A month with B209
01-01-2010, 05:22 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 88
A month with B209
Don't post much, read 2-3 times a day.
Wanted to share my month long experiment with B209 here in Massachusetts. Got a doe and a 6 pt during archery so I wanted to put B209 through a test during the shotgun and muzzleloader season.
Weapon- T/C Omega Black/Blue- Browning 2-7x32 scope
Load- 90gr B209 under .430 240gr xtp in a regular Harvester
green sabot
Primer- Remington 209 STS
W209
This load is very accurate in my Omega. The gun shoots both the C/R and the regular sabots very well. The regular sabots do load a bit harder but not unbearible, so this is what I went with for my experiment. I chose the tighter fitting sabot because of the responses from this board. I do believe though that I would have obtained the same results from the Crush Ribbed sabots.
My goal was to see how dependable B209 is in a season long hunting situation. The gun was left in the truck (loaded) for the entire season (4-5 weeks.) I would periodically fire the gun at the end of the evening to check for ignition and accuracy. During that time, it would get an occasional light cleaning if it was subjected to a long period of rain or snow.
Temperature ranged from 9 degrees to 62 degrees. We did have a couple of weeks where temps dipped down into the high single digits to low teens at night. This is the part of the experiment that I was very interested in seeing the results.
Conclusion:
B209 is expensive. I feel it is also a very good hunting load in the field because of the lack of attention that is required as far as swabbing between shots or immediate cleaning after being fired.
It does however require a little bit of attention to certain details.
In my opinion, the breech plug is the most important element that needs special attention.
As I stated, I would periodically fire my gun after it sat for a week or so in the vehicle in sub freezing temps, and also in snow and rain. Acurracy was alway excellent, ignition was always spontanious. What I did notice though, after 4-5 shots, the breech plug would carbon up. I would clean the primer hole with a 1/8 drill bit as recommended from this board. This did prevent any hangfires or misfires, but I do believe that if I were to go away on a hunt and I did not have the capabilities of being able to clean the breech plug, this could present a problem in the field. I do have several breech plugs for my Omega. I always have a clean one ready to go if needed. I believe though that cleaning with a drill bit is all that is needed to assure spontanious ignition. I am not sure if this is a primer issue or a powder issue. Maybe someone can offer some insight into that.
I have learned a great deal from this board. The only weapons that I now use are my bow and my muzzleloader. And I love shooting my muzzleloader.
Thanks Guys, and Happy New Year to all.
In Christ,
Steve
Wanted to share my month long experiment with B209 here in Massachusetts. Got a doe and a 6 pt during archery so I wanted to put B209 through a test during the shotgun and muzzleloader season.
Weapon- T/C Omega Black/Blue- Browning 2-7x32 scope
Load- 90gr B209 under .430 240gr xtp in a regular Harvester
green sabot
Primer- Remington 209 STS
W209
This load is very accurate in my Omega. The gun shoots both the C/R and the regular sabots very well. The regular sabots do load a bit harder but not unbearible, so this is what I went with for my experiment. I chose the tighter fitting sabot because of the responses from this board. I do believe though that I would have obtained the same results from the Crush Ribbed sabots.
My goal was to see how dependable B209 is in a season long hunting situation. The gun was left in the truck (loaded) for the entire season (4-5 weeks.) I would periodically fire the gun at the end of the evening to check for ignition and accuracy. During that time, it would get an occasional light cleaning if it was subjected to a long period of rain or snow.
Temperature ranged from 9 degrees to 62 degrees. We did have a couple of weeks where temps dipped down into the high single digits to low teens at night. This is the part of the experiment that I was very interested in seeing the results.
Conclusion:
B209 is expensive. I feel it is also a very good hunting load in the field because of the lack of attention that is required as far as swabbing between shots or immediate cleaning after being fired.
It does however require a little bit of attention to certain details.
In my opinion, the breech plug is the most important element that needs special attention.
As I stated, I would periodically fire my gun after it sat for a week or so in the vehicle in sub freezing temps, and also in snow and rain. Acurracy was alway excellent, ignition was always spontanious. What I did notice though, after 4-5 shots, the breech plug would carbon up. I would clean the primer hole with a 1/8 drill bit as recommended from this board. This did prevent any hangfires or misfires, but I do believe that if I were to go away on a hunt and I did not have the capabilities of being able to clean the breech plug, this could present a problem in the field. I do have several breech plugs for my Omega. I always have a clean one ready to go if needed. I believe though that cleaning with a drill bit is all that is needed to assure spontanious ignition. I am not sure if this is a primer issue or a powder issue. Maybe someone can offer some insight into that.
I have learned a great deal from this board. The only weapons that I now use are my bow and my muzzleloader. And I love shooting my muzzleloader.
Thanks Guys, and Happy New Year to all.
In Christ,
Steve
01-01-2010, 06:03 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
Posts: 3,732
However, in normal hunting situations, the breech plug will not be an issue, because one doesn't normally fire one's rifle that many times. If one shoots a lot during the season, one needs to pay particular attention to drilling out the fire channel, if using BH209. My Omega is easily good for 20 shots with out a problem. I don't recall ever shooting any rifle 20 times any one hunting season.
