BH209 big dissapointmet for Colorado Hunter!

[BPHunter]

Well, I thought this powder was going to breath new life into my Omega. The claims of no crud ring, no swabbing between shot, no frozen breech plugs, and being non-corrosive are all TRUE! This is an unbeleivably good powder in all these respects. The Omega has a closed 209 primer system and is the only gun I have that can use this powder. The KRB7 and White UltraMag have non-sealed 209 primer systems which not not perform reliably with this powder. Now the BAD news. For Colorado, no sabots are allowed and the only conical the Omegas will shoot well is the Powerbelt. I tried 338 grain Platinum PB's and 405gr HP PB's. The largest recommended weight for BH209 powder is 350 grains. I started at 80 grains. Groups were 4-6" at 100 yds, and about 5" higher than my Pyrodex loads. In fact, the group was beyond the correction available in my stock factory sights. Pyrodex, BP, T7 all shoot 1-2" groups, dead center at this range with powder charges ranging from 80-120 grains. I tried 100 grains of BH209 and the groups really opened up then.

I'm going to drag out the cronograph and test some other bullet/powder combinations because I like the way this powder burns. It will make my muzzleloader elk hunting experiance a little more pleasant if I can find an accurate combination with a heavy slug.

 

[Grouse]

That's a shame. This powder isnt for everyone thats for sure. I guess 777 wasn't either. Wont the 295grn do the job on an Elk?

 

[Lee 9]

I believe BH is a progressive burning powder, there are certain things that getting a progressive burnig powder to burn right requires one of them is wad pressure which involves holding pressure on the powder until it developes enough pressure to burn right, which means you would have to have a very tight fitting conical to get it to shoot right. I would be just a bit leary of getting a detonation with loose fitting loads.

 

[frontier gander]

No, a 295g powerbelt will Not do for elk. Minimum weight for elk and a powerbelt is 348grain. Im also sure the 338 platinums would be fine too as they are built stronger.

I could only imagine what that bullet "295g" would look like with being pushed by 120g :shock:

 

[BPHunter]

The 338 Platinum PB is my personal minimum for elk. I have a stock of 405 and 444 grain PB's specifically for elk hunting. I also have a good supply of 460 gr NoExcuses (KRB7 only) and Bullshop conicals(Ultramag only). All of these bullets shoot very well in the right gun with Pyrodex-P, T7, or regular FF blackpowder. Pyro-P is super cheap at $13 a pound and there's nothing bad I can say about it except it is corrosive like all the others and must be cleaned fairly soon after shooting. Colorado is a dry climate and I've never experienced any corrosion in my rifles, even when left dirty for a few days. I do have all stainless rifles, but even they will eventually corrode. I guess I'll stick to the tried-and-true loads for now and put up with a litlle extra cleaning in the field.

 

[frontier gander]

Thats my thinking too. Stick with the products that have been around a long time and have shown them selves to be an reliable product.

If you have all the other conical shooters like the knight and the white, Why are you going to use the tc?

444g wouldnt be legal BTW. The 405g powerbelt AT is right at 1"

 

[big6x6]

Yeah that is a shame.. You are one of first ones I know that has tried BH209 with a conical.. ...still good info for others...

PERSONALLY...I'd just have to try a 460gr No Excuses .50 with 70gr of BH209...

 

[BPHunter]

quoted "444g wouldnt be legal BTW. The 405g powerbelt AT is right at 1" "

Yeah, I think this is one of those grey areas. I measured my 444 grain Powerbelts (without skirt) at .983" overal length. The unfired diameter is .498" and the fired diameter is .500". Fired or unfired the bullet just squeaks in under the 2x rule by .013" (unfired), .017" (fired). The Colorado DOW has stated that this particular bullet may be measured without the skirt, so that's what I did. I have been checked by the DOW on numerous occasions, just not during ML season. I'm not going to pretend there wouldn't be a problem with a particular officer but I think the DOW officers are pretty reasonable in general, and I don't think they carry dial calipers into the field. :wink: With all that said, based on my BH209 experience, my weapon of choice this year looks like the KRB7 with a NEx 460 grain conical and 90 grains of Pyro-P. The Omega can be accurate with Powerbelts, but as far as first shot reliability is concerned, the White Ultramag and KRB7 are far superior. I'm beginning to think the Omega purchase was a mistake on my part. I really don't know why TC's won't shoot conicals, but I won't buy another TC muzzlelaoder for just that reason. I own an Encore with both rifle and pistol barrels that shoot great, so I'm not biased against TC. Just wish they would make a decent conical barrel like Green Mountain. Maybe I should try one of those Bergara barrels

 

[frontier gander]

Bergara barrel is supposed to be an awesome shooting barrel from the reports ive seen. I hope to buy the new cva accura with the bergara barrel. I just have to wait until i can get the cheaper blue/black version.

 

[NimrodRx]

This is truley good info.

Thanks for sharing.

We all benefit.

 

[toytruck]

:?: Has anybody hunting Colorado or other states that require bullet lengths ever been actually checked by a gamewarden or conservation officer? I can just see them have a hunter check station and stopping all hunters to unload their muzzys and check the bullet length...

 

[frontier gander]

Never but i have had my tags checked.

The question is, is it worth using a bullet thats to long, getting stopped and checked and having your rifle,equipment, hunting licence taken away? Plus a hefty fine.

 

[toytruck]

Only time I was ever checked for my license was when I was fishing out of a boat and they drove up to us and checked us. I've been hunting now 42 years and never even seen a game official....but let me not buy my license or do something else illegal and there will be one behind every tree!! I agree not worth it!!

 

[vabowhntr]

Toytruck,

I too have never seen one on private ground in VA, but when in school at VT I saw my share in the NF. Around 1990, when the early muzzy season first opened they set up roadblocks to check if you were using jacketed bullets in sabots (illegal at the time) and if you had a cap on your rifle while in the car. They caught a number of folks using the jacketed bullets, as that was all that Walmart sold at the time and most folks never checked to see if they were OK per the game laws. They were fairly nice about it, though and gave warnings to most. About the same time, the Govenor also implemented a hunting ban due to fire danger in the NF, until we got rain. They pulled that at about 10pm the night before the season opener. For those of us who watched the news and went out that morning, there seemed to be a game warden behind every tree. I got stopped by two before they figured out the Govenor had lifted the hunting ban the night before.

Never saw them during archery and didn't go out during rifle season (too many people- many of them shouldn't have been in the woods).