad batch of primers?? After you fired to gun did you try shooting anymore of the CCI primers without any powder or bullets? I've been using some older Federal 209's (not the new 209A's) with good results in my TC Omega with Blackhorn 209. When I first got my Omega I tried these as well as Winchester 209's and RIO 209 primers. All worked just fine.

If it were me, I'd pop a bunch of the Winchester 209's (no powder/bullet) in you gun and if they all go off stick with them.

Certainly the simple solution seems to be to just keep using the basic Winchester 209 primers, but I'd still like to know the problem. I can understand a dud primer once in a while, but 3 in a row from a brand new box? Plus, I fired 4 of them the night before from the same box with no problem.

I should have tried the CCIs in my buddy's ML to see if they detonate.