Help With Blackhorn

[Cabinfever]

I started shooting the Blackhorn late last year. I went to the range twice here recently, but I'm not getting a good consistent groups. My gun is a TC Triumph. I'm shooting 75gr(weighted) BH with 250gr Hornady SST. My group @ 100yds is 3-4". The two years prior to this load I was shooting same bullet with 100gr TTT Seven pellets. I was getting 1-1/2" group, but I was swabbing the barrel after every shot. I swapped because of the easy clean up and reloading. My question is : Do I need to be swabbing between shots? I was under the impression this was not needed.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[smalljawbasser]

The beauty of loose powder is that you can do load development. I like to weigh my charges, so I start by finding the weight of 90g by volume, then I find the weight of 100g by volume. This gives me my min/max charge. Say I wind up with 60-80g by weight. I would shoot groups of 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80. I foul the barrel, and fire a 3 shot group with the min charge. Then I clean, foul,3 shot group, rinse, repeat until I get to max.

You can do it by volume, then when you have chosen your load, measure 3 different loads and weigh them and take the average. Then you can weigh out your charges at home before going to the range or hunting.

You don't need to swab between shots, I only do it during load development to keep the playing field level. Once I'm done with load development, I shoot some a couple 5 shot groups to see if accuracy is affected on a fouled barrel. For me, I like to hunt with a barrel that's been fired a couple times. I make sure I clean my breech plug/flash hole good, then I'm ready to hunt.

In my experience, there will be a clear choice.

 

[MUP]

Yep, if you haven't already tried different powder weight loads, that sounds like what may be needed. Start at the low end of the recommended load measurement and work up from there, NOT exceeding max load recommendation.

 

[iowavf]

If I'm figuring right, the 100 gr of 777 pellets is equal to 80 gr by volume of loose 777 and Blackhorn because the loose is 20% hotter. 80 gr by volume is 56gr by weight so you're shooting a hotter load now versus when you used the pellets which is probably why your group is tighter. The 75gr by weight is equal to about 107gr by volume so like smalljaw said, start with 60gr by weight and work up from there in 5gr increments.

 

[Tennessee280]

I have a tc omega and I use 90 grains of black powder and 250gr barnes expanders.. Some old guy out in the country that has a big muzzleloader shop at his house told me that's what I should use and man was he right, I swear that's the best shooting gun I have.. Yes its dirty but it works so im sticking with it.. And the only time I don't swab or clean it is if im in the stand and might have an immediate follow up shot

 

[Bgbuckhntr84]

The beauty of loose powder is that you can do load development. I like to weigh my charges, so I start by finding the weight of 90g by volume, then I find the weight of 100g by volume. This gives me my min/max charge. Say I wind up with 60-80g by weight. I would shoot groups of 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80. I foul the barrel, and fire a 3 shot group with the min charge. Then I clean, foul,3 shot group, rinse, repeat until I get to max.

You can do it by volume, then when you have chosen your load, measure 3 different loads and weigh them and take the average. Then you can weigh out your charges at home before going to the range or hunting.

You don't need to swab between shots, I only do it during load development to keep the playing field level. Once I'm done with load development, I shoot some a couple 5 shot groups to see if accuracy is affected on a fouled barrel. For me, I like to hunt with a barrel that's been fired a couple times. I make sure I clean my breech plug/flash hole good, then I'm ready to hunt.

In my experience, there will be a clear choice.

Yep ×100...Blackhorn is some amazing stuff, once you find what your gun likes you won't look back

 

[Fulldraw61]

I started shooting the Blackhorn late last year. I went to the range twice here recently, but I'm not getting a good consistent groups. My gun is a TC Triumph. I'm shooting 75gr(weighted) BH with 250gr Hornady SST. My group @ 100yds is 3-4". The two years prior to this load I was shooting same bullet with 100gr TTT Seven pellets. I was getting 1-1/2" group, but I was swabbing the barrel after every shot. I swapped because of the easy clean up and reloading. My question is : Do I need to be swabbing between shots? I was under the impression this was not needed.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

You may have to experiment a little with different loads of BH. I use 100 grains by volume of BH and SST 250 with CCI magnum shotgun primes and i get sub moa at 100 yards. It took some time but got it dialed in. Make SURE you clean flash channel of your breech plug every few rounds when sighting in. You don't have to swab barrel often but cleaning breech plug will tighten groups. I use 1/4 inch drill bit to clean flash channel your primer sits in. You may be surprised how much carbon the drill bit removes. Use bit by hand not on a drill. You don't want to remove metal just crud. Good luck and hope this helps.

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[dhj]

my breech plug on my encore has a tiny hole in it ,is a quarter inch drill not too big?

 

[Tennessee Lead]

my breech plug on my encore has a tiny hole in it ,is a quarter inch drill not too big?

Way too BIG.
You shouldn't need to mess with your breech plug in an encore. Just keep it clean


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[GMB54]

The Encore Pro Hunter has a 1/8" flash channel like all T/C plugs BUT the plug is longer than the Omega plug. Long plugs deliver less heat to the powder so it would be wise to use a mag primer and make sure to keep the flash channel clean with a 1/8" drill bit in a pin vise.

Now, if you have a non QRP plug like the Omega and standard Encore then just keeping the plug clean is enough. A standard 209 primer works very well in that plug.

As far as swabbing, ive shot as many as 40 shots without swabbing when using Blackhorn209. Your results may vary. A competitive shooter i know does swab when using BH209 and his wins at Friendship speak for themselves.

 

[Bgbuckhntr84]

Either way I'd go ahead and get the CCI 209M primers for BH209. That's the only issue I ever had with BH209 was my primers weren't hot enough. (OMEGA) In my Accura I switched the factory plug to the BH209 one but had already switched to the CCI 209M

 

[tnhunter69]

I agree with both comments above. I have a omega and have used blackhorn for several years without any problems. I use a 1/8 drill bit to clean flash channel in breech plug every couple shots and use cci 209 mag primers. I shoot 60 weighed grains with 300 gr hornady low drag sabots and it shoots 1 1/2 groups at 100 yds and 3 inch at 200 yds.I have shot many deer from zero to 225 yds and most all are DIT or run less than 50yds.