changing it up...again
11-13-2010, 02:25 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Southern Illinois
Posts: 650
changing it up...again
Ok, it's less than one week before our Illinois firearm season, so what am I doing? Second-guessing everything, that's it!
You may have read about my BH209 trials, and my decision against it. I bought it, had problems (misfires), fixed the problems (contacted the BH people and got a drill bit and torch cleaner), and still didn't love the results. The patterns I was getting with T7 and 250 SST's were too hard to walk away from.
Since then, I've been reading the posts about poor SST performance (low or no expansion) and thinking. I've promoted the SST's due to patterns, but have had similar issues with the expansion. They kill deer, but leave little blood trail.
I read up on the XTP's and decided to give them a try. I bought a box of T/C 240gr to try out tomorrow. (after buying another pack of SST's last night)
The biggest surprise is that I'm going to burn up some more BH209 tomorrow. I looked at that jug and realized that I have a lot of bullets and quite a bit of powder left. Why not give it another chance?
So... Long story short... (yeah, too late for that
)
I'm going to try the T/C 240gr XTP's with a couple loads of BH and the CCI 209M's. I figured I'd start with 100gr and then try 90 and 110 if that doesn't do the trick. If I can get a 1 1/2" group @ 100 and have NO misfires, I may use them this coming weekend. I will have that $%^$# drill bit handy to clean my BP with occassionally. If I get a SINGLE misfire, I'm done. It's just hard to go to the field with something that doesn't give me 100% confidence. If that happens I guess I'll see how they group with the T7 pellets.
To be continued tomorrow...
rw
You may have read about my BH209 trials, and my decision against it. I bought it, had problems (misfires), fixed the problems (contacted the BH people and got a drill bit and torch cleaner), and still didn't love the results. The patterns I was getting with T7 and 250 SST's were too hard to walk away from.
Since then, I've been reading the posts about poor SST performance (low or no expansion) and thinking. I've promoted the SST's due to patterns, but have had similar issues with the expansion. They kill deer, but leave little blood trail.
I read up on the XTP's and decided to give them a try. I bought a box of T/C 240gr to try out tomorrow. (after buying another pack of SST's last night)
The biggest surprise is that I'm going to burn up some more BH209 tomorrow. I looked at that jug and realized that I have a lot of bullets and quite a bit of powder left. Why not give it another chance?
So... Long story short... (yeah, too late for that
)I'm going to try the T/C 240gr XTP's with a couple loads of BH and the CCI 209M's. I figured I'd start with 100gr and then try 90 and 110 if that doesn't do the trick. If I can get a 1 1/2" group @ 100 and have NO misfires, I may use them this coming weekend. I will have that $%^$# drill bit handy to clean my BP with occassionally. If I get a SINGLE misfire, I'm done. It's just hard to go to the field with something that doesn't give me 100% confidence. If that happens I guess I'll see how they group with the T7 pellets.
To be continued tomorrow...
rw
11-13-2010, 03:30 PM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ohio
Posts: 166
I feel for you. I was very leery of trying BH 209. After all 777 is a great powder and I still love it.
But I got to tell ya, after I got to load 25 shots without swabbing and how that 100g kicked like a mule, I was in love.
When the breech plug came out with a soft twist I almost lost it...lol
I will keep my unopened containers of 777 in case the world comes to an end but I am now a BH man. I hope it works for you in the hunting field. It will be so great to re-load under 30 seconds.
The black xtp's from wallyworld are great for a great price. They also hold tight for the well seating of BH.
D
But I got to tell ya, after I got to load 25 shots without swabbing and how that 100g kicked like a mule, I was in love.
When the breech plug came out with a soft twist I almost lost it...lol
I will keep my unopened containers of 777 in case the world comes to an end but I am now a BH man. I hope it works for you in the hunting field. It will be so great to re-load under 30 seconds.
The black xtp's from wallyworld are great for a great price. They also hold tight for the well seating of BH.
D
11-14-2010, 05:00 AM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: My Range in Central NY
Posts: 320
I have had great results with BH209.
I do know that with BH209 you need a tight fitting sabot/bullet combo. You need a fit that requires IMHO a minimum of 35 pounds of presure to slide down the bore. IMHO in order to get good burn with BH209 it needs pressure and this pressure at first comes from the resistance of the sabot/bullet to move freely in the bore. I prefer 50+ pounds of pressure to seat my sabot/bullet when using BH209.
If your combo loads easily you will not get consistent ignition/burn with BH209.
