CVA Inline and BH209 Trigger alert, I used BH209 for this

[omgb]

I have a CVA inline I won at a club event 6 or 7 years ago. All Ive ever used it for was Youth Camp and for that I used patched round balls and 30 grns of 3F. Well, a while back I came across 100 sabots designed for 250 grain .44 lead bullets. I just happen to have about 10 lbs of those so, I thought I'd give it a try. I also happen to have 8 lbs of BH 209 so, I thought I'd use that. I measured out 100 grains by volume and weighed it. It weighed 80 grains even. I set my B&M measure to 80 grains and filled 50 charge tubes. It was off to the Angeles range. There I fired some Win 209 primers down the barrel to clear the breach plug and loaded up. The bullet was a snug fit in the bore. The first shot was way high but clocked 2049 on the chrony. The recoil was considerable. I fired another few shots to zero at 50 yards and proceeded to plop 5 shots in an area the size of a quarter. I moved out to 100 yards and kept it all around 2". The gun uses an Alpen V4-9 scope. Geez, this thing is a tack driver! My guess is those 250 grain FPs would shoot the heck out of a deer or Black Bear. It's certainly better than a .375 Win or a 38-55 or even a 30-30. I think I'm going to shoot this some more. BTW, I like Angeles but I'm going to try Piru. There were just too many loud, careless people at Angeles the last couple of times. I'm thinking I need a change.

[BLAHUT]

I have shot blackhorn209 in my 50 inline, my 45/60, my 45/70 guide gun, my 45/70 roller, I shoot them all at about 1200FPS, except the guide gun, that is with a 515 flat nose with 27 grs of 5744 under it, for my bear gun. All are very accurate, have used this for many years. I use a mag primer with all, just to be sure, blackhorn209 is said to be hard to light sometimes? My 50 inline will put 5 in one ragged hole at 100 yds with iron sights, I use my 45/60 for deer, I shoot my 45/70 out to 1000yds in competition, will hold the x ring if I do my part, the guide gun will put 10 in a ragged hole at 100 yds. Very consistent over a coronagraph and easy to clean up after. All of these are with cast bullets in pure lead. Just wish it was easier to find and cost less ???

[NSB]

My BH209 charges all weight 70 grains when measured at 100 grain volume. So does everyone else’s. You might want to check your scale and/or your volume measure.

[omgb]

I'm going to recheck this AM. I used two different scales to do this originally, one electronic, the other a balance beam. My BH209 comes from an old lot from the original company so maybe that is a factor. I'll report my findings.

[BLAHUT]

My BH209 charges all weight 70 grains when measured at 100 grain volume. So does everyone else’s. You might want to check your scale and/or your volume measure.

I load by weight. I want 1200fps. I weigh each and every powder charge. Don't care what volumetric is. As long as overall cartage length is correct. Blackhorn209 will stand a lot of compression.

[omgb]

OK, here are the results:
Volume measure is a CVA or TC brand measure with a tube, slider and a small nozzle that swings into place leveling the charge. I set it at 100 grains and then filled it using a large scoop. I leveled the charge and set it aside.
The scales: an RCBS chargemaster, warmed up for 20 min, zeroed and in a draft free area. The triple beam balance is an Ohaus 1500. I zeroed it and had it right next to the RCBS scale. I used a 100 grain Lyman check weight to verify the scales. In both cases, the scales read dead on at 100 grains.

I then poured the charge onto the Ohaus scale and measured it. It came in at 76.4 grains. I then poured that same charge onto the RCBS scale. It came in at 76.5 grains. So it would seem that my volume measure is off by a bit.

I then re-adjusted the volume measure by moving the slide to be flush with the top of the 100-grain measure mark. I filled it again from the same container in the same way and both times, the charge came out at 78.2 and 78.4 grains respectively. So, it would seem that my volume measure is a tad off. It would also seem that the measure marks are sufficiently thick that they can induce a difference in charge weight. It's a slight difference when using BP, Pyrodex, T-7 etc. but it might be significant with BH 209, I don't know. The only way to know for sure is to make up some new charges with 70, 75, and 80 grain weights and fire them over the chronograph for evaluation. In such a case, I would consider a 25-fps difference significant. This will have to wait a couple of weeks to verify.

[NSB]

I never meant to imply your loads were unsafe, just not accurate. Based on the fact that many shooters use “magnum” loads in their ML rifles (3 pellets vs 2 pellets of whatever) the 80 grain load would not be unsafe. It’s just good to know what you’re actually using.

[omgb]

At worst, the load was 114 by volume if, the .7 adjustment figure is correct. However, an hours' worth or research tells me the density of BH209 varies a whole bunch. this jibes with what I found today. So, who knows.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

These guns were designed for plastic sabots and fancy powders but that doesn't mean they won't shoot well with real black and a heavy conical. I assume you're shooting 50cal. Look for 500 S&W moulds and size 0.002 over bore. Pin gauges really help in this department. NOE sells push through sizers in most sizes while Lee has limited offerings.

[BLAHUT]

At worst, the load was 114 by volume if, the .7 adjustment figure is correct. However, an hours' worth or research tells me the density of BH209 varies a whole bunch. this jibes with what I found today. So, who knows.

I found with every lot number, of blackhorn209, the charge weight, by volume, changes, it Very's, can be by a lot.
That's why I weigh every charge and adjust to 1200fps in my guns, over a coronagraph.
One lot at 38 grs, the next, lot at 42 grs, to get 1200fps. The next lot ??

[omgb]

Oh, I've fired minne bullets and TC Maxi balls through it and all perform well. It is not particularly fussy.