Blackhorn Powder

5 Shot

Ten Pointer
Ok, I have heard dont clean your barrel when shooting Blackhorn powder. The more you shoot the better. My question is how do you prepare for hunting season when not having a clean barrel for hunting. Example : Its a month before hunting season, you get a new muzzleloader. You go sight it in with you Blackhorn powder. After several shots your sighted in. Ok what do you do, clean your barrel up good and wait for hunting season and go hunting on clean barrel or just leave it alone until hunting season and go hunting with the dirty barrel ?
 

45/70 hunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I do it the same as with pyrodex loose, pellets, 777, etc... I pop two caps first. Load and shoot. Run a lightly damp patch, a dry patch, shoot. Repeat until done shooting and clean well.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I personally have found that my Optima does shoot better after several fouling shots with Blackhorn. I don't clean that weapon again until the season ends and have never found corrosion due to that powder. But, the Optima is stainless steel so it may resist it better than blued steel.
 

5 Shot

Ten Pointer
I personally have found that my Optima does shoot better after several fouling shots with Blackhorn. I don't clean that weapon again until the season ends and have never found corrosion due to that powder. But, the Optima is stainless steel so it may resist it better than blued steel.
Ok, the season ends and clean it. When next season comes in how many times do you shoot it to foul the barrel before you consider it shooting good to dog hunting? I want to shoot on a clean barrel.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Ok, the season ends and clean it. When next season comes in how many times do you shoot it to foul the barrel before you consider it shooting good to dog hunting? I want to shoot on a clean barrel.
I usually shoot mine three times just to make sure it's still on before the season starts...then hopefully shoot a deer or two ..then clean it and back into the safe it goes.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
My rifle shoots best after a shot or 2 but it’s the rifle, has nothing to do with the BH209. It just doesn’t rust out the way others do. For hunting season after I verify/sight in I’ll run a clean patch through a few times then the morning before I load it I’ll pop an ign cap at the club house and that’ll put enough in the barrel so that it’s not cold bore.


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firedawg60

Twelve Pointer
I am fortunate that mine shoot basically the same point of impact clean as they do dirty. So what I do when getting ready to load for hunting season is run a patch down the bore a couple times with 90+ percent alcohol to clean out the oils. Then I run a dry patch down and stop on the breech plug and fire a primer to dry the breech plug, repeat with new patch., and then load. If I shoot it anytime during the two week season I don't worry about cleaning unless it rains a lot or is really damp. The powder isn't corrosive but the fouling has been for some people when subject to moisture. A quality stainless gun should be fine though.

If yours doesn't shoot POI clean, I would suggest firing a couple of primers to dirty the bore some and see if that will get you to POI. How close you need to be for POI is also based on your hunting area. A long shot for me is 80 yards, so I am not worried being off just a little at 100. If I had 200 yard shots it would be different.
 
I used BH209 for the last 2 seasons and never figured out the proper charge, etc. Got the proper breech plug, powerbelts, primers and cleaned like crazy and never found the right recipe. Misfired on a nice buck last November and lost all confidence in it. Most users I know love it. I never found a way to replicate results.

Fast forward to today and I tried the triple 7 and 2 bullseyes with 2 shots, and cleaned when I got home. Triple 7 was a bit dirtier, but I believe it will do the job this fall
 

firedawg60

Twelve Pointer
I used BH209 for the last 2 seasons and never figured out the proper charge, etc. Got the proper breech plug, powerbelts, primers and cleaned like crazy and never found the right recipe. Misfired on a nice buck last November and lost all confidence in it. Most users I know love it. I never found a way to replicate results.

