Pardon me if this has been discussed. I shoot lighter bullets in my knight disc as they’re more comfortable. Barnes 200 XPB. Has the correct breech plug etc for bh209, but I was getting inconsistent ignition. Occasional bloopers. I switched to 777 or Swiss BP 3F and of course, those problems went away. But I don’t like the fouling. I’m wondering if it’s the barrel seal of the lighter bullet or lack of back pressure with the BH. Or is it simply that it doesn’t like light bullets? If I seated a 32 ga .520“ wad tightly over the powder, would that work? Will that negatively affect the sealing of the sabot? Or am I just stuck with easier to ignite propellants?
thanks for any experience in this regard.
nothing more disappointing than drawing down on a deer or pig and having your gun go “pfffft” instead of bang.
Yes, shooting a lighter bullet with BH 209 is like shooting it with a light bullet, or low neck tension, or no crimp, in a
cartridge. BH 209 has the ignition characteristics of a modern smokeless powder. So anything that you can do with your load to increase what is the equivalent of the above criteria will increase the capability of BH 209 to burn well and go BANG in a ML. So that means a tighter bullet/sabot fit in the bore (slightly larger bullet or slightly thicker sabot). Or possibly a tight hard-card wad in the bottom of the sabot, to increase the friction between sabot and bore during firing (thus harder to load too, especially if the bore is fouled, so be sure you have a good stout range rod with you when you try this in case the loading is particularly difficult.)
The idea of a suitable wad over the powder has possible merit, but not if it damages the critical skirt of the sabot, or simply mis-shapes it so it is uneven as it leaves the muzzle. Accuracy will disappear.
Another trick for a tighter sabot/bullet unit is to very lightly "grease" your sabot before loading by rubbing it on your nostril side or forehead, and especially to at least lightly clean your bore, or dry-brush it with barrel held upside down, before loading again)
And anytime there is a question on ignition with BH 209, there are three particular things to consider: are you using a BH 209 breechplug, is it actually clean - especially the small orifice portion, and -- if necessary -- are you using the Fed. or CCI magnum 209 primer?
Aloha, Ka'imiloa