anyone know what is different in the chemical makeup between 777 powder and bh209 ? is there something special in BH to justify it's co$t ..... besides shooting cleaner ?
The difference with Blackhorn (BH) is not just less cleaning and corrosiveness.
I wrote about this to a degree a couple of weeks ago on another thread of this Forum. Some years back, when I had heard about using BH 209 for loading my original '86 Winchester .45-90 which was actually made in 1886, a pre-smokeless time plus improving but not best steel barrels yet. I was going to use 5744 powder, a do-it-all smokeless powder that does not require filler in the case for reduced loads, and is rather equivalent in usage to the famous, ever-present Unique powder. I was talking to the head Ballistician at Western Powders (which developed BH) and he said I should use BH for my loading in this old rifle, because it was possible to get pressure spikes with 5744 and that would not happen with BH. So I loaded my cartridges with the recommended amount and the accuracy and reduced fouling results were excellent.
I was very used to using Pyrodex in Hawaii, because no BP was available. Terribly corrosive in very humid Hawaii, and the salt in the air if anywhere even close to surf made this even worse. Moved to Arizona and became familiar with Triple 7 plus very extensively studied BP, especially the famous Curtis and Harvey brand from England's height of BP development in the later 1800s.
The plot thickens: some years ago I also talked to the Head Gunsmith at Western Powders about BH and it turned our he was at the forefront in the 3-year saga of BH's development. Their primary goal was to produce the BP substitute powder that was as close in pressure curve and performance to BP as possible. What I learned was amazing!
Now, for background, contrary to many a current view that BP burns further on down the barrel, or ages, or can detonate in its usual form instead of burning, or that bullets and balls won't obturate (expand in diameter to fill the bore at instant of firing) if of pure lead or fairly soft lead alloys, instead, the following is what happens. (And, respectfully said, if you don't believe it, do your own extensive research, over 10 or 15 years, about these things.
So, instead, BP burns very rapidly, plus ignites at relatively low temperature and thus fires easily even with simplest form of cap/nipple ignition, or flintlock ignition. Pyrodex does not ignite so easily, but better loading procedure to settle the powder in the breech, plus using a Spitfire nipple -- for a caplock such as the T/C Renegade -- will deliver more reliable firing. And the same goes for Triple7. Neither will work in a flintlock.
Meanwhile, the very fast ignition of BP readily produces obturation of ball or bullet, a real boon with muzzleloading where the projectile is usually no larger than
bore diameter, but you want it going back up the barrel at
groove diameter.
What about breech pressure? As I've said on another thread, turn to Lyman's Black Powder Handbook. And for heavier loads, look at the First and Second Edition of Graeme Wright's "Shooting the British Double Rifle". BP ML shotguns of common bore will have breech pressure of around 6,000 to 10,000 PSI, and even the enclosed-cartridge firing of heavy loads such as the BP double rifles will produce breech pressure of around 25-26,000 PSI for .450 X 3 1/4" cartridge with about 120 gr. vol.coarser-grained BP and about 290 gr. bullet, whereas the .500 X 3" cartridge using about 360 gr. bullet and 136 gr. vol. BP will have breech pressure of about 24,000 PSI. (Compare that to breech pressures in the 40,000s for the modern smokeless powder loads of these same cartridges, altho they do use heavier bullets at somewhat elevated velocities. BH, as said, is designed to produce breech pressures quite similar to equivalent charges of BP.
Highly important: it's been said that accuracy from sophisticated use of BP cannot be surpassed by modern substitutes, due to its ease of ignition, very rapid ignition, and extremely consistent ignition. "Extreme Spread" (ES) of repeated shots may well be in the single digits, or teens. That combination produces
great accuracy if you can keep the bore fairly clean and fouling soft.
So why have I written all this blather?? Because I Iearned that Blackhorn was made to produce very little fouling compared to other substitutes, and especially to duplicate the fast-and-and-soon gone breech pressure that BP produces.
I've seen the pressure curve graphs of each, virtually identical. So BH obturates projectiles just like BP does. The rub: BH is a "smokeless powder" insofar as basic chemistry and manufacture, just like the other substitutes, but it is made as a substitute with more "oomph", comparable more or less to the "more oomph" BPs named Swiss and Olde Eynesford , or "more oomph" like Triple 7 as compared to Pyrodex). And BH does require either obturation or a tighter fitting skirted or saboted ML projectile to consistently burn quickly and provide its benefits.
Yes, BH is also somewhat hard to ignite, so does not work in a flintlock or the usual caplock, and requires a rifle-cartridge primer or more often a full-power or magnum-power shotgun 209 primer. (But for caplocks, a musket cap has the same brissance (firing heat) as a 209 primer, so try that. I haven't, yet it should work provided the channel between nipple base and powder is adequate.) But when properly ignited, BH's pressure is
moderate and highly consistent shot-to-shot just like BP.
And its fouling is significantly less, compared to BP the other substitutes, and because the pressure curve does not continue on down the barrel like smokeless powder curves do, the mid to forward portion of the barrel does not need to be as thick as modern barrels -- hence the older antique barrels have adequate barrel thickness there as long as appropriate moderate charges are used. That is a somewhat thorny issue, just like using "more oomph" Swiss or Olde Eynesford or Triple7 powder in an antique ML. (When in doubt, always use use the coarser-grained version.)
Bottom line: BH is the substitute that most closely resembles BP and hence readily obturates muzzle-loaded or catridge-loaded projectiles, and it has the
same pressure curve, and the great consistency of BP,
with much less fouling.
Ignite it well and it gives amazing accuracy just like BP does, over and over.
All this is why people who have used all sorts of guns, both smokeless and BP type, swear by BH and are quite willing to pay for that.
Aloha, Ka'imiloa
