Do I Gotta Bite the BH$ Bullet?

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
26
Reaction score
30
Hi all,
I started ML for hunting 40 years ago and thats all I used my .50 T/C Renegade Hunter for. (wish I still had it). Now I have a .50 CVA Kodiak Pro Mag laminate (I did the breech plug Mod for shooting BH) and just recently bought a T/C .45 Omega with laminate stock. I LOVE them both.
Now all I want to do is shoot, shoot, shoot. So after many hours (but not enough);) of shooting I have found out like so many of my ML brothers here that I can really shoot great groups when using BH 209. But Jeez the cost!.. so like some of you guys I went back to try again Triple7 FFFG and I got some Shooters World FFFG powder at the recent End of Trail Shoot meet here in AZ at Ben Avery.
So after shooting all powders with unacceptable results with 777 and SW powder ... 8" groups at 50 yards with at least 2 flyers every 5 shots. (Bob Parker of BP productions told me "Thats not a group..Thats a pattern.) haha he's right! So how do I not bite the bullet and shoot BH 209 exclusive when I can put 5 touching at 100 yards? Gonna try out to 200 tomorrow. This has turned out to be a pretty long winded thread huh.. Well I have a box of 45 No Excuses 385 grain bullets that will try with the 777 and SW at different loads as so not to go to waste.. maybe ill get lucky. I was hoping to maybe have my son inlaw use the 45 for an Elk hunt. The 50 is dialed in with BH so no worries there. Well needless to say I have work to do.. Wait no no not work. FUN! at least I can shoot at the 200 yd gongs and enjoy the smoke. Love the smoke!
I guess the gist of this thread is to see if someone out there has a secret non BH powder load for me so I can continue to shoot, shoot, shoot and not spend a lot, lot, lot!
And yes I know there are too many variables to actually answer that :)


FYI I weigh all my charges and have been shooting from a bench rest and
Using scopes on both guns.
 
I do not have the secret load recipe that you’re looking for, except to say keep increasing the powder til it tightens back up.
Also, i have heard rumors of those laminate Kodiak stocks. I would love to get one for my Kodiak. Where did yours come from? Is it factory or aftermarket?
 
I have no words of wisdom for you n your rifles. I have never shot any BH209, i have shot some Trip 7. My T/c Hawken .45 with prb's does not like Trip 7 3 f at 60 gr gives crud ring. I have really just started into the load work process on all of my rifles. Now i have a T/C Blk. Daimond that gives no crud ring n i have shot up to 75 gr of the Trip 7 2 f with it. Most of what i have shot since 1958 is real Black powder.
 
I shot mostly black powder with a side lock rifle for many years.
When I finally broke down and bought two CVA rifles from a friend who was upgrading.
I bought three bottles of BH209 and have used it ever since. I always liked it but it was always costly.
Now it is approaching ridiculous. A lot more money for even less powder. I am done with it at the current cost.
I took advantage of free hazmat at Natchez a few weeks ago and bought two lbs of Shooters World Multi Black for a good price.
I will be trying it shortly in my CVA pistol.
 
My thought is you can find an accurate load with powders other than BH209. I only have 1 lb of BH209 and I have that reserved for traveling. Just in case I cant get my gun cleaned soon enough. I shoot a lot of Knights (45s and 50s, plunger and bolts) and I have not had one that is fussy about T7 loads. ( including bullets with sabots and conicals) As long as I weigh them and shoot consistently I have had good to excellent groups.

Maybe try a few different projectiles or sabots.
 
I love the blackhorn powder but it's beyond ridiculous for the price! I've got 2 unopened 10oz jugs and 2 opened jugs with around 15oz left in them that I'm going to be shooting up this spring. I used Pyrodex RS for years in sidelocks and inline muzzleloaders but they all got the dreaded crud ring after a couple of shots! Hopefully the blackhorn prices come down before I run out of it!
 
