Blackhorn 209

[Shot]

I'm sure this has been asked, but has anyone one tried using Blackhorn 209 powder in reloading shotshells & slugs?

[pashiner]

I haven't but it would seem to be perfect for the application...says 209 right on it eh?

[NSB]

At the price you pay for a ten oz. bottle, it seems like a ridiculous waste of money to do it. There are many, many, many better powder choices for those applications. What would you be trying to gain by using it?

[Hamish]

Powder that's $60-$80 per pound for shotgun loads?

Not when 700X is $18 a pound,,,,,,,

[RMc]

Blackhorn 209 has a rather "mixed" marketing history.

See:

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/06/11/is-blackhorn-209-really-a-smokeless-powder/

[RMc]

On the other hand:

Great short article that also covers:

12 gauge 2.5" cartridge with 600 grain round ball driven near 1400 fps from a Greener double rifle using an American Black Powder made to late 19th century standards.

http://www.classicarmsjournal.com/from-the-loading-bench/

[Shot]

I wouldn't dump my money into 209 for reloading lots of shotshells, but if this was all you had on hand at the time could it be done safely? Just curious.

[bikerbeans]

Shotgun powders have fairly fast burn rates. BH209 is a smokeless powder modified for use in muzzleloaders and BP pistol and rifle cartridge, with a fairly slow burn rate. I think you you would need to load a lot of it to get any velocity out of a 12ga slug. How much bh209 to load and be safe, i have no idea.

BB

[Shot]

Yes, I didn't know what burn rate is, from what I've read black powder shooters say if you use 100 grains black powder is to reduce 209 to 80% by volume. Lets narrow it down to 410 shotshell @ 1/2 oz #6 shot.

[pashiner]

If you can't find any black powder .410 loads to reduce by 20% as mentioned, another rule of thumb for black powder shotgun loading is to keep the volume of powder equal to the volume of shot. They called this a "square" load. Might be a good place to start?

[bikerbeans]

I would call or email Western powders and see what they say about using bh209 in a shotgun.

BB

[Shot]

Thank you for information I was just curious if anyone had tried this. I will contact Western powders and see what the burn rate of this powder compared to black powder. Thanks Guys.

[gpidaho]

If you can't find any black powder .410 loads to reduce by 20% as mentioned, another rule of thumb for black powder shotgun loading is to keep the volume of powder equal to the volume of shot. They called this a "square" load. Might be a good place to start?
That's the way I learned to load BP in shot shells. I haven't loaded any Blackhorn 209 but have had some good results using Triple 7 and shot. I might have to see what it does with a slug or round ball. Gp

[pashiner]

I've done something similar with Pyrodex RS...it shot pretty well with just some tight fitting cardboard wads in once fired Remington gun club hulls...burns them full of holes and makes a mess though. Shells are cheap and smoky powder is fun. I don't think I ever even got close to max pressure with that stuff. It seemed pretty forgiving so long as you stuff everything down tight and the wads fit. It helps to soak a couple of the cardboard wads in melted boolit lube to reduce the buildup of garbage in the bore. Proper fiber wads or gas seals help a lot, but the cardboard worked ok for playing with crimp height and messing around in the back yard with clays.