cayugad

It was snowing hard today and cold with some good wind gusts. A perfect day for shooting actually. I grabbed my powder horn of Goex 2f and it was empty...[&o] I went to the powder magazine to get another pound and saw that unopened pound of Black Mag 3 I have been itching to try. So I grabbed that instead.

I wanted to shoot the Knight Disc with some strong charges and see how it behaved in the wind and snow. So I loaded 100 grains of Black Mag 3 and a 300 grain Knight Red Hot on a clean barrel. Fired at 50 yards and was disappointed to see that it hit 2 inches low. I was about to swab but figured I would see how loading another projectile was with BM3. WOW! loading was a breeze.

Took aim at the same bull and touched off putting a nice hole in the bulls eye. Without swabbing loaded and fired again. Again, another hole touching the one in the Bulls Eye. Now I was getting excited. I fired a total of five rounds (not counting the first low hit)and they all hit in an 1-1/2 group at 50 yards.

So I swabbed the barrel clean and dry. There really is nothing in the barrel to swab with this powder. A light gray comes out on the patch, and there is no hint of a crud ring at all. A couple dry patches and we were ready to switch projectiles.

I then changed over to a Hornady 300 grain XTP and shot the first shot. Again, about 2 inches under the bull. Loaded up and shot an 1-1/2 group touching the bottom of the bull with the next five shots. So I swabbed the rifle again, and gave the barrel time to cool. Even though the wind was blowing and it was 30 degrees, I could load and shoot fast enough to heat the barrel up easy.

The next projectile was the 200 grain Shockwaves. First shot about 3 inches low. The next five made a nice horizontal line on the top of the corner bull. Again not swabbing, and I was kind of impressed. The load really seemed to have a lot of power. There was talk that BM3 was 20% stronger then Goex. This might very well be true. It was sure ringing the steel trap.

I then did not swab the barrel and dropped the powder charge down to 65 grains. I loaded a 460 grain Bull Shop conical and shot at a corner bull. At 50 yards it held them all in the 3" corner bull circle but kind of all over the place.

I then kicked the charge up to 90 grains of BM3 and shot 6 245 grain copper cased, hollow point powerbelts. It shot an excellent group with the powerbelts. Actually about an 1-1/2 group in the 2 o'clock position of one of the 3" corner bulls. I was kind of impressed.

I then got out some 385 grain Buffalo Bullet Conicals. It sprayed them all over the place. Some actually missed the target when shoot at a corner bull. Not acceptable at all.

Since the snow had really kicked up and I had shot well over 30 rounds, I decided to call it a day. Clean up with this powder is a dream. A couple patches and it is all done. It took me longer to clean the breech plug threads then it did the barrel.

Overall a nice powder. I am kind of impressed with it and want to test it in a couple other rifles....

Roskoe

Wow - sounds promising, at least with certain loads. Do you plan to chronograph any these loads?

Pittsburghunter

The powder sounds good to me as well but I can't get any retailers around here to buy any and the factory won't sell me any direct. I really want to try it in my Encore.

cayugad

Well I am still guilty of not owning a chronograph... Maybe I am worried that once I get one, I would become too concerned with it and the readings. Then again, I do have that on my wish list for those who do not understand the kind of toys people like me want as gifts....

Pittsburghunter I was impressed with the powder. I want to try it out of a couple different rifles, including my White. Also I was told that 100 grains (in a PM) is a very strong load. The Knight Disc is such a recoil forgiving rifle, I hardly noticed.

I was hoping some of the Black Mag3 shooters on this forum would join in here and give me their secret loads for their rifles. I was told that 90 grains is plenty. I was going to push them up to 120, but the 20% think kind of worried me.

Sharp Shooter

Cayugad, You should try some roundballs!

cayugad

Well I was reading more about the powder on Magkor.com and they have ballistics and hints to help you shoot better. I am happy to learn that you do not have to swab the barrel. Also it works for roundball as well. It claims to work in a flintlock, so we will see about that.

MLKeith

I do own a chronograph and I have compared equal volume of Black Mag'3 with Tripple Seven ffg. (not completely fair as fffg 777 would compare better but I can not find it anywhere around here). In longer barrel rifles like my Omega Black Mag'3 gives me higher velocity and less felt recoil. The powder tends to build pressure slowly compared with the hard sock you get with Tripple Seven. The test I did was with 300gr. bullets in Harvester sabots. I think in short barrels 777 would likely outperform Black Mag'3 on an equal volume basis. I have not found any powder that will perform as well as Black Mag'3 with the same or similar lack of residue after the shot. I am working on getting an address for orders. As good as the powder is for me I really want them to survive. Distribution is the key.

cayugad

I have long watched your reports as well as others on this board about the powder. That was why I was obsessed at finding some. I think I was lucky to get the pound I got. The luck you had with it, I was really wanting to get some. I have a relative that will be heading back to the same store and see if they have another pound of it.

It was actually funny, when I asked about the powder at Gander Mountain, they told me they did not carry any of it. We looked in their powder safe and low and behold, there sat a couple pounds of it. I shook the jugs to see if they were hardened and two were, the one I bought was not. Well I found out some of it was, but it broke up easy.

Sharp Shooter

Hardened? What?

How much was it for a pound? Did it smoke a lot like APP or was there not much smoke?

eldeguello

Thanks for the report! Glad to hear the stuff worked so well for you! Sounds promising. Also sounds like you'll need to fire a fouling shot to use it for hunting, so your first shot at game won't go low. Will be interested in how it works for you in a flintlock. If it turns out that it can be used in a flinter, I know I'll have to hunt some down! There's supposedly a dealer in Martinsburg W.VA who sells it-that's only about 40 miles down the road from me.....

cayugad, I guess you'll have to acquire a chronograph so you can list velocities as well, since you have more or less become the "ML GURU" on this board! (BTW, that's meant as a compliment!)