Encore question
 

Okay guys...what might be causeing this? Seems to be an excessive amount of burn for the location. My primers seem burnt too, local smith thought maybe my nipple was burnt out? There's less than a hundred rounds through this gun, never drilled the breech plug. Using federal primers. I emailed TC 3 days ago and got 1 email back asking how much powder I was using, 120 gr of blackhorn.

Okay, I guess the file didn't load, but I am getting powder burns on the barrelin front of my hammer where the gun breats open, stains on my scope too. I can't get it to load off my phone, if somebody wants me to email it I can

Well, there is no way any one can know from afar what your issue is, however, you wrote you have never 'drilled' your plug. If you have never used a 1/8" drill to remove carbon from the flame channel of your breech plug, it is no wonder you have blow back. It is possible if you use a 1/8" drill in the flame channel, and remove the carbon build, you will have no blow back anymore. All you need do is spin the drill by hand, but if the carbon is so thick, you may need to start with a 1/16" drill first.

You are getting blowby around the Federal 209 primer. Federal primers caused blowby with my Encore. The Winchester 209 primers do not. But i'm not sure Winchester primers will ignite BlackHorn.

When I said "drilled" I meant I never expaneed the firing hole like I hear of some guys doing. I'll give cleaning it out a try. I know the BH takes a hot primer, and I never had an issue with the federals so I didn't see a need to try anything else.

The chamber that the primer sits in is clean, no buildup. I'm more concerned about a safety to shoot issue, it was driving tacks the other day

Its safe to shoot, but you may have to shim the breech face out and shim kits can be purchased that drop right in easily. You must be able to close the action without crushing the primer.

In in MI and as cold as it will be....... I would suggest you shoot magnum primers, for which you will need to chip the carbon from the flame channel, using the information provided above. T/C..... 1/8"

Cleaning the flash channel......

I tried numerous times to post the photo of head spacing and it wouldn't load in the previous post. Kept coming back as I had removed it????? To much in one post........

NOTE: Although the photo below shows a CF case in the chamber, the head space is the distance from the breech face to the primer, same with a muzz.

W209 primers will ignite bh209 at close to zero degrees from my experience.

No disagreement but........ if you want 100% reliable ignition 100% of the time, the magnum primers should be used in most cases in extreme cold. There's a reason Western recommends magnum primers. BH is actually a smokeless propellant and must have the bullet compressed on the propellant hard for consistent ignition and groups. Magnum primers use higher pressure than standard primers, thus ignition is more consistent.