I've had a CVA Optima V2 for a year now, and like many new ML shooters I just went with IMR pellets right away. I got the gun somewhat on zero at 100 yards, but my groups were just pitiful. I basically shot up all my pellets with no luck. I've tried both harvester and mmp regular black sabots with Speer Deepcurl 250 and 300gr. I think it's finally time for me to switch to loose powder, but I'm trying to decide if I should give Triple Se7en a go, or just get the new breech plug and go right to Blackhorn 209. It seems like most people love the stuff, but a few hate it. I'm less concerned about price since even the BH209 is cheaper than pellets. I'm more concerned about stories I've read about misfires in the cold. Most of my season this last year was below 15 degrees. With the BH209 specific breech plug and CCI magnum primers will I have any issues? Or are people with issues still trying to use OEM breech plugs and non magnum primers? Anybody that has shot both T7 and BH209 on here?
Black Horn 209 and forget about 777. You do need to reduce powder charge a bit from black powder but that's explained in their literature. Clean barrel first good with regular rifle bore cleaner before starting with Black horn. And the 250 TC shockwave is a great bullet just don't make mistake of getting them in bonded for deer. The standard is what you want. My encore likes 110 grns of blackhorn as compared to 120 in 777. Still higher velocity than 777.
Do you use the T7 muzzeloading primers with those to prevent a crud ring and bullet jump? Or do you just use a standard 209?
Have you had 100% reliability of ignition with blackhorn below 20 degrees? Also, which primers do you use? Thanks!
Standard 209, whatever I have around handy from reloading shotgun shells. I generally get 1"-2" 100 yard accuracy out of my muzzleloaders. I have no real need to shoot much farther than that, 1-2 MOA level of accuracy is more than good enough....and at 100 yards, 2 pellets has plenty of energy/velocity. For me, a less than max load is much easier to get to group well, YMMV. It really doesn't get cold here so I can't help much on the low temp questions.
BH209. I haven't had a single issue with ignition since I have used it. I make a few loads up for others and the only one who had issue was with a cva that he hadn't put the 209 plug in. We have gone through 4-5# of the stuff now in the past 6-7 years I think. I weigh the charges rather that fill to volume. Clean the gun at the end of the season. Biggest thing with bh is having bullet seated firmly and a good seal. We run cci magnum primers. I had accuracy issues years ago with 777 when I tried it. Pyrodex was ok when I used 4-30 grain pellets if I could find fresh pellets every year, also wet then dry patch between shots. If wasn't going to use bh I think I would just be using fff at this point. Regular old black powder cleans up fine. I just like the less smoke and clean barrel of the bh. Also built a smokeless .45. That's a different ball game but really takes the cleaning regimen out, and you can see your impact.
I’m in the process acquiring a smokeless muzzleloader built from a cva single shot .45/70 rifle. They shoot sub moa at 100 yards and no messy cleanup. Shot 777 loose powder for years in a cva wolf. Shot a lot of deer with it but wanted something that didn’t require the immediate cleaning and better accuracy. Seemed like 85-95 grains of 777 and a power belt bullet worked best,
Tried BH 209 last year and could not get reliable ignition in our Triumph Bone collectors. I've used 3 777 pellets for years so has my son but I hated the cleaning and crud ring. so this past year I tried BH 209 again same thing, I watched a U-tube video from black horn that showed how to clean your breech plug. I used a hand turned(not a drill) 1/8 inch drill and a torch tip file proper size for the flash hole. I could not believe how much carbon there was from primers in the channels of our breech plugs. Not a problem since instant ignition, cleanup a breeze. I use Hornady SST Low drag 250 grains in front of 100 grains BH 209. I think its the same bullet as the Shock waves. You get 20 per box rather than 15. Most 100 yard groups are under 2.5 inches some closer to 1.5. Good luck
That's exactly what this was. Shots 4 & 5 out of a day old TC Impact at 50yrds. First muzzleloader, I know very little about them. I had to rely on my brother's advice, I bought it just to extend my deer season a few weeks. Double lunged a big doe at about 60 yards day after new years. Watched her fall about 50 yards from where she was standing.
