TreednNC

Long story short, had and Encore and a guy made me a trade offer I couldn't refuse, last spring. Well I never replaced the muzzleloader with a better gun. I had an old #11 cap Traditions Buckhunter $89.99 on sale in 2001 at BPS, in the safe lol. Well in a pinch until I can get the muzzleloader I want for next season, I ordered a 209 conversion. Am I just polishing a turd? lol I feel like I am, ordering a $30 part for a $90 gun. I'll replace the Encore with a better gun, but going to limp through the season on this one this year. Never had it go "pop" instead of "boom" until critical moment last year. I should have replaced it this year, but had a lot going on and never got around to it. Life is always going 100MPH with 4 kids.

cayugad

The 209 conversion will definitely increase the odds that the rifle will fire at that critical moment. But you still must remember to prepare the rifle correctly before you load. If you do this, even the simple #11 cap is all you need. Also sometimes these inexpensive rifles, when you find the load they like, will surprise you at just how well they can shoot.

Slow Burn

Cayugad is right on the mark. I have a CVA Bobcat that my wife purchased at Wally world several years ago. It sold back then for $59.99 and it is extremely accurate with a 385 gr GP bullet and 90 gr of Pyrodex RS. I have other rifles that cost more but if I do my part with this rifle, it does it's part. I would no hesitate to go hunting with this rifle. In the loading process you may want to turn the rifle and tap it on its side to ensure that the powder enters the area at the bolster to insure that you get a consistent ignition every time. Just my 2 cents.

v/r
mike

TreednNC

Ill admit that rifle didn't get the attention the Encore did in previous years, but when I shoot it, I clean until I come out with a patch that has zero discoloration, and run a pipecleaner with solvent, then dry ones through the flash hole. I'm meticulous about my cleaning, but I honestly think I can chalk it up to old powder that during a move, wasn't stored in a dry, non humid environment, and old (ten years) primers. I used pellets as well (dont flame me). In the future I will use loose powder.


Now, with this said, I can't use blackhorn 209 in this gun can I? Getting sooo tired of the seemingly millions of patches it takes to clean 777


Accuracy isn't a problem. I mean, it wasn't my Encore, but it will kill a deer as far as I care to shoot it.

Dutch

TreedNC,

I use a dab of dish soap in a coffee can with hot water to clean up after shooting T7. I know some here us a Windex in hot water. Others also us Simple Green. I am sure all work equally well. The point is that T7 is water soluable. As such it cleans fast with water. When I have tried Hoppe's instead of water, it take a million patches (ok I exagerate, it is only 500,000 patches) to get it clean. Just may sure when you are done with the hot water, oil it liberally to get the water out and to protect the steel.

TreednNC

can I shoot blackhorn in it?

BuckDoeHunter

I shoot BH209 in mine. I also use CCI209M primers and they seem to work the best for me in the Buckhunter. I did buy a new 209 nipple for it which seems to be better than the one that came with the conversion.



Instead of the slots, it just has one hole on the side which I feel puts more fire to the powder. It's not one of the recommended breech plugs for BH powder, but I have never had a problem shooting it with my setup, 110 gr BH209 and a Barnes 290 gr TMZ. Man, closeups really make my rifle look shabby, bad lighting and lint really show up. I have had great accuracy with this combo, next photo shows my laptop harddrive after an unexpected failure of the drive and getting my frustrations out at 100 yards.




Be carefull though, some brands of primers will come apart with a plunger gun and BH209 powder.

TreednNC

When I had the encore, I used CCI, so I'll probably use them now too.