I know that knights and 777 aren't the in thing right now, but they are what I am into! Since I started shooting 777 again I got reminded about the crud ring. I remembered that knight had made the power stem plug to deal with it, but then bh209 came out and everyone seemed to forget about it... I did a search on here and didn't come up much about this plug. Has anyone used it? did it seem to help with the crud ring?

I used it and no it did not help at all with the crud ring.

josh...just josh

Shoot! do not be saying that... that is all that I shoot in my Knights... works very well for me and I can afford to shoot a lot of it.

The BIG thing bout the 'Power Stem' was it's abilty to get more velocity from T7 than could be had with a regular plug. The 'Stem" was a way to get 'center ignition' on a column of powder something artillery people would know about. Should give you a more complete burn.

I tried one for awhile but really did not see a whole lot of difference. I do not remeber much of a 'crud ring' with one but I do not get much of a 'crud ring' anyway ever. So if you are fighting a severve 'crud ring' not sure you would see a lot of difference.... If you were shooting T7-3f you might see less of a 'crud ring'

I know this is an old thread, but I use a Power stem. I honestly can't see the big todo about it. I don't get a crud ring. But crud ring never upset me either.

If t7 had a longer shelf life, I would never have tried BH209. I never minded a quick swab between shots and never felt like I had a crud ring problem. I noticed a nice performance jump when I tried the long stem. I also really liked the ease of loading I had with all lead bullets and the terminal performace they had. bh209 requires a very tight fit.

grizzly 2

I am shooting T7 powder that is 5 years old and the chrono sees no difference in that old powder and a bottle of new powder. When I say 5 years old it is powder that has been stored un-opened for that period of time. So I am not so sure about the powder deterioration of T7 if it is closed and stored properly.

Power Stem... along time ago the military found that center ignition of a powder column created great velocity and cleaner burn. Knight has also shown in the case of a 52 caliber and heavy bullets, 350 grains +, the greater velocity can be achieved.

Crud Ring... it is often still there but often the ring is slightly lower than the length of the stem so it is not always felt.

Because I prefer to shoot T7 - and do not strip clean the gun every time I shoot or during hunting season, i do not use the Power Stem. As it blocks my access to run a windex patch to the bottom of the bore.

Just some thoughts from the west....

grizzly 2

You might be surprised how well 80-90gr BH209 can shoot a conical. Maybe not a slip fit but ive shot some really nice heavier conical groups that loaded easy.

Sabotloaders reason is the main reason i haven't used mine. You cant swab past the stem. Im not sure that it matter a whole lot but........Plus as he said most data ive seen only showed a noticeable gain with 130gr+ T7 and heavier bullets. At 140gr it was roughly equal to or better than 120gr of BH209 and the huge 375gr Redhot. Im tempted to try it in a 45cal though with some 180gr 40s.

Josh

I used one of these plugs with a 45cal Elite, and with 120g of 2f-777. it ended up MELTING the Stainless Steel right at the ignition point. Only took about 10 shots to ruin my bore. That's how hot it gets.

And I was'nt the only one this happened to

Just say No to the Stem

LaneNebraska

Ive heard that too and its why i didnt try it yet in the smaller 45 bore. In a larger bore it might not be as bad but i sure dont want to take a chance on a bore that is in mint condition.

Difference is that those US military primers and igniters for gun cartridges were filled with black powder: They were later filled with BP substitutes, including Black Mag. The 120 mm tank gun attains a velocity of over 5,000 fps without the use of a long perforated igniter. The cartridge is consumed except for a steel stub case about 4" long.