bdeather

I have a good friend that sometimes I think has more money than common sense. Anyway about two weeks ago we were talking about the quality of muzzleloaders and the TC and BPI came up as it usually does. He owns an Omega, Encore and he just bought the Pro Hunter. As you know I own the Black Diamond and Omega. I also own the Optima and Apex and two Whites which are the best muzzleloaders a person can own, just kidding but they are my favorite for several reasons. He said that a BPI product could not handle the real stout loads that a TC could. I said I beleived they could but I had no real proof neither did he. Well the next day he calls me and says hey lets see what these BPI guns can handle. He had gone to Wal Mart and bought a CVA Wolf for a very good price. We took it out with a tire and some bungee cords to test this spanish barrel. We secured it with the cords and tied a piece of rope to the trigger and proceeded to fire it behind his truck about 50 feet. The load was 175grns of Triple7 ff grade. Yes that is not a misprint 175grns of Triple7. The bullet was the hornandy 250grn XTPwith the Knight high pressure sabot.We were using winchester primers. After 30 shots the gun showed no visible signs of stress. Now I love all my guns for different reasons but this is a testimony for this gun. Can all BPI products handle this kind of testing? I dont know if it were me I would follow the manufactures guidelines. By the way he was not willing to do this same test on any of his guns. He did say he was impressed with this particular gun though. My point, I think if a person follows the guidelines any gun is safe. Lets hear your comments.