Hi all,
I started ML for hunting 40 years ago and thats all I used my .50 T/C Renegade Hunter for. (wish I still had it). Now I have a .50 CVA Kodiak Pro Mag laminate (I did the breech plug Mod for shooting BH) and just recently bought a T/C .45 Omega with laminate stock. I LOVE them both.
Now all I want to do is shoot, shoot, shoot. So after many hours (but not enough);) of shooting I have found out like so many of my ML brothers here that I can really shoot great groups when using BH 209. But Jeez the cost!.. so like some of you guys I went back to try again Triple7 FFFG and I got some Shooters World FFFG powder at the recent End of Trail Shoot meet here in AZ at Ben Avery.
So after shooting all powders with unacceptable results with 777 and SW powder ... 8" groups at 50 yards with at least 2 flyers every 5 shots. (Bob Parker of BP productions told me "Thats not a group..Thats a pattern.) haha he's right! So how do I not bite the bullet and shoot BH 209 exclusive when I can put 5 touching at 100 yards? Gonna try out to 200 tomorrow. This has turned out to be a pretty long winded thread huh.. Well I have a box of 45 No Excuses 385 grain bullets that will try with the 777 and SW at different loads as so not to go to waste.. maybe ill get lucky. I was hoping to maybe have my son inlaw use the 45 for an Elk hunt. The 50 is dialed in with BH so no worries there. Well needless to say I have work to do.. Wait no no not work. FUN! at least I can shoot at the 200 yd gongs and enjoy the smoke. Love the smoke!
I guess the gist of this thread is to see if someone out there has a secret non BH powder load for me so I can continue to shoot, shoot, shoot and not spend a lot, lot, lot!
And yes I know there are too many variables to actually answer that :)


FYI I weigh all my charges and have been shooting from a bench rest and
Using scopes on both guns.

That is really to bad, really wish you had a better result. I shoot and have shot T7 for many years and not had a problem with it all. There may another problem, Barrel Harmonics, T7 burns much faster and could be creating different barrel harmonics the slower burning BH which creates a different "barrel harmonic". Normal this difference can be found in the barrel to stock fit. This is some what compounded by a break open ML with the forearm being attached to the barrel.

The Omega should not be as susceptible to the harmonic as it is a one-piece stock. STILL if the barrel is not seated properly in the forearm this will happen. That is why most factory riles went to a floating barrel. Sanding the barrel channel and/or bedding will solve that problem.
 
That is all very good advice! I will beginning to the range tomorrow and do some tinkering. (Which is half the fun right?) But also frustrating at times that's why I love our forum! I will research a good floating the barrel technique. I may just keep using BH though...CatamountRob makes a good point comparing coffee to powder ;) I have a pound each of T7 fff and SW fff that I will continue to experiment with.
 
See that’s the thing, a bottle and a half a year, about $100. I spend more than that on coffee every month. I don’t care what they charge as long as it’s available. I’d care if I shot 20 cans a year but like most people, I don’t.
Glad I'm not you ,I'm good for 35-40 LBS of BP every year along with the BH209 I save for certain guns that need it/Ed
 
Except when sighting in rifles for other hunters, i've had no experience with BH 209 and steadfastly refuse to pay $10 per ounce for powder.

Over the past 20 years i've glass bedded the actions and floated the barrels of numerous inline rifles, a CVA Stag Horn, bolt action CVA rifles, and TC Black Diamond/Fire Hawk rifles. All those rifles gave excellent groups with Pyrodex, Triple Seven and other powders.

My TC Black Diamond rifle routinely makes 1" three shot groups at 125 yards Using Black MZ and Shooters World 3F powders.
 
Last edited:
If you can find it locally it is not quite as painful but if you buy it online it will hurt you.
I just found some at Midsouth.
With tax,shipping and hazmat it is $13.75 per ounce and with 4 100gr loads per ounce, that is $3.50 per shot.
They can keep it. It is a good powder, slightly better than most substitutes.
I don't mind cleaning, I can clean a rifle using Goex in 15 minutes, and I can get good accuracy from other powders.
Yes you may not be able to load 10 times without swabbing but I can deal with that in order not to pay the BH price.
Your mileage may differ.
 
My thought is you can find an accurate load with powders other than BH209. I only have 1 lb of BH209 and I have that reserved for traveling. Just in case I cant get my gun cleaned soon enough. I shoot a lot of Knights (45s and 50s, plunger and bolts) and I have not had one that is fussy about T7 loads. ( including bullets with sabots and conicals) As long as I weigh them and shoot consistently I have had good to excellent groups.

Maybe try a few different projectiles or sabots.
I love T7, and it cleans up easily, for me. I've never understood the fuss over BH209.
 
Pyrodex works for me. But 777 works too. Black Powder is still the #1 though. I gave no problem not buying or using BH209.I will let the rich people have it.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top