Is blackhorn 209 safe in a BP only cartridge pistol?

[shawnba67]

I have an old 32-20 revolver and a partial can of BH209 id like to use up. But I emailed BH and the responded with a pdf of their load data, not an actual answer to the question of Is it is safe to use in a BP only pistol. Anyone have any experience with this situation. Just worried because it is supposed to be more energetic than BP.

[Lead pot]

If your worried using this powder don't use it.

[oldred]

It is "more energetic" for sure, I used a lot of it in the 45-90 rifle round and just by looking at their own data listed at their site there appears to be a substantial difference in pressure between the BH209 and BP, in that big case anyway. If that revolver is the least bit questionable you might want to approach this with caution, I may be wrong and maybe someone else can shed some light on the matter but IMO BH209 is somewhat "hotter" than the other subs like Pyrodex, etc and definitely "hotter" than BP.

[shawnba67]

Their chart showed it as a max of 16k pressure, but how it gets to that 16k is kind of important. I have a partial can and am looking for a use for it.

[bikerbeans]

I have shot a lot of BH209 in rifle cartridges and it is a lot more lively than Holy Black. I wouldn't use BH209 in a original BP revolver. I don't know what type of revolver you have but the old "top breaks" are very weak. Couple a weak design with old metallurgy and 100 years of aging seems to me to be asking for trouble. Maybe trade the BH209 to a friend with a modern inline MZ?


BB

[John Boy]

I have a partial can and am looking for a use for it.
For just a partial can, as Lead pot said ... "If your worried using this powder don't use it."

[shawnba67]

We'll I was worried enough to gather more intel. Seems I was right to be concerned. Was a perfect chance for hope though. A place to use it, no extra cleaning , no need for special BP bullets or lube. But alas to good to be true often is. Guess I'll run it through my new SAA clone.

[oldred]

We'll I was worried enough to gather more intel. Seems I was right to be concerned. Was a perfect chance for hope though. A place to use it, no extra cleaning , no need for special BP bullets or lube. But alas to good to be true often is. Guess I'll run it through my new SAA clone.


Probably the right choice, good powder anyway and I bet it will work well in the SAA clone. I think of BH209 as a bulky low pressure smokeless powder more so than a BP sub, it's way more like smokeless than BP in just about every way. Were it not for the price of the stuff I would probably shoot it a lot more often in my 45-90.

[freedom475]

BH 209 is commercially blended Duplex Powder. So it is not really a "sub"...it is KIK brand black powder base and then blended with smokeless as it is made. Not sure what smokeless is used. It is great powder but it most certanly raises pressure beyond straight Black because of it's smokeless content.

[John Boy]

BH 209 is commercially blended Duplex Powder
It's nice to read that at least one other person knows the composition of Blackhorn 209! Yes, Western Powder who makes Blackhorn 209 uses KIK - it is the FFg grade

Here's a spectrograph analysis of the powder that was done in 2009 ...
http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=6150.msg46266

And BTW, Blackhorn 209 is an ILLEGAL powder for SASS Cowboy Action firearms