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A year ago I wouldn’t have thought about talking about this on here, but if we can discuss subjects that have nothing to do with hunting, why not hunting that has nothing to do with archery….
IMO, BH 209 was a real advancement in Black powder substitutes. I switched in all my inlines. Cleaner (no swabbing between shots) and don’t have to clean right away.
Will prob take up archery exclusively as soon as I retire next year, but for now my brother and I will be muzzleloader hunting this fall for elk.
Lately BH 209 has been on again/ off again available. Last we heard it was gone until the fall. Now out of the blue, it was available again (midsouth shooters)… for a day :-). AND they lowered the amount in the bottle to 8 Oz instead of 10 Oz and raised the price. So now it’s about 4 times the cost of powders like 777.
I paid the price and bought a couple of bottles, this time, to get me thru my fall elk hunt without any major changes since our guns are already set up with BH 209. But after this year, if this size and price and unavailability continues, will have to make a change. The advantages of it no longer outweigh the disadvantages.
It's not surprising the quantity was reduced and price increased. I have maybe 8 jugs of it. I have been using it since way back when I got into ML hunting and realized it is much better than 777. I will add it does go bad. Last year, I had a 2009 jug I got from someone about 5 years ago that was causing me problems. I checked all my other jugs and they are 2018 and newer.
Great stuff, hope it becomes available locally again. Pricy but you use less - by weight - than a volume equivalent of regular powder.
I have a jug from ~ '09. Haven't shot my 50 cal since then, on an elk hunt. It was the good stuff back then and I imagine it's still the stuff to use. Good to know it goes bad.
I was just looking at BH 209 a few weeks ago in my local scheels. I guess guys swear by it. May have to give it a try.
It's the only thing I use. Cleaner, more accurate. It does take a little more to ignite. Needed a special breech plug with my CVA that I bought many years ago. That said, I haven't had a muzzy hunt in a long time.
^.....I too use the special CVA breech plug for BH209. I use it mostly in the cold/snowy weather....first part of December. One thing I recently figured out is after I put the powder in, shake the ML vertically a few times to help get the powder to fill up the channel. Then I'll seat the bullet. I noticed when I was troubleshooting the old BH209 issue....a few times the channel did not fill up with powder. I started doing the vertical shake and it fills up the channel everytime now. For some reason the old BH209 tended to clump up at the mouth of the channel and I didn't realize it until I pulled the breech and noticed often times it was only partially full or empty. Before shooting, I also wipe down the inside of the barrel and threads with alcohol to clean out any residual oils/cleaners. Otherwise the powder will soak it up and clump....BTDT.
You clean out the flame channel with a drill bit too don’t you?
A drill bit or a welder's tip cleaner.
How does the BH 209 compare to Pyrodex?
I just use 'standard' 209 shotgun primers instead of 'black powder' 209's.
You clean out the flame channel with a drill bit too don’t you?
I have 5-6 MLs kicking around here. Some old, some new [Hawkens and new CVAs] Ive used Pyrodex P for years and years, and just decided to stick with that so I dont have to switch powders when I switch guns. Readily available too. Havent had an accuracy issue. Killed many elk and deer.
Pyrodex is a good/ accurate powder, but is corrosive and must be swabbed between every few shots (I swab between each shot). I have used it and liked it.
But I can shoot 30 times with BH 209 and not swab once. And if I can’t clean the gun that day, no problem. That said, if pyrodex was all I could get, I would use it with no problem
I only took one shot last year. ;)
Definitely easier to shoot compounds and inlines. Thats the second time I read you don't shoot much.
Compounds and Inlines aren't what they claim to be. Change my mind....
If I can't find BH209, I'll just shoot my compound.
I took one shot last year also with BH209
That's a fat boy, congrats!
I had a CO ML tag last year and did a lot of shooting. I learned a lot. #1 USE Mag primers if you can. If you don't have mag primers, use standard 209 primers not the ML 209. #2 Get a small drill bit to clean the flash hole. #3 Use carb cleaner to clean the BH209 breech plug to get is spotless. After I started doing this, I had no more issues with the gun going off.
I used Thor bullets and was very impressed with how they did on the 2 bulls my brother in law and I shot. We both watched our bulls go down. Mine in 75 yards, his in 30.
I second the Thor bullets and the BH209. Good combo right there.
I am going to try the Federal BOR lock 350 lead bullets this year. Hearing good reports with them on elk. Just bought 10 packs of them at $8 per package.
Ok, talking about the BH209 I checked my Optima only to find I had not cleaned it after season, completely forgot... any hoot I ran the brush thru and ran about a dozen wet patches followed by 3 dry and to my amazement that bore was clean! I will never shoot anything other than BH 209 in my muzzy, no corrosion whatsoever, 777, whitehots, I don't care... I can fire 10 powerbelts 245 gr. and reload... that bullet slides down as did the first one. Price does not matter... now finding a bottle is another thing.
Here is what I do not understand. Colorado has a rule, you must use loose powder, not pellets, I always wondered why,,,,,, maybe it makes the in line crowd, think they are true MLs, along with all the scopes etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Dont get me wrong, I like in lines, own 3, but I also have alot of period guns, from Flintlocks to Percussions etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Its the powder thing I dont get, pellet or loose, its all going down the same hole
