Originally Posted by cayugad

Actually Muley when I bought the Optima there was very little information about the quirks of BlackHorn 209. I technically was shooting Black Horn at the request of Western Powder before it was even on the market. And I did like the powder at first. But I fully expected the rifle to shoot it. One reason I was so surprised and then the forum played this guessing game about what the problem could be. The hotter primer was a real shock as many Black Horn shooters use the Winchester Primers which is what is in the stores around me.

As for Triple Seven being less accurate, I would have to disagree with that statement. Triple Seven is a very accurate powder. I find with Black Horn the first couple of shots, until the rifle is fowled, are not in my main group. This does not happen with T-7.

And we all know of the crud ring. As I said, I swab and its not upsetting at all. But since I actually take care of the breech plug properly with grease and tape, and clean my rifles immediately, even with Black Horn, after shooting ... I have never had a stuck plug. Never! In fact they come out just fine.

As for conicals velocity ... I think they FPS are so close and in some cases from Sabotloader's data, even faster velocities can be reached with T-7. And I never seem to get good accuracy with heavy conicals and Black Horn. I get much better accuracy with T-7 and conicals in my white rifles.

Don't you think its strange that you purchase a powder and then you need to get special plugs, drill bits, and O rings just to shoot it? Also take the two powders and then look at your gun rack and tell me how many can shoot Black Horn safely according to manufacturer's recommendations and then do the same with Triple Seven? Of all my rifles other then the flintlocks of course, I can shoot T-7. I can not say that about BlackHorn.

But as I said, if you like Black Horn then by all means shoot it. That's Great! But as I stated, these were my opinions and I would rather choose T-7 over Black Horn. And if I loose 50 fps on a projectile (which since it does not matter to me and I even doubt it) I can more then accept that too.