bowbender6

My buddy bought Blackhorn 209 locally here in Michigan Friday so its available here no problem ($30). I had to go away for the weekend but I was dying to try it. Rushed around tonight and shot 8 shot with 2
guns. Savage MLII designed for smokeless with 24" barrel and Optima Pro with 29" barrel. Used Fed 209a primer , 120gr Blackhorn 209 =85 gr. weighed on scale. This powder is designed not to swab between shots so I didn’t swab. Both of these bullets shoot under 1 ½" MOA. Optima shoot great. I think the savage likes faster speeds. It’s a little pricey but for hunting should be great not to swab or have to clean. Only hangfire was with Optima Pro, first shot I forgot to fire a cap and clean the grease and oil out of the breech plug.
2029 Ave FPS 29" barrel 120gr Blackhorn 209, 250 gr. SST low drag
1915 Ave FPS 24" barrel 120gr Blackhorn 209, 260 gr. Harvester
Target was 90 yards

frontier gander

Nice.

And the optima is what, $2-300 cheaper?

bowbender6

I gave $220 for the Optima Pro Thumbhole on clearance from Gander Mountain.

frontier gander

Wow, you got a good deal on that one. The thumbholes are supposted to be really nice.

cayugad

WOW!! that Optima did a great job with that powder. And those are some impressive velocities.. that would make an excellent hunting load and a good long range field buster... Nice shooting there.

gleason.chapman

BB, I will ask the same questions here since folks will really want to know on this board. Was it 100 yards? Also was there a Crud ring at the bottom? I would like to possibly shoot this in my Omega, since it is so clean. Chap Gleason

bowbender6

Target was 90 yards, I forgot , then edited the post. I didn't check for crude ring. Each shot felt like it loaded the same. I'll swab tonight with a dry patch and see.

Chasam60

Bowbender-My calculations tell me you are getting a weighed charge of 70 grains to equal 100 grains by volume. Did you throw several volume charges to verify? My weighed charge of 777/2fg is 76 grains per 100 grains by volume. If true,this would save 6 grains per shot and reduce the price of Blackhorn.

Charlie

bowbender6

The data I have seen is 100 gr of volume is equal to 70 by weight. I weighed out 84 grain charges which should be equal to 120 gr by volume.

Bigtimer

My new Optima pro should be here by the weekend and I'm searching for the Blackhorn 209 powder now.