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Old 11-03-2011, 07:05 AM
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cayugad
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
Default The devil's advocate

The topic I want to discuss is Blackhorn 209 powder. In a brief summery, I have went through three pounds of the 10 oz bottles of BlackHorn 209. I found the powder;

1. easy to ignite with the correct primer and breech plug
2. really enjoyed the no swabbing while shooting
3. very accurate with most of the bullets I tried it with.
4. did not find any storage problems (although it did not last long)
5. very powerful it seemed

I also found;

A. after shooting I hated the fact I could not give the rifle a water bath. Instead I cleaned with solvents and alcohol and finally with some commercial cleaners to insure the rifle was perfect before being stored.
B. ruined two breech plugs (blew the face off my knight disc breech plugs, chipping them so bad I was worried about using them any more.
C. never knew you had to drill the carbon out of the breech plugs
D. 10 oz of powder to me is a long afternoon
E. The cost of the powder. One store was $28.00 and the other was $32.00. Gander Mountain (where I looked last week) was $34.00
F. What extra power the powder had could easily be matched with other powder like Triple Seven and even Black Powder.

Last week I was at Gander Mountain buying out the muzzleloader section of the store. And there on the shelf was Black Horn 209. I grabbed up two bottles and set them in my cart. Then I realized those two bottle were going to cost me $68.00 plus tax. The cheap side of me suddenly surfaced, and told me.. you don't need this powder. All it is to you is something to play with and you have lots of powder at the house. So I put the powder back (even though I was wearing my Blackhorn 209 hat at the time).

So my question is. many have had a chance to try the powder. What makes this powder any better then say Triple Seven at $21.00 a pound, or Pyrodex RS at $15.00 a pound, or black powder at $13.00 a pound? Is the swabbing that important to you? Is the extra power that big of a factor? Is this powder more accurate then any other powder you have tried in the past? Do you have to scrape carbon out of your breech plugs? Use solvent to clean the rifle? I want to know... what makes this powder so special or not so special to you.
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