Originally Posted by
flounder33
I think what happened was that when the "magnum craze" seemed to take over in the muzzleloader world people didn't want to buy a gun that couldn't handle the large loads. I know that Knight told me over the phone that my Bighorn could handle 150 grain loads of Triple 7 powder.
I don't think I ever shot more than 100 grains of powder in any of these rifles. I know I have never used anything other than a #11 cap or a musket cap on occasion. At the time I read as much as I could find to read about shooting and most people (that I had the impression that they knew what they were talking about) shot between 70 and 90 grains of powder.
I do shoot some heavy conicals. I don't try to push them too fast.
With what I shot I never felt unsafe.
For what its worth,
Art
You know Art I really think you are correct. And I must say that i am a violater... I consistently shoot 110-120 grains of T7-3f in both my Big Horn and my MK-85 with 250 and 300 grain bullets. It did not take me long to figure out that shooting caps is the way to go because of the extra safety configurations built into the cap hammer.
I think one thing that gave me a head start on this was my Remington - I really new what to expect on an open breech gun and it was easy to make the decision to shoot caps instead of a bare 209.
WCW... I do not know but back in the old days when i shot CVA products the 100 grain, loose rule, was always in effect with a 150 grains of pellet powder being OK
with bullets up to 300 grains in weight.
If you were to follow this rule with a 100 grain load of T7 and a 300 grain bullet - it would be very possible to push a 209 primer out of the breech plug and possibly launch it or parts of it...
other than the breech plugs of those days were constructed with oversized vent holes to help reduce pressure to keep the primer in. CVA and most every other manufacture knew bare 209's were a possible concern. I do not actually agree with Grouse's word "dangerous' but then again in the hands of a novice (beginning) shooter - you never really know!!! So maybe he might be right! Experiance is a great teacher.
So maybe??? for some this thread might have put a flicker in the light bulb.