Any bullet can be knurled with a simple file to enlarge it to give you a tighter fit of sabot/bullet combo. Simply roll the bullet on a hard surface under a file while applying pressure to the file. another option is using a different make sabot. they are not all the same!
Good Luck shooting.
I do know that with BH209 you need a tight fitting sabot/bullet combo. You need a fit that requires IMHO a minimum of 35 pounds of presure to slide down the bore. IMHO in order to get good burn with BH209 it needs pressure and this pressure at first comes from the resistance of the sabot/bullet to move freely in the bore. I prefer 50+ pounds of pressure to seat my sabot/bullet when using BH209.
If your combo loads easily you will not get consistent ignition/burn with BH209.
Any bullet can be knurled with a simple file to enlarge it to give you a tighter fit of sabot/bullet combo. Simply roll the bullet on a hard surface under a file while applying pressure to the file. another option is using a different make sabot. they are not all the same!
Good Luck shooting.
11-14-2010, 09:50 AM
#5
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Southern Illinois
Posts: 650
Update:
Well here's how it went-
I snapped a few caps to clear oil, etc.
100y target: I loaded a cheapo bullet to foul the barrel. Then I loaded 100 gr BH under a 240gr XTP. First shot was very high and left, but that's fine. I can fix that... Well, 100 gr again with another XTP, and a misfire. What? after 1 shot??? my BP was squeaky clean before my outing(drill bit, torch tip cleaner, etc). I'm done with the stuff for now until I do something to my BP.
So, it's 777 time. I opened a new pack of pellets and my first shot was high and left. I shot 2 more and they were very close, about 1" right of the first and almost touching. I adjusted my scope and shot agiain. It put a shot 1 at about 1 1/2" high and a bit right. Just about what I wanted. 2 was about 4" high. ??? 3 was a bit below the bullseye, and 4 was back up 4" high. There wasn't much left/right variation in any of them.
Needless to say, I'm a bit frustrated. The only variance in any of my shots is that the 2 higher ones I may have seated a bit tighter.
Well, the good news is that most shots in my wooly area are going to be less than 50 yards, so in that respect I will be ok. It's a pain though that I'm not going to be able to shoot past that if I need to.
Summary:
*I don't like the Blackhorn as of right now. Not a chance I'd take it to the woods.
*New 777 pellets shoot about 2" higher than last year's pellets.
*I should have stuck with the Shockwaves I shot last summer that grouped 1 1/2"
*My wife is going to kill me when I spend more $ on 777 and Shockwaves to shoot between gun weekends
The only good news is that I shot my Mossy 535 (20" shot barrel w/ turkey sights) with some el cheapo Winchester 2 3/4" rifled slugs and put all three into a 3" circle at 50y. Surely it wont come to that, though...
rw
I snapped a few caps to clear oil, etc.
100y target: I loaded a cheapo bullet to foul the barrel. Then I loaded 100 gr BH under a 240gr XTP. First shot was very high and left, but that's fine. I can fix that... Well, 100 gr again with another XTP, and a misfire. What? after 1 shot??? my BP was squeaky clean before my outing(drill bit, torch tip cleaner, etc). I'm done with the stuff for now until I do something to my BP.
So, it's 777 time. I opened a new pack of pellets and my first shot was high and left. I shot 2 more and they were very close, about 1" right of the first and almost touching. I adjusted my scope and shot agiain. It put a shot 1 at about 1 1/2" high and a bit right. Just about what I wanted. 2 was about 4" high. ??? 3 was a bit below the bullseye, and 4 was back up 4" high. There wasn't much left/right variation in any of them.
Needless to say, I'm a bit frustrated. The only variance in any of my shots is that the 2 higher ones I may have seated a bit tighter.
Well, the good news is that most shots in my wooly area are going to be less than 50 yards, so in that respect I will be ok. It's a pain though that I'm not going to be able to shoot past that if I need to.
Summary:
*I don't like the Blackhorn as of right now. Not a chance I'd take it to the woods.
*New 777 pellets shoot about 2" higher than last year's pellets.
*I should have stuck with the Shockwaves I shot last summer that grouped 1 1/2"
*My wife is going to kill me when I spend more $ on 777 and Shockwaves to shoot between gun weekends
The only good news is that I shot my Mossy 535 (20" shot barrel w/ turkey sights) with some el cheapo Winchester 2 3/4" rifled slugs and put all three into a 3" circle at 50y. Surely it wont come to that, though...
rw
