BH209 Hanfire in cold weather?

[bowbender6]

I have shot over 4 jars of BH209 with little problems in an Omega, 3 Optimas, Kodiak, Traditions Lightning ?bolt, and CVA Mag Hunter with little problem. This last week I have been verifying my hunting loads before and during the season with my daughter?s .45 Kodiak and my Omega. The weather has been wet damp and cold. Tonight I was 22 degrees and the first ten shot with Kodiak went off fine, then I started to get hang fires. I even drilled out the breech plug to .035" and still hangfires. My omega even had a hangfire this last weekend. The Kodiak was shot with 86 gr BH209 with 200 gr shockwave. The omega was 120 gr BH209 290 TMZ bullet .035 breech plug hole. All were shot with Federal 209A primer. Anyone else had these problems? Does Blackhorn have problems when it gets cold? I did shoot one load of 8 gr of T7 under 80 grains of BH209 and had no hangfire. Should I try a magnum primer or different primer?

 

[Grouse]

I dont think anyone has tested BH209 in cold weather yet.

 

[SwampFox]

If you shot the first 10 shots with out any hangfires,it doesn't sound like the cold cause the hangfires.More than likely some crud had built up some in the breech plug

 

[revpilot]

I shot 24 shots today in the Endeavor it was in the mid 20's, and i didnt have any hangfires. I was using cci209m primers.

 

[Busta]

The December muzzleloader season should be the ultimate test for BH209. I was sure there would be problems in the colder weather, but your report is the first I have read where there were hangfires using Federal 209A primers. I have not had any problems with Fed 209A primers at all with the Knight Disc Ext and the non-FPJ breech plug, yet! Kinda makes you wonder if this will only be a fair weather powder for the most part. I know if I get a hang-fire, my confidence in it for the cold weather will be shot. I intend to use it through the season, but will be taking some test shots at targets when the weather dips every 10 degrees or so. It is just starting to get cold in mid-MI, was in the teens here last night and in the 20's most of the day.

The Federal 209A primer is the hottest 209 primer. I think you are going to start seeing some Large Rifle Magnum Primer conversions in the very near future. I will be working on a couple over the winter. The LRMP is actually hotter temperature wise than the 209 primers, the 209's have too much of a charge to effectively get to the powder, thus the massive amount of carbon in the flame channel. I have my eye on a few plugs that can be converted, just need to do more work on determining what case to use to carry the LRMP.

Thanks for posting your experience.

 

[bowbender6]

More info on last night-
I ran a .035" drill through the breech after I started getting hangfires, still had hangfires. I had some hangfires in another converted gun with Fed209A primers. I tried some Win primers and got no hangfires in that gun. I thought the Fed 209A was one of the hottest primers but the Win 209 worked better in one of my guns. Maybe there is a difference in the amount of energy and the hotness or ability to ignite BH209. I will try some Win tonight.

I have a walkout basement with a range right there and leave the gun outside when shooting. I was shooting a .45 Kodiak Nickel barrel. I tried the 200 shockwave with the supplied green sabot (which is tight) and with the Blue Crush Rib .45-.40 sabot (which is very loose). The bullet was seated several times with over 50lbss of pressure, it didn?t seem to matter, both had hangfires. Maybe when it is cold there is some condensation in the barrel after the shot?

One shot even went fizzle and the bullet only went 10 feet. These were loads that were shooting 1? groups with no problem a month ago.

 

[BIGT]

Did you clean the primer side of the breech plug?
There seems to be a wave of complaints on hang fires.
Would you and others hunt on a dirty breech plug with
T7, pyro, Pinnacle or holy black in cold or wet weather?
These are still muzzleloaders and only the operator has control
of barrel, breech plug and componet conditions!
Pay attention to detail and the gun will go bang!

 

[bowbender6]

ran a drill through it and fired a cap to make sure it was clear.