Some interesting findings with Blackhorn
 

I had changed out rings on my Knight Disc from the plain matte to a matching camo pattern. I mean ... what the heck, might as well look nice too. So now all camo except the blue barrel of course. And these rings are lower to the barrel which I found very comfortable.

Since I remounted, I figured I would have to sight in again. Besides, I wanted to shoot more BlackHorn and see what I could find out about it and the rifle.



As I remembered.. it was 100 or 110 grains of BlackHorn I was shooting. I discovered later it was 110. But we loaded 100 grains of BlackHorn 209 and used CCI 209 primers. Ignition was flawless today!!

I opened a fresh 20 pack of Harvester 260 grain Scorpion Funnel Nose that come with Harvester EZ load sabots. Shots 1-3 were with the EZ load. I was shooting at 25 yards. There was no way the group should be that big. So back into the house and I found a bag of Nosler sabots. I believe they are MMP HPH 12.

Back to the range and decided to try something.. I took a patch, applied alcohol and swabbed the bore of the rifle. The patch came back filthy black and dirty from the three shots taken. I then ran a dry patch.

This time I loaded the same 100 grains and used the Nosler sabots. Man were they hard to load. I mean lean on the short starter to get them in and then they slid down pretty good. But this sabot was a lot tighter. The EZ load I did not need a short starter. And all you BH shooters have preached to me that you need a tight fitting sabot. Well I got one.

With no adjustment to the scope at all, I shot group one. That was much better. Then I made an adjustment, swabbed the bore again like before, and shot group #2. I could live with that.

So now being curious, I ran flipped the target so that the clean target was lower into the range trap, and moved it back to 53 yards. I actually got readings of 54, 52, 53, and one of 33.



Here is where it got interesting again. Swabbed, they shot high and right. The next shot on the fouled barrel they shot high. Swabbed, high and right, next one again, high. I did this same routine and discovered that if I swabbed they went to the high right area, and if I left it dirty, it stayed just high. Also I was kind of surprised the bullets hit as high as they did. But I was not going to change anything right now.

I had two of the Scorpions left out of my new 20 pack. So I hiked out and pulled the 50 yard target and went back to the bench. There were the nemesis paint can hanging back there daring me to shoot. So again 100 grains and I suspected it might shoot high, I really had no idea. So I aimed about two inches above the bottom of the gallon paint can, squeezed the shot at 86 yards. And that can did the most perfect one and a half somersault you ever seen. I could even see it in the air in the scope. When it landed I could see the hole.. 2 inches from the bottom.

Now with the can on its side at a slight angle to me, I aimed for the part where the bottom flat connects to the round sides.. half way. Squeezed the next one and again the can jumped. So I had to walk down there and look. Sure enough, right where the scope had been aimed. So it looks like this scope is dead on at 85 yards.

Questions...

How many of you have ever swabbed when shooting BlackHorn?

Do you think it helped in loading, accuracy, or consistency?

I used alcohol to swab with .. what do you use?

How come last time I shot, I had to pick the breech plug after 4 shots for ignition reasons, while today I fired off 20 and never had a problem? Could it have been weather, humidity, temperature was 32 degrees and over cast.. very muggy foggy like...

Never swabbed with BH209. No need to.

While there is no need to, I was wondering if some do. And actually with the Nosler sabots.. they were getting hard to load when I would not swab.

That happens with the harvester red sabots, just improper fit. I always heard the tighter the sabot the better which turned out to be bs lol. Theres always an in between that normally does best.

if you had mmp 24 there smaler or some harvester Black crush rib sabots or Harvester smooth black short sabots that would put you right on for size for .451 & .452 bullets and I do not swab with BH209
http://www.harvestermuzzleloading.co...mart&Itemid=18
http://www.harvestermuzzleloading.co...emart&Itemid=3

I never swab shoot green sabot and a 300 gr cast 20 to 25 times with no problems

Very nice report as always. Im only concerned with how my gun performs in the field. When my gun goes into the woods its loaded on a clean barrel. So your saying high and right on swabbed. How do you prep your guns for the field? I never liked the fouling shot deal. I will pop a few caps and thats how I fine tune all my guns.

I have tried it several times, the first using alcohol the second using AL +Hoppes #9 in a 50/50 and the last using Hoppes Elite. when I try it I shot 6 inch gongs at 250 yds for my last target. I shows up some at any range over 50 yds but it really shows big time at 250, the first shot and some times the second shot is off so it is like that first shot out of the gun with that tiny bit of oil you can never get out of the pores.
I tried wiping every shot also and the groups were definitely consistently bigger, on an average about 3/4 of an inch bigger at 100 yds and I much prefer 3/4 inch groups to 1.5 inch groups. This was all done with 250 gr Shock Wave bullets and 120 grains of Blackhorn which is what the Endeavor shoots best.
Now I have no doubt that some where there is a gun that will shoot best swabbing blackhorn but while several of us have tried none of us has that gun.

When I started, I dry patched the bore. This was advise from a forum member. Then I popped three 209 primers, and loaded. The reason I started to experiment with swabbing is when I was loading, the Nosler sabots were really tight. And have you ever felt fouling in the bore when loading?

Right now, I am experimenting with how to squeeze the best out of this powder, with the least headaches. And I appreciate all the advise.. I want to try new things.

Last issue... While the bore swabs clean easy, that bolt and breech plug is a pita! It took me longer to clean those items then any traditional rifle I ever cleaned. Lots of carbon residue.

i shoot mine and swab between shots with a tc seasoning patch. I cant really comment on how bh209 does swabbed and not swabbed b/c i have always done it. I figure its doubtful i will take more than one shot when im hunting, im always shooting the gun the same way and i dont have to worry about build up either throwing off the shot or being a pain to clean up later.