range disappointment
 

Finally got to the range with my disc extreme and the lehigh conversion breechplug, Thor bullets and Blackhorn 209. First shot, 110gr. BH and 250gr. Thor, real bad hang fire. I put another identical load in and got nothing but a pop from the primer. Tried four primers and finally pushed the load out, gun never fired. Breech plug was open with very little sign of blowback. I put my Full plastic jacket breech plug in and got two good shots, then nothing in six more shots, powder did not ignite. I should say all these shot were with cci 209, or winchester 209 primers, conventional not magnums. I know magnum primers are recommended but are hard to find here so I thought I would try anyway. Gun, breechplug, powder and primers all clean and dry. Do you think this was just due to non-magnum primers?

Thats kinda strange considering the conditions you mentioned but i have no experience with Thors. I do however have experience with Knights w/NFPJ, a Win209 shooting PR conicals. They fit a bit loose and not one had a hangfire or FTF.

Actually my best 3 shot group ever was with this combo in a 45cal but it was a 360gr. Ive shot a few resized 45s sabotless with no issues other than accuracy which i THINK i can over come with the correct sizing dies.

The earlier Knight NFPJ wasnt the best with BH209 but my results with the Lehigh and Win209s have been 100%.

I wouldn't blame the Thor unless it just fell down the bore.

Switch to a saboted bullet that gives some resistance going down the bore and seat it firmly on the powder. BOOM!

I would guess the non magnum primers might have something to do with it. Also if the Thors are loading very loose, there is not a good seal to produce the resistance that the powder likes. Before I got too excited, get some sabots that fit tight, and try that. If the gun fires fine, then the Thors are too loose. If you still have problems, change primers.

One idea would be use an over powder card to help seal the powder under the conical.
Another idea would be to first load a small ignitor charge of conventional powder under the BH209 like MountainDevil54 has posted about in the past as working successfully.

I should have mentioned I am shooting the thor bullet to be Colorado legal. I did the sizing thing that Thor recommends before buying their bullets and the.501 was what was recommended by them. I will say the .501 bullet is not as tight as i thought they wanted, but the .502 was REAL tough to get down the bore. How much force are you guys putting on your ramrod when loading what is considered a tight sabot? Thanks for the input.

In a normal situation with the Knight and the Lehigh plug or even the Knight FPJ plug - you should not need a Mag primer.

BH is a progressive burning powder and requires pressure to continue to burn, hence everybodies suggestion that the Thor in your case may have not been tight enough. The other thing that may have been a problem is if the bullet was not seated down on the powder.

So the combination of the two could have caused your problem.

The suggestion to get some sabots and bullets to try really is the easiest way to check what may be your problem.

Another note for you - when I load one of my Knight's with a conical I use a .503 Bull Shop.

For myself when loading a sabot - I think that 35-45# of pressure is just about right to push the sabot down.

i push a .500" thor down my cva bores with my index finger and she goes boom every time.

Could try increasing your seating pressure.

You must have the world's longest index finger!:D