BarnesAddict

I agree. Have a friend with a Traditions rifle that shoots it like a mad man with BH and in bitter cold. Never has had a FTF. My closest friend has a CVA Acura, one of the originals, who only enlarged the flash hole, hunts in the current weather conditions and has never had a FTF. You could take either of those rifles, load them properly, let them set out in this weather for days and both would fire. If the breech plug is designed for and clean, bullet seated properly, there's some other reason why that specific rifle FTF. I'd rather shoot BH than any other propellant.

Triple Se7en

Don't use any water-containing swabbing agent with BH 209. No stuff like T/C 13.... anything mixed with water. Don't drench the patch either. Use a gun solvent or synthetic CLP for swabbing/cleaning. Always follow-up that swab with both sides of a dry patch or two.

Don't expose the ML to vast temperature changes when loaded. Lastly, fire three primers prior to installing your hunting load and make sure that load going down the bore is not a loose fit.

.... and watch out for the #2 God listed below....

Triple Se7en

ronlaughlin

Do you think it is possible that because it was so very cold, and you had been out in the cold for awhile, and wearing lots of clothes, and shivering, you didn't get the bullet tight to the powder? Perhaps you thought the bullet was tight to the powder, but because of what you were wearing, and what you were feeling, the bullet was just a tad loose? Being loosely contained, may have caused the powder to fizzle.

Go easy with the torch tip cleaner, it shouldn't be necessary to use one when using shotgun primers--they are like miniature sand blasters, and they themselves keep the flash hole open. Shotgun primers erode the flash hole larger with each shot, and after a few hundred shots, the flash hole may be large enough for powder granules to dribble through.

Using the proper sized drill is a necessity to keep the flame channel open. It wouldn't hurt to enlarge the flame channel to 5/32", just don't drill too deep, or you will eliminate the flash hole.

lemoyne

In those temperatures all you have to do is set it in front of the car heater then take it back out in the cold and you will have moisture in the barrel in and out of any warm area will do it.
Any amount of moisture in the back of the powder or in the BP will cause the problems you describe with any powder.

WV Hunter

Hard to say exactly what caused your problem. Some good ideas posted above to work through.

Certainly BH209 is a good powder and if the gun is set up properly to shoot it, most have great success with it. But, and this is no disrespect to BH209, I've never ever had a FTF using Pyrodex in over 25yrs of shooting and hunting. Good weather or bad, cold or hot, target shooting or hunting, and with many different rifles. 2 yrs ago I brought my gun in and out of the cold about every other day for 2 mos (going from avg temp 25 to 75) with no ill effect on it going off perfectly.

I completely understand why some folks like BH, but just because there is a new fangled fancy powder available, doesn't automatically mean everything else pales in comparison. I would bet if the OP had been using T7, Pyrodex, or BP.... those shots go off, and they have meat on the ground. I could be wrong, but that is my gut feeling.

I'm definitely not against BH at all, nor am I saying any powder is better or worse than another. I hope this post doesn't come across that way. In fact, I am planning to get some BH soon, to shoot in a rifle I recently picked up. I think it will be a good fit for it. But I think like most things...technology sometimes sets us back as we move forward. The old 'don't fix it if it ain't broke' comes to mind.

I know for me personally, to this point.... there hasn't been any situation where using a powder other than pyrodex would have made any difference at all. Sure, all the different powders have their pros/cons. For BH - not having to swab at the range, having less smoke or smell... to some those are a big deal. To me, they aren't really. The smoke and smell to me, is what BP hunting/shooting is all about. Regarding cleaning, well I'm gonna clean my rifle anyhow... it doesn't matter what powder I'm using and if its a little dirtier or cleaner when I do.

WV Hunter

Lee, I would say that it certainly "could" cause a problem, but doesn't mean that it will. After what I did with my rifle 2yrs ago...I'm not concerned with that at all anymore. You couldn't create any more moisture than I did, short of pouring water down in the barrel. I had 2 knight mk-85's that were in and out of extreme temp swings, (one probably 30+ times on avg 50 degree temp change) and both fired off like I just loaded them...two months later.

Why, I'm not sure... it certainly goes against all conventional thinking.

ronlaughlin

The powder chamber of the Blackhorn QRBP plug is so deep that if one installed a vent liner in it, the flame channel could end up being only 1/4" long. Enlarging the flame channel to 5/32" would be beneficial.

a1smokepole

Just what to add to all the good points everyone has said. did you clean all the oil out of the barrel before loading and the breech plug. and make sure you have no blow back around the primer. I've shoot BH in -10 in Colorado and the gun was doing better then me.

Kathwacckkk

"Temp was negative 2. So we reload my cva and head to our evening spot."

What method did you use to reload the CVA? I use the black TC speedloaders with BH 209. I always wondered if having them in extreme cold then shoving them in your pocket or some other warm area would cause moisture to form inside the loaders. The powder may have been contaminated when you went to reload.

Just a thought.