01-01-2010, 06:34 AM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 374
great post SKOPIA-i also hunted all season here in upstate new york with my knights and never had problems setting off blackhorn in temps down to 13*.in my experience with blackhorn and cold weather you need one of two things,a blowback FREE breech plug or a tight sabot compressed well on top of the powder.i can get by with easy loading sabots out of my triumph or knight vision.my knight disc with red or orange disc's really need a tight fit in the cold to ignite reliably.as far as the carbon buildup i think thats powder related to some extent because i use the same primers for t7 and don't get anywhere near as much build up.my winter primer is federal 209a if it's obove freezing i also use w209 and rem.sts primers with no issues.......karl
i also should have added the sidekick with metrics BP in with the triumph and vision
i also should have added the sidekick with metrics BP in with the triumph and vision
Last edited by kb1; 01-01-2010 at 06:39 AM.
01-01-2010, 07:24 AM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,585
Just in case you missed the posts earlier this year. In particular this applies to Omega,Triumph, and Endeavor as I have modified these and been shooting them since. Now we went at it with different tools , Sabotloader used a lathe and I used a drill press. You can look up the original posts if you are interested. What we did was to drill out the flame channel and restriction in the breach plug and tap it in from the powder end far enough to seat a vent liner [ the Lehigh vent-liner for the Savage].
Tools I used #21 drill , drill press , milling vice, 40 degree end mill just a bit bigger than the vent liner, 10-32 tap.
The procedure I used was the put a drill the same size as the flame channel in BP and mount the end of the drill in the chuck of the drill press so that the BP was centered, then adjust the milling table vise to hold it there and drill the restriction out.
The turning it over and reinserting the drill I again centered the BP and mounted it with the powder end up, I then reamed it with a #21 drill all the way through,then taking out the drill i put the end mill in and faced the end of the BP to match the vent liner, then I put the tap in the drill press chuck took the belt off the drill press and turned it by HAND to tap 1.5 more threads than was on the vent liner.
This was originally done to salvage flame cut out breach plugs that were bad enough to lose accuracy; BUT after using one for a while I found that this modification the way I did it greatly reduced the carbon accumulation, since I use Blackhorn in all my inlines this seemed like to much of an advantage to not do so I did the Triumph and the Endeavor as well. I still get some carbon but now it is not necessary to clean it out till the end of the day when I clean my guns any how. I normally shoot 25 or 30 shots and show very little carbon as compared to before.
I realize this is an awful long post but thought some one might be interested.
Tools I used #21 drill , drill press , milling vice, 40 degree end mill just a bit bigger than the vent liner, 10-32 tap.
The procedure I used was the put a drill the same size as the flame channel in BP and mount the end of the drill in the chuck of the drill press so that the BP was centered, then adjust the milling table vise to hold it there and drill the restriction out.
The turning it over and reinserting the drill I again centered the BP and mounted it with the powder end up, I then reamed it with a #21 drill all the way through,then taking out the drill i put the end mill in and faced the end of the BP to match the vent liner, then I put the tap in the drill press chuck took the belt off the drill press and turned it by HAND to tap 1.5 more threads than was on the vent liner.
This was originally done to salvage flame cut out breach plugs that were bad enough to lose accuracy; BUT after using one for a while I found that this modification the way I did it greatly reduced the carbon accumulation, since I use Blackhorn in all my inlines this seemed like to much of an advantage to not do so I did the Triumph and the Endeavor as well. I still get some carbon but now it is not necessary to clean it out till the end of the day when I clean my guns any how. I normally shoot 25 or 30 shots and show very little carbon as compared to before.
I realize this is an awful long post but thought some one might be interested.
01-01-2010, 05:01 PM
#7
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 88
The point of the test was to reassure me that B209 would ignite and be accurate after a muzzleloader was left in a vehicle for an extended period of time and under very cold temperatures.
What was proven to me was if I take care to keep the muzzleloader clean, or if the muzzleloader was shot a few times and reloaded and still kept in the vehicle, B209 would still ignite spontaneously if I did my part.
Last year I had bought a jug of 209 and went to the range. Had a couple of hang fires with that session. This made me very skeptical about using B209 in a hunting situation. Went back to T7 for the entire season. Come to find out, after reading a post on this sight, that my breech plug was clogged with carbon build up (?) from 2 years of shooting. Even though I would clean the breech plug regularly, I never had knowledge to clean the fire channel with a drill bit.
With all this being said, I do have confidence in B209 in hunting situations and it is very accurate in my Omega. I think if we pay close attention to detail, this is a great powder to hunt with.
What was proven to me was if I take care to keep the muzzleloader clean, or if the muzzleloader was shot a few times and reloaded and still kept in the vehicle, B209 would still ignite spontaneously if I did my part.
Last year I had bought a jug of 209 and went to the range. Had a couple of hang fires with that session. This made me very skeptical about using B209 in a hunting situation. Went back to T7 for the entire season. Come to find out, after reading a post on this sight, that my breech plug was clogged with carbon build up (?) from 2 years of shooting. Even though I would clean the breech plug regularly, I never had knowledge to clean the fire channel with a drill bit.
With all this being said, I do have confidence in B209 in hunting situations and it is very accurate in my Omega. I think if we pay close attention to detail, this is a great powder to hunt with.
01-02-2010, 02:36 PM
#10
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 476
You guys are always so smart and helpful, the knowledge in this crew is great! I don't use 209, partly because I can't find any nearby...well, they probably have it a couple hours away at Gander, but I try to buy my stuff locally. But, I wonder, with all this talk of build up...I have this problem with T7 pellets after like 5 shots, not the point where I don't think it would shoot, but it sure builds up a nice layer where the powder sits and gums up the whole...why is that? Sounds like you guys aren't having that problem at all.