Fast forward to today and I tried the triple 7 and 2 bullseyes with 2 shots, and cleaned when I got home. Triple 7 was a bit dirtier, but I believe it will do the job this fall
Primers were either Fed 209A, CCI 209M, or Win 209? There are some others out there that are hot just not as easy to find. How snug were the powerbelts. BH likes a tight fitting bullet/sabot somewhat like a smokeless muzzleloader. Ever try any other bullet combos?
 
i used the hot primers federal 209a. never tried a different projectile, but that's not a bad idea. i made sure they were snug.
 

firedawg60

Twelve Pointer
Another thing is making sure the flash channel of the breech plus is clean. The 209A and 209 M primers are pretty dirty and the breech plug channel needs to be cleaned out often with a proper sized drill bit turned by hand.
 

georgeeebuck

Ten Pointer
A lot of guns shoot better with a fouled barrel no matter what powder is used, but at least with BH its not eating away at your barrel if left loaded a day or two with a fouled barrel. BH needs a good tight projectile or you can have misfires or accuracy problems. Please don't ask me how I know. I would not hunt with powerbelts or a loose fitting projectile while using BH ,but it is the only powder I use.
 

Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
I run couple patches down bore to remove any oil then fire couple patches for fouling.....load bullets and if I ever shoot I will then clean barrell. Never had any problems with misfires but as others have said make sure of tight fit and clean plug. I am trying Thor bullets this season ( no sabot required) with Blackhorn and hopefully they work out. Got them ordered few days ago.
 

153

Six Pointer
Blackhorn will pit a Stainless barrel. Had a SS Encore I sold a friend that I had set up with Blackhorn, he has killed several out to 200 yards with it. Anyway he left loaded after season and when he had me to clean the following October it was pitted bad. Hated to see such a nice gun treated that way. So I would say clean at least every two weeks or at least at the end of the season. I have since went smokeless but still clean as soon as ML season goes out. Also foul the barrel with at least two shots before letting barrel cool at least a couple hours before loading for the season. Also always foul my centerfire rifle and rifled slug guns also. Always do final sight in on a cold barrel that was load the day/night before.
 

FishHunt

Old Mossy Horns
Ok, I have heard dont clean your barrel when shooting Blackhorn powder. The more you shoot the better. My question is how do you prepare for hunting season when not having a clean barrel for hunting. Example : Its a month before hunting season, you get a new muzzleloader. You go sight it in with you Blackhorn powder. After several shots your sighted in. Ok what do you do, clean your barrel up good and wait for hunting season and go hunting on clean barrel or just leave it alone until hunting season and go hunting with the dirty barrel ?

Based on three years of using BH209 I don't fully clean my barrel until after I'm sure I'm not going to hunt with the ML until the following season. There's never been anything but normal fouling in the barrel setting without being cleaned from Sept-Jan. While sighting in I have found my best accuracy comes from running a clean dry patch down the barrel between shots and cleaning the flash hole. Prepping for hunting after sighting in I clean the flash hole and run a dry patch down the barrel.

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pcbuckhunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have not read that Blackhorn shoots better with a dirty barrel. What I understand is that you don't have to clean the barrel every few shots like Pyrodex.
My Dad uses Blackhorn in his Encore Pro Hunter. His groups will tighten up with a few rounds down the barrel, but nothing really substantial from a hunting standpoint.

For example, his first shot from a clean barrel hits about 1” high and 1/2” to the right of intended point of impact. Shots 2,3,&4 will hit intended impact with about a 3/4” group. Move to a different target and shots 5,6&7 will hit intended point of impact with about 1/2” group.

We’ve never shot more than 7 shots through it without swabbing the barrel.

As to the OP’s question, my Dad shoots a few shots to verify zero at some point before season. Then cleans his ML just like he normally does before it goes back in the safe. Then the evening before the season opens, he fires one “fouling” shot then loads it up. If he shoots more than 3x while hunting with it, he cleans it, then repeats his fouling process, loads it up again.
 

Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I use BH209. I clean my MZL at the end of the season and put it in the safe.

I pull it out around this time of year (need to do this soon) and check zero. 3 shots if it still hits POI from last season. I load it and it stays loaded throughout the season, unless i get a chance to put a 300 grain SST into the boiler room. Otherwise, I shoot it after the season ends and clean it before putting it back in the safe.
 
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