I finally got out and tried the 290gr Barnes TEZ bullets out today. They load pretty easy but not as easy as the Hornady FPB or the TC superglide's do. So I started out with 100grs of blackhorn and shot a 3 shot group. It wasn't what I was hopeing for so I shot another 3 shot group of 110grs of powder,still not what I was wanting,I tried 120grs,and shot 2 shots and they both hit about 6inches from each other and I knew that was not good,so I didn't attempt a 3rd shot.
So I lowered it down to 90grs of powder and got a pretty decent 3 shot group,its not as tight as the 250gr TC super Glide sabots shoot but its not too bad. What do you guys think about the 90gr group? Is it good enough for hunting? Or would you try and see what it does with 80grs of powder?
The Super glides with 100grs of blackhorn @ 100yds disregard the shots off target


90grs of blackhorn with the TEZ 290gr barnes the 3 shots in the red box


100grs of blackhorn with the TEZ 290gr barnes



110grs of blackhorn with the TEZ 290gr barnes 1 shot was off target to the right

Well brushbustin, I consider any load that will shoot five shots into three inches or less at 100 yards satisfactory for hunting. That bullet an load will certainly do the job.

I assume you were shooting the KodiaK? Although you're good to go for hunting, you may be able to get those groups to tighten up with a little more experimenting.

Yes I was shooting the kodiak.What other kind of experimenting would you suggest? I really wanna use the Barnes bullet because i've heard such great things about them. Should I see what 80grs does?

You can't go wrong trying different charges. I can't contribute much with regard to BlackHorn because I have very little experience with it. If you have some Triple 7 or Pyrodex handy, I would give it a try with that bullet for a point of comparison.

As you know, tight groups are a combination of gun, load and shooting technique. I assume you're shooting from a good solid rest, so here are the first couple of things I would be asking myself. Have I shot this load enough to know for sure this is the best it will do, or could I have just had a less than stellar day shooting? Has this gun shot some other load/bullet/powder really well? If so, what was the bullet weight/powder charge?

I didn't think of switching powder. I have always shot triple 7 pellets up until this year when I wanted to try the blackhorn out.The love the blackhorn powder,is ultra clean and almost no smoke and clean up is a breeze. I think i'll head back out on the next nice day,try it again with 90grains of blackhorn,and then clean it,and then try it again with 2 triple 7 pellets (100grs)..I have a little triple 7 left over anyway.

Are you seating the sabot/bullet hard on the powder charge? What primer are you using?

Sometimes little things makes a big difference.

Try a Harvester short black sabot. They work well for me in my Accura V1

I was going to say try some different sabots. Maybe a Harvester black cr.

Stick with the BH209 powder and as others have said try some Crushed rib sabots and maybe some mmp-24's, which is the sabot those bullets come with. see what happens. no caffine before a shooting session helps also lol. that 290 gr barnes is a excellent bullet choice! Ray