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
Sticks, BH does leave a lot of residue in the barrel. While it is a smokeless powder base and it is a progressive burning powder it really is not as clean as a real smokeless powder. For it to qualify as a black powder sub they do have to add a bit of sulfur and potassium + it has to meter like a BP. The added ingredients do cause fouling in the bore. Normally this fouling is really not a problem in loading the next round or continuing to shoot. And actually swabbing after each is not recommended.
One question I might ask is after you got the rifle did you really clean the bore? This could have made some difference in your results.
There is really no reason to remove the breech plug until you are done shooting. You should clean the flash channel in the breech plug every 10-15 shots by hand turning a 5/32" drill bit in the channel to loosen and remove the carbon build up. This is a common problem with all breech plugs.
I just make a gadget called a bit on a stick for this and do not have to remove the BP to do the cleaning... Just pull the bolt insert the tool and twist.
Your load of 120 grains of BH and the 250 Bloodline should work very well especially after you master the little things in shooting a ML that are so much different that shooting a center fire. I typically use the same load only with T7.
The breech plug was built using the W209 as the base primer. The way the plug is built there is not need to use Magnum primers and in fact I think it is a bit of a detriment. Of course they will work but are not necessary.
I shoot the W209 almost exclusively in all of my Knights, well shoot any of my rifles that the BP has been modified for BH.
This picture shows the spent primer from my Ultra Lite
Keep shooting and reading things will get a lot better. OH! and questions are good
mike