I finally got some CCI Mag Primers. When I was at Bass Pro Shops I was asking about what 209 primers they had and if they had CCI Mag 209 primers. The guy said he would check. I told him if he had them to bring me 4 boxes. He brought 4 boxes out and I was a happy camper. I have been dying to give them a try with some Blackhorn 209 but I could not find them anywhere. I didn't want to order them and pay a hazmat fee. I'm off work the next 2 days for the last 2 days of gun season here in Maryland so maybe I can get to the range next Tuesday and give them a try.
That's all I have used is the CCIM's. I just found out that my local Gander Mnt. stopped carrying reloading components so I had to stock up on some from somewhere else.
I have a friend that has been using Federal 209a primers with his Blackhorn 209 for a year or so. Somebody he talked to recently told him to try the CCI's (M209 I think?), saying the Fed 209a was too hot of a primer?
I'm no Blackhorn 209 expert (I have never used it), but I thought "the hotter the primer the better" was key when using Blackhorn 209???
Hotter is not always better, you have to try em all and find the one that groups the best, the group is more important than the ignition. As long as you get good ignition with the Primer find the one that provides the tightest groups.
(BP)
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Those who hammer their Guns into plows will plow for those who do not. Thomas Jefferson
Any shotgun primer works to ignite BH209, if the breech plug has the correct geometry. More important than the heat is the length of the primer. The primer will make a good seal in the breech plug if it is held tightly. The heat of regular shotgun primer is plenty good enough to ignite BH in sub-zero weather. Since the W209 primer is usually the longest primer, it is the primer that manufacturers have to adjust their head space to.
Myself, when i can adjust head space, i always make it to fit STS primer. Reason being, it seems to be the primer with the most uniform length, and it is the shortest common primer. The heat of any normal shotgun primer will ignite BH209 100% of the time in any of my rifle. Two winters testing ignition of BH209 in sub-zero weather has proven to me that magnum primers are not necessary.
The only powder i use is BH209. In September i gave away a full carton of 1000 Federal 209A primer. Reason being, i knew i would never use them. In my rifle they are not needed, because the breech plug are designed to ignite BH.
The rifle in my house that utilize the W209 primer are the TC, and the Knight. The manufacturer of these rifle, design their head space around the W209 primer. Their breech plug design works with BH. The CVA rifle here all have a modified, or a home made breech plug for better ignition of BH209. The CVA rifle in this house, use STS primer. STS primer have ignited BH 100% of the time in my CVA rifles, in sub-zero temperatures. It is a myth that magnum primer are needed to reliably ignite BH. This malarky was probably spread, because many were having issues successfully igniting BH, because they were using breech plug with design not suited for BH. It is my experience that breech plug designed to use BH, don't require magnum primer.
It is my opinion that many believe a magnum primer is necessary,because they have had issues igniting BH, because they were using rifle with breech plug not designed to use BH. It is my guess that the new plug that CVA is now selling stamped for BH, does not require a magnum primer to reliably ignite BH. Any standard shotgun primer will be 100% reliable using this new plug in CVA rifle.
The CVA breech plug stamped BH209 is designed to reliably ignite BH. It has a 1/8" flame channel, and a 0.029" flash hole. Dimensionally, it is nearly an exact copy of the old Omega/Encore breech plug. Hopefully, this new CVA plug will put to rest, once and for all, the myth that one needs a 0.035" flash hole, a 5/32" flame channel, and a magnum primer to ignite BH 100% of the time.
I finally got some CCI Mag Primers. When I was at Bass Pro Shops I was asking about what 209 primers they had and if they had CCI Mag 209 primers. The guy said he would check. I told him if he had them to bring me 4 boxes. He brought 4 boxes out and I was a happy camper. I have been dying to give them a try with some Blackhorn 209 but I could not find them anywhere. I didn't want to order them and pay a hazmat fee. I'm off work the next 2 days for the last 2 days of gun season here in Maryland so maybe I can get to the range next Tuesday and give them a try.
Just so you know... you really do not need a Mag primer to shoot BH in most cases. It is more dependent on your breech plug and the headspace of your rifle. Western recommends the Mag primers as BH is so hard to get ignited in some rifles and to get it done Western says use Mags.
I really do not like Mag primers they can create other problems including pushing the bullet off the powder before full ignition of the powder.
I do not shoot a lot of BH, when I do it for testing purposes most often, it is just to darn expensive for me.
When I do shoot BH I use a plain simple W209. If your gun is right that is really all you need.
I believe that primers will/can effect POI on a target but I have never really proved they had a lot to do with accuracy, if the load and sabot are right for your gun.
Once somewhere a long the line some one said you needed a hot primer to get more velocity from BH. I shot this target one day just to check that. I now wish I had shot it for accuracy also. These powder loads were thrown on site - they were not pre-measured. The gun was not allowed to cool at all it was just one shot after another.
As you look at the range of primers shot in this experiment you will see I even shot some ML primers. The Remington 209-4 primer is the weakest 209 I know of, it was built specifically for the 410 shot gun. Remington does not make it any longer....
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
Magnum Primers
