Originally Posted by
sticks3
» December 23rd, 2014, 6:18 am
So I'm new to the muzzleloader thing. Bought a knight mountaineer this year and put a vortex 4-16x42 on it. Here's what I'm doing then I'll go into my problem. Started off shooting 120 grains of bh209 with a Winchester 209 primer (blue box) and bloodline 250. The barrel is unbelievably dirty after each shot. Also I was having trouble grouping shots. Swabbing after each shot. Taking the breech plug out after every 3 or 4 shots. Went down to 110 grains and started grouping a little bit better but still extremely dirty barrel. I was under the impression that bh209 was cleaner burning. I mean I'm seeing little bits of powder in the barrel not just a haze. Any info or which direction to head would be much appreciated or anyone with knowledge on this gun.
Thanks
Although BH IS CLEANER, it still leaves soot in the barrel. Its cleaner burning, as I doesn't create crud rings as other substitutes do. Also in many cases (not all), a maximum charge provides lessor accuracy/groups than a less than maximum charge. It appears you've somewhat proven that. Most do not swab between shots, because there's no crud rings to deal with. Although tight barrels may make the second or third round load harder.
Now here's a statement I'm going to make, that's going to get under the skin of all the EXPERTS of muzzleloading......
Change from the Win209's to one of the magnum primers, either the CCI209M or Federal 209A.