Blackhorn 209 and saboted bullet test results

[John Boy]

Why? It's non corrosive and not hygroscopic.

Joe, about the non corrosive statement ... you and others might want to download and read the whole article (with spectrograph chemical analysis determinations) about BH 209

"Haag's findings were that Blackhorn 209, while basically nitrocellulose contained inclusions of potassium nitrite and sulphur, which may create potassium sulphate, possibly sulphur trioxide, or dioxide combining with water in the air form sulfuric acid. He concluded that there is potassium nitrite and elemental sulphur embedded in what is basically a nitrocellulose product"

(Bold - Underline Emphasis added)
http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/in...?topic=6150.0;

[Willbird]

I wonder if yet again they saddled us with "extra" stuff in an analog powder just for the sake of making SMOKE, that is supposedly why pyrodex is corrosive, or whatever the heck it is that ruins steel that is fouled with it and left uncleaned.

If would be interesting to to the clean nail test with BH209.

I took my Christmas money and bought (3) more 10oz bottles of the stuff(BH209) today...

Note this line from the article at the link above..........

"This thread stuck in my mind as it worked its way into past hisory.

Now this Blackhorn209 s modified smokeless powder made in Cnada.

Today I went into the ITS Dataweb.

In the year 2008 the U.S. imported 5,785,080 pounds of propellant powders from Canada with a total value of
$40,304,588.
This most likely represents both military and civilian use powders. And all of that came out of two plants in Canada.

E. Ogre"

if you do the math that is a VALUE of $8 per lb...............right ??

Bill

[jmail117]

Willbird,

I have been shooting BH209 now for 2 years and Love it for multiple reasons.

I have also noticed a change in velocity after about 3 shots. I was shooting 100 grns. of BH209 with 250 grn shockwave bullets & Winchester W209 primers. I noticed a slow drop of velocity of about 100 fps at 10 rounds.

I then started running one dry patch down the barrel after each shot and the velocity did not drop after 15 shots. I leave 5 minutes between shots to cool the barrel.

I have gotten several groups right at the 1" mark with this combo.

My buddy and I have killed 9 deer in the past 2 years with this load and not lost deer. My last kill in Dec. was 160 yards and dropped her instantly.

I'm shooting the Omega and my buddy shoots the Triumph.

I just got done working up a load of 110 grn. BH209 with a 300 grn harvester gold bullet that shoots real well. I could only shoot 50 yards last time I went to the range because of fog but shot 2 groups 3 shot under .70" and one right at .405 center to center. I hope to us it on deer this week end.

I also chrono and document all my range visits and I will keep you posted on our progress when the weather breaks. We shoot allot and I love to test stuff!

OK as I said on another thread I got ahold of some Blackhorn 209 powder to try in my TC Omeag rifle.

The TC Omega has a 28" long barrel, with a 1/28 twist.

I set up my crono with the start screen 20 feet from the muzzle, then used an online ballistics program to correct the measured velocity back to actual muzzle velocity. There is a link below to that program...

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.0.cgi

Barnes Spitfire TMZ 250 grain (.221 BC)

70 grains of BH-209 equal to 100 grains volume measure
1851 fps muzzle velocity

77 grains equal to 110 grains volume measure
1985 fps muzzle velocity

84 grains equal to 120 grains volume measure
2053 fps muzzle velocity

Barnes Spitfire TMZ 290 grain (.241 BC)

70 grains of BH-209 equal to 100 grains volume measure
1802 fps muzzle velocity

77 grains equal to 110 grains volume measure
1924 fps muzzle velocity

84 grains equal to 120 grains volume measure
2011 fps muzzle velocity

I had not tested the 290 grain bullets before, reading on the internet told me they are really best suited to 1/24 twist barrels, but some 1/28 barrels will work with them, and apparently mine is one of them because they shoot just as good as the 250's.



I also fired one round with a hornady 180 grain bullet/sabot....I had bought those with the idea of using the Omega to pop a woodchucl or two for some off season practice, and it did not seem that I needed 250 to 300 grain bullets for woodchucks. They were the lightest bullet/sabot I could find for a 50 caliber mz....never got around to doing anything with them yet...

Hornady 180 grain 44 caliber XTP (.138 BC)

84 grains of BH209 equal to 120 grains by volume
2166 fps


Overall I am quite pleased with the BH209 powder.....I did not get any "magic" 3/4" groups as some have reported.....BUT I was able to get roughly the same groups with 120 grains equiv as with 100 grains equiv.......which is better than what I have seen with 777 powder....accuracy goes to hell with 777 in my gun past 100 grains of powder.

3 and 5 shot groups were running 1.5" or so at 75 yards, that is using a 3x9 Nikon Omega scope set on 9x.

Personally I think some of the accuracy results may not be nearly as good as the gun will actually shoot......it probably takes a better man than I at the bench to wring tiny groups out of a 7lb rifle that is generating 2600 ft lbs of energy .

I fired a total of 30 shots with no cleaning at all, every bullet/sabot seated about like the first and second one did. The breech plug was about as easy to remove as after 1-2 shots of 777 powder....there was a small amount of residue built up in the powder chamber of the breech plug, easily removed with shooters choice.

The bore cleaned up with 4-5 wet patches with shooters choice, followed by a couple dry patches.



I did notice one thing worthy of mention......the FIRST shot I fired from a clean bore with 100 grains by volume BH209 behind a 250 grain bullet/sabot cronoed 75 fps faster than the next three shots...all shots measured at 20 feet uncorrected......
1905
1829
1827
1826

Also after cleaning, and reloading with the 120 grains by volume charge with the 290 grain bullet the first shot the gun shot about 2" high at 75 yards............so it looks like a fouling shot will be needed after cleaning the gun..................not unusual at all....just different than 777 which seems to drop the first shot from a clean bore into the group.

I'm going to do some work next week with the fouled gun....shooting one shot per day at the same target.....that is closer to actual deer hunting than 1 shot every 3-5 minutes testing loads and bullets.

I tried my Lyman 55 measure first with the BH209, and I set the big slide on "100" and it only dropped about 50 grains by weight....I have never actually tried setting the measure with the graduations on it, I assumed they were "grains bulk of BP"...maybe not. So then I switched over to the RCBS uniflow which had the small drum in it, and as I suspected the small drum is too small. So I put the big drum in and everything worked great from there. I weighed every charge I threw and all were within .2 of a grain total variation.


Bill

[buckweet]

Yes I agree no surprises, but I like to know exactly how fast the bullets really come out of the end . The stuff does not cost as much as pellets....and people bend over to buy THOSE all the time .

I like BP for fin shooting, my first handgun was a Ruger Old army....but the Omega is for making meat ...maybe someday I will have gotten enough deer that I will have a hankering to use a #11 cap and a patched round ball to harvest them, in that case I will use BP.

Bill

now yer talkin !!! patched round ball's !!!

go for it !

you'll be a happy man.