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