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J B

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Hello,

I'm new to muzzleloading. I just got a T/C Triumph. I ordered some Thor bullets, so I could use the same bullets for whitetail that I use in Colorado someday for elk. I went to the range for the first time yesterday. They first two shots went well, but then after that I had 3 misfires. The primer went off. The bullet went 10 yards and the Blackhorn 209 barely sprayed out of the barrel. I swapped between shots. I also cleaned out the breach plug after the first misfire. I got the sample size kit from Thor last year. The .500 was loose, but the .501 was tight. The .501 was so tight that it was hard to get in and out, so I went with the .500. I'm wondering if it is too loose??? I'm pretty sure that I was getting the bullet seated all the way down by the firmness and the length of the ramrod. It did got in easy though. The power was brand new and I just broke the seal on it yesterday. I'm using CCI 209 mag primers. I was trying to shoot 110 by volume blackhorn. The Thor bullet was 247 grain hollow point. What am I missing here??? If it is the loose bullet, can anyone recomend another bullet for this gun? Thanks for helping a newbie!
 
Might try some snug fitting saboted bullets, if the problem goes away, then the problem is the undersize bullet.
 
Bullets need to be snug, powder needs very firm seating pressure, flame channel needs cleaned with "correct size drill bit" and primers need to be hot..bullet snugness is a matter of trying different bullets/sabots to get a good fit or measuring your bore to get correct size.
If you are doing all of this then you pretty much should be good to go..not sure if the Truimph breech plug is set up for BH209 so might check that also.
Need at least 75# of seating pressure or there abouts, I just lean hard on ramrod have never had a misfire even with lead conicals.
 
If the bullet is not causing the problem then you may inquire is your breech plug the right one for Black Horn powder I had the same problem with BH it was my breech plug in my case it cost me a very large buck when I had my breech plug problem fixed it went away We must have typed the reply at the same time
 
TC rifles don't need a change in breech plugs to shoot BH like CVA requires.
A tight fitting projectile of over 30# force to push down the bore (two hands), heavy compression of the bullet to the propellant, proper primer and it'll go bang.
 
Sounds like a loose fitting bullet. Especially if it’s going 10 yards when fired by basically just the primer.. with bh209 the tighter the better it most cases. T/c rifles tend to have a tight bore might try the .501 or .502 Thor or try a saboted bullet. Always clean breech plug with drill bit and a wire. T/c rifles rarely misfire with bh209 seeing as they have the best factory breech plugs available for it
 
The Triumph plug is not nearly as good as other T/C plugs for BH209. Its long and there is no concave "powder pocket". Combine that with a 1/8th fire channel and its far from ideal.
 
Ive had 1 firing issue with BH209 using my rifles. That is after probably 12+ bottles of the stuff. 4 different brands of rifles and mostly Lehigh plugs. The only issue i had was using a Knight FPJ plug that was dirty and i didnt clean it properly.
 
Let’s stay on subject fellas..

I myself didn’t know the triumph had a different design..yet another fall back of the post smith and Wesson buy out of t/c.. although it is listed on the bh209 sticky above to fire it reliably.

I still wanna say it’s the bullet to bore pressure not being tight enough
 
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When you combine mediocre plug geometry with loose fitting bullets it sure is not going to improve reliability. Ive shot lots of loose fitting projectiles in my Lehigh plugs without a hickup. My NULA is the same way. Ignition is instant even with powders that are harder to ignite.

Both have 1 thing in common. Short path from primer to powder and a 5/32 flash channel. I never felt the Triumph plug was that good under all conditions. It either needs some modification or a tighter fitting projectile for BH209.
 
Agreed I have shot some projectiles that go down with just my thumb on the ramrod in my Omega and they fired off just fine..put the 2 issues together and it’s making for a incapable/unreliable setup
 
I just read the owners manual for that rifle. No mention of BH209, only loose powder and pellets. How ever the ad for the BP says all loose powder. I am inclined to think that if it will fire pellets then the BP is not designed to shoot BH209. I have only shot right at 4 full pounds of BH209 out of my 5 lb jug in less than a year since buying my rifle(CVA). I have never had a ftf using the correct BP.
 
If it fires off pellets that doesn’t tell us much of anything actually. A poorly designed breech plug in an inline rifle will fire off pellets even with #11 caps or a musket cap. The key to remember here is his bullet left the barrel going 10 yards before hitting the ground..that’s 30’...fact of the matter is the powder never had a chance to ignite because lack of bullet pressure
 
While the Triumph breech plug is not perfect, it does have a concave end to hold a small amount of powder. My son's has never failed to fire in cold weather using a CCI209M primer and a good fitting sabot.

I would not swab on the next range session and use a bullet/sabot combo. These may load good in your Triumph and they are relatively cheap.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100227190?pid=720845

Take a bright flashlight and look through the breech plug and make sure there are no metal shavings/debris in the flash channel. One of my kids new muzzy's had a metal shaving curly in it, I think it was a TC Impact.
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If your wanting to stick with an all copper bullet like the Thor try some Barnes bullets. The xtp is a great bullet tho and very cost efficiant if done right
 
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