Loose Powder vs Pellets

I am looking at a new muzzleloader and I am thinking about BlackHorn loose powder, I always used pellets and wonder what would be the pro and con of them side by side.
1. accurate and distance?
2. cleaning?

Thanks

I prefer loose powder so that you have infinite number of adjustments to achieve the ideal load. Not every gun works best with 2-3 50 grain pellets. What if you want to shoot 90 or 110 grains. What could be easier than pouring a premeasured quick load into the muzzle? Plus it's cheaper.

fairchaser":3ipadgyx said:

I prefer loose powder so that you have infinite number of adjustments to achieve the ideal load. Not every gun works best with 2-3 50 grain pellets. What if you want to shoot 90 or 110 grains. What could be easier than pouring a premeasured quick load into the muzzle? Plus it's cheaper.

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what all would I need to get started?
I am going between a cva wolf or optima v2, cant decide, and I know I will have to buy a special breech plug for loose. so let say I will be starting over with everything. I will not be buying this year, I like to read up and get opinion before I do anything. Thanks

I switched to BH209 this year and also with a brand new CVA Wolf as well. The only thing I did was to modify my original BP to install a vent liner to be compatible with using BH. That's about all you'll need , but you can buy the BH BP outright and be done with it I think.

I guess I'm glad you posted this, I'm looking forward to replies. I decided to switch to BH209 loose powder myself. I have a CVA accura and wasn't aware that anything had to be changed to accompany it.


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I brought that thread regarding vent liners back up if y'all wanna take a look at it.

MUP":30s7hcd3 said:

I brought that thread regarding vent liners back up if y'all wanna take a look at it.

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so to clarify MUP, a man would need vent liners if he was modifying his original BP. If you buy the BH209 BP, then you don't need vent liners.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I'm catching on now. I preferred the new BP for mine. Thanks


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op:

cbhunter":2xebg60f said:

MUP":2xebg60f said:

I brought that thread regarding vent liners back up if y'all wanna take a look at it.

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so to clarify MUP, a man would need vent liners if he was modifying his original BP. If you buy the BH209 BP, then you don't need vent liners.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I'm catching on now. I preferred the new BP for mine. Thanks


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That's my understanding of it, for the CVA Wolf anyway.

My TC encore I used the same BP it came with and switched to BH when it came out because I didn't like to clean my barrel after several shots using 777 pellets or pyrodex. If I zeroed it with a clean barrel then I'd have to run a wet patch followed by a couple dry patches before shooting another shot so I always zeroed it with a dirty barrel. With BH I can shoot 12 to 15 times with no difference in accuracy and it might load just a little harder but can't notice the difference like you could with 777 and the crud ring. I think it's easier to clean with regular solvent versus the hot soapy water method for other powders.
My gun shot well with pellets but like fairchaser stated you can fine tune with loose powder and if choosing loose powder I'd go with BH over the others.

Also, even tho it's not necessary, I have been running a dry patch down after each shot, just cleaning the dust out of the barrel so to speak, and the following loads have gone in a little easier.

MUP":2stsastu said:

Also, even tho it's not necessary, I have been running a dry patch down after each shot, just cleaning the dust out of the barrel so to speak, and the following loads have gone in a little easier.

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Also makes cleanup better if you run a couple dry patches before adding the solvent patch because most of the residue is gone.

Thanks everyone for your help, I think me and cb got a good idea now.

I switched to BH209 this year and it is great. I can shoot about as many rounds as my shoulder can handle and every bullets seats as easily as the one before. The only downside would be the time it takes (which is minimal) to weigh out charges. That is made up by how quickly the barrel cleans up after use. I did buy the 209 breech plug and used magnum primers.

iowavf":1jnw8ig1 said:

MUP":1jnw8ig1 said:

Also, even tho it's not necessary, I have been running a dry patch down after each shot, just cleaning the dust out of the barrel so to speak, and the following loads have gone in a little easier.

Click to expand...

Also makes cleanup better if you run a couple dry patches before adding the solvent patch because most of the residue is gone.

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Absolutely

When its time to clean, remove the breach plug. Run 1 or 2 dry patches all the way through the bore. Then cleanup with whatever centerfire solvent you like. Hoppes, Break Free, Ballistol whatever as long as its not water based. I use SENT milspec CLP just because a gallon was cheap. Store with a good synthetic oil or mineral oil based CLP. If you use a petroleum based oil for storage just swab it out extra good before shooting it again. A little bit of Brake Clean or 91% isopropyl on patch works well.

I just use loose Triple 7. Works great.

GMB54 check your pm

Replied

Something that has not been mentioned.

Loose powder is cheaper even BH209 when you adjust for velocity. 80-85gr of BH209 will produce similar speed as 2 pellets. Even a little better when we start talking about 300gr bullets.

You get 73 shots at 85gr by volume or 59gr by weight from a 10oz bottle. 10 oz = 4375 gr WEIGHT
You get 50 shots from a box of T7 original pellets and even less from the Firestars since it takes 3 to make a 100gr load.

So even at full BassPro rip off price the cost per shot really is not that bad compared to pellets. No swabbing, no water based cleaners, no crud ring and you can fine tune a load easily.
$50 divided by 73 is 68 cents per shot at the rip off price and it can be found cheaper. Walmart is around $37 per bottle.

Why anyone would choose to shoot pellets is a mystery to me.

"Why anyone would choose to shoot pellets is a mystery to me."

Because it's easy and works "good enough". I think a very large percentage of deer hunters are just that and not shooters. They seem to abhor having to work up a load.

What exactly is easy about pellets in hunting?

They still need to be in a tube or something. You certainly are not walking around in the woods with a 100ct box of pellets. Pouring powder from a tube seems no harder than pouring pellets from a tube unless you are laying down? Pellets require more care in storage and fracture easily. Every pellet needs some kind of swabbing between shots which easily takes as much time as using a volume measure for loose powder.

So i walk into the field/range with premeasured BH209 loose powder in tubes. Took me a few seconds to measure each load at home. I never have to swab between my BH209 shots which gives me back those seconds and my time in the field/range is easier. If you have a RCBS Chargemaster, Redding 3BR or similar reloading powder measure you can use BH209 in it.

Nope sorry i dont get it. People have been duped into thinking its easier. They pay more for the privilege of being ignorant and getting worse performance.