Loaded muzzle loader for multiple days

[sabotloader]

In my case I’ve been using Hornady 350 grain FPBs, Blackhorn 209, and Remington 209 primers.

I’ve made sure everything is still where it should be at the start of a stalk, using my rod to push down anything that could be loose. Two years in a row I’ve had nothing go bang when my gun has been loaded longer than a day. I figured the first year was a fluke and tried it again, and got the same result.

Clean gun all the way from breech plug to muzzle crown. I’ve decided it’s just not worth it after having two elk run off to live another year.

This is the only place that I’ve seen people having success with BH209 loaded more than a day. Talked to people here and there and their results have been the same as mine. Would love for this to work without having to unload everyday day or wait to load until I see an elk that I can get a stalk on.


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Which rifle are you shooting - primers can make a big difference especially if your BP was not designed for BH. Another thing that can be a normal problem is the 'flash channel' in the BP - do clean by hand drilling it out to clear the carbon?

 

[MuleyFever]

If you are using BH you should be using magnum primers. I was also wondering if your breach plug was designed for the BH209.

 

[cooperjd]

My dad hunted on a muzzle loader tag this year. We dumped the powder at the end of every day and fired a primer through it reloaded each morning. The barrel was then taped. Is this overboard?

overboard? maybe. Peace of mind, worth the small cost of powder to make sure it goes boom when you need it to? i think so. I would do the same thing.

 

[LandYacht]

Which rifle are you shooting - primers can make a big difference especially if your BP was not designed for BH. Another thing that can be a normal problem is the 'flash channel' in the BP - do clean by hand drilling it out to clear the carbon?

Using a Thomson Pro Hunter with an Endeavor barrel.

Haven’t used a drill bit, but use a small wire.

Haven’t been using magnum primers, Remington STS and an older Remington primer.

As far as I can tell the breech plug is correct for BH209, but I’m just comparing the picture that they have to my breech plug.

Never had any misfire or hang fire when I shoot the gun the day I load it. Going to the range, shooting later in the day etc...all works as it should.


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[mparks270]

In my case I’ve been using Hornady 350 grain FPBs, Blackhorn 209, and Remington 209 primers.

I’ve made sure everything is still where it should be at the start of a stalk, using my rod to push down anything that could be loose. Two years in a row I’ve had nothing go bang when my gun has been loaded longer than a day. I figured the first year was a fluke and tried it again, and got the same result.

Clean gun all the way from breech plug to muzzle crown. I’ve decided it’s just not worth it after having two elk run off to live another year.

This is the only place that I’ve seen people having success with BH209 loaded more than a day. Talked to people here and there and their results have been the same as mine. Would love for this to work without having to unload everyday day or wait to load until I see an elk that I can get a stalk on.


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What rifle?

What kind of Remington primers? Kleanbore 209 Blackpowder? STS?

 

[sabotloader]

Using a Thomson Pro Hunter with an Endeavor barrel.

Haven’t used a drill bit, but use a small wire.

Haven’t been using magnum primers, Remington STS and an older Remington primer.

As far as I can tell the breech plug is correct for BH209, but I’m just comparing the picture that they have to my breech plug.

Never had any misfire or hang fire when I shoot the gun the day I load it. Going to the range, shooting later in the day etc...all works as it should.

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OK a TC Pro Hunter...but I am not sure which breech plug that came with... I am going to assume that it is a Speed Breech. The Speed Breech is really long when it comes to breech plugs and is certainly not BH's favorite type of plug. On top of that I do not think it has been modified to shoot BH.

Cleaning the Breech Plug... you mention pushing a wire through and through the flash hole. I would suggest to you not to put anything metal through the small flash hole. It erodes fast enough as it is especially with BH powder. Moving metal through will just speed up the process. NORMALLY the flash hole does not plug but the channel behind does fill quickly with carbon.

The flash channel on a TC is normally 1/8" and because of that can easily become mostly plugged. The way to clear it is to hand drill it out with an 1/8" bit. I make something I call a 'Bit on a Stick for this... This is a picture of one made for a TC.

I am not up to date on TC products any more and I do not remember if they have come out with plug modified for BH. Normally a modified or a new BH plug will have a Flash Channel drilled to 5/32" to allow more gas volume. it will eventually plug also and also needs to be drilled out.

I think for you to get consistent ignition in most all temps you will need to switch to a MAGNUM primer. Problem the Mag primer will fill the flash channel that much faster - especially a 1/8" channel.

Since you are using a FPB... I do not think it would slipping off the powder they are normally pretty tight.

Hope some of this might help...

Wait one more question do you have a speed breech or is it the old short hex head breech plug?

 

[mparks270]

Good work sabotloader! Both with the spot-on advice and actually reading the whole thread to get the details(unlike myself!).

 

[LandYacht]

OK a TC Pro Hunter...but I am not sure which breech plug that came with... I am going to assume that it is a Speed Breech. The Speed Breech is really long when it comes to breech plugs and is certainly not BH's favorite type of plug. On top of that I do not think it has been modified to shoot BH.

Cleaning the Breech Plug... you mention pushing a wire through and through the flash hole. I would suggest to you not to put anything metal through the small flash hole. It erodes fast enough as it is especially with BH powder. Moving metal through will just speed up the process. NORMALLY the flash hole does not plug but the channel behind does fill quickly with carbon.

The flash channel on a TC is normally 1/8" and because of that can easily become mostly plugged. The way to clear it is to hand drill it out with an 1/8" bit. I make something I call a 'Bit on a Stick for this... This is a picture of one made for a TC.

I am not up to date on TC products any more and I do not remember if they have come out with plug modified for BH. Normally a modified or a new BH plug will have a Flash Channel drilled to 5/32" to allow more gas volume. it will eventually plug also and also needs to be drilled out.

I think for you to get consistent ignition in most all temps you will need to switch to a MAGNUM primer. Problem the Mag primer will fill the flash channel that much faster - especially a 1/8" channel.

Since you are using a FPB... I do not think it would slipping off the powder they are normally pretty tight.

Hope some of this might help...

Wait one more question do you have a speed breech or is it the old short hex head breech plug?

Thanks for the info, I am no muzzle loader expert!

It is the speed breech.


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[sabotloader]

Thanks for the info, I am no muzzle loader expert!

It is the speed breech.


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It would be my opinion that you would need to use a Mag primer with that plug.

I modified mine to be more BH friendly.. and reduce blow back

 

[DEEF]

You guys are luckier than me I guess. Have had two misfires two years in a row with my gun being loaded more than a day. Seems like the only time it goes boom is if I load it that day.


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Assuming you're tapping the barrel and no other moisture exposure is given, humidity seems like it would be the primary factor. How do you store your powder? You live a high humidity area?

 

[LandYacht]

Assuming you're tapping the barrel and no other moisture exposure is given, humidity seems like it would be the primary factor. How do you store your powder? You live a high humidity area?

Store it in the original container, in a cabinet, in my garage.

Not a humid area at all. High mountain desert that gets about 9.5” of precipitation a year.


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[awaldro7]

I forgot and left my muzzleloader loaded in the safe for the last 3 seasons. I didn't get to muzzleloader hunt the last three years so it never came out of the safe. This year when I got it out I fired the old load with no problem on a target, then I cleaned the gun and reloaded to go hunting the next morning. Had a miss fire with the fresh load on a nice whitetail buck. .....Beats me. My dad never unloads or shoots his gun at the end of season and leaves it loaded in the safe. It stays in the truck during hunting season. As far as I know he has never had a misfire and he has killed lots of deer with his muzzleloader. My old rifle was an inline CVA that used caps rather than 209 primers. I just recently got a new CVA accura with 209 primers. I have never taken muzzleloading seriously and I am sure I haven't maintained that old gun correctly but I am going to try to expand my knowledge base before going into this muzzleloading season.

 

[CMF]

Wait one more question do you have a speed breech or is it the old short hex head breech plug?

I have the hex head breech plug on a TC Encore. I'm planning to try BH209 if I can find any magnum primers. Any issues with the hex breech plug and BH209?

 

[Carr5vols]

I have a mid 90s knight that got loaded sometime around 1999, found it in the attic a few years ago, so it was loaded almost 20 years. Put some powder down the nipple before putting on the precucision cap, tied a string to the trigger, put a cement block on it and she went off first try. The gun is a rust bucket but it went off...

 

[eltaco]

What’s wild to me, is I read stories of guys who have misfires with Blackhorn 209 shortly after loading it. I’m not sure what to believe, other than it must be different depending on what powder you use, how you seal or don’t seal the powder from the bullet, and what ignition source you’re using.

I’m planning to use BH209, and there potential I go with no wad if I choose Thor bullets, for example. I’m still a little concerned, due to my inexperience, that I could encounter issue in the field.

 

[FrontierGander]

Just because you unload at the end of the day, doesnt mean it'll go boom the next day. I refuse to unload and clean my gun while out hunting. If I shoot it at game and miss, then obviously I will hunt for a day or 2 before I am forced to clean the gun.

I've gone almost a whole week before shooting my hunting rifle off either into a tree or at big game.

Learn how to care for your gun when out hunting, plain and simple. I hunt with patched round balls, so having moisture enter through the muzzle is no concern. My biggest concern areas are the nipple hole and both the nipple threads and clean out screw threads. These are both sealed in white plumbers tape which stops any chance of moisture seeping into my charge.

For the nipple, any time the rifle is uncapped, i slip one of these on that i 3d print and it stays on my gun until a #11 cap goes on in the morning.

 

[Utah400elk]

I have only had hang fires with BH 209 and my knight disc extreme with the red plastic jacket. Since I switched to the bare primer and a wad…I have not had an issue. I know there are a lot of people with a lot more experience than me so take it for what it’s worth…I would always use some type of wadding with BH209 if using a bore sized bullet. I use .50caliber 460 grn no excuse with a felt wad and a 300 grn arrowhead xld with a veggie wag. These combs have not failed me and I will stick with them.

 

[eltaco]

I have only had hang fires with BH 209 and my knight disc extreme with the red plastic jacket. Since I switched to the bare primer and a wad…I have not had an issue. I know there are a lot of people with a lot more experience than me so take it for what it’s worth…I would always use some type of wadding with BH209 if using a bore sized bullet. I use .50caliber 460 grn no excuse with a felt wad and a 300 grn arrowhead xld with a veggie wag. These combs have not failed me and I will stick with them.

I’ve consistently seen this advice with full bore conicals, yet people say not to use a wad with Thor bullets, probably due to the hollow skirt. I wonder if this makes Thor a bad choice since there’s no wad sealing the powder.

 

[Utah400elk]

I have never tried the Thor bullets. However, I have heard good things about them. I have had great shooting results with the two bullets I mentioned. I tried several bullets with my new rifle and settled with the bullet sized to my bore and the 300 grn XLD bullets for the .45 caliber Knight.

 

[sheephunter2]

I use a TC Bone Collector .50, 250 Thor, 120 grains BH 209, CCI 209 Mag Shotgun primer. Killed 3 bulls in the last 4 years. 2 one shot kills. One required a finisher. Works pretty good with a TC Peep here in Colorado. I usually don't unload each day unless it is raining, snowing, etc.

Footnote about Thor bullets loaded right on top of BH209 you need to make sure you pack the powder down tight with the ramrod. Only misfires I've had were because I did not pack the powder down tight enough. fyi