I tried the Hornady HPB bullets and Blackhorn 209 powder.
Results were sketchy at best - will need to try again - overall had a bad day at the range.
With a new load I will start less than 100yds - just to get it on paper. Glad I did. Best group at 60 yds was 5 inches (i've done better with a smoothbore pumpkin launcher shootin offhand.)
Granulated powder, like blackhorn is, as always a pain to load with. Spillage, lots of farting around, will take some getting used to. Pre-formed pellets have always been easier. Black horn claims this stuff is really clean. It may be marginally cleaner than Pyrodex, but still leaves the bore pretty filthy. The smell is much better.
I had one misfire with the 209, shooting a 295 gr powerbelt. Powerbelts are very loose fitting. I believe that this shot (my first of the day.) the barrel was so clean, that the primer and a small amount of the 209, was just enough to get the bullet out of the barrel, leaving over 90% of the powder unburned and leaving quite a mess. A tighter fit might increase pressure causing a cleaner burn.
It may be that this first misfire, polluted the barrel, making subsequent shots burn dirtier than normal.
Overall a bad day a the range:
-forgot my target (had to imptovise)
-broke my chair
-1st shot of the day a misfired
-spilled enough blackorn to load 3 shots
-had lousy inconsistent groups
Still beats the hell out of workin'
I will retry both. I will also try the blackhorn with tighter fitting sabots to see if it burns cleaner.
With the high cost of blackhorn ($35 for 10 oz.) and $1 apiece HPB's - I was looking for something stellar, and got something less than.
My omega shoots sub MOA with 295 gr powerbelts and 3 - 50 gr pyrodex pellets - might switch back - despite the smell & mess.
What's your line JD? Something about accuracy kills, right?
Results were sketchy at best - will need to try again - overall had a bad day at the range.
With a new load I will start less than 100yds - just to get it on paper. Glad I did. Best group at 60 yds was 5 inches (i've done better with a smoothbore pumpkin launcher shootin offhand.)
Granulated powder, like blackhorn is, as always a pain to load with. Spillage, lots of farting around, will take some getting used to. Pre-formed pellets have always been easier. Black horn claims this stuff is really clean. It may be marginally cleaner than Pyrodex, but still leaves the bore pretty filthy. The smell is much better.
I had one misfire with the 209, shooting a 295 gr powerbelt. Powerbelts are very loose fitting. I believe that this shot (my first of the day.) the barrel was so clean, that the primer and a small amount of the 209, was just enough to get the bullet out of the barrel, leaving over 90% of the powder unburned and leaving quite a mess. A tighter fit might increase pressure causing a cleaner burn.
It may be that this first misfire, polluted the barrel, making subsequent shots burn dirtier than normal.
Overall a bad day a the range:
-forgot my target (had to imptovise)
-broke my chair
-1st shot of the day a misfired
-spilled enough blackorn to load 3 shots
-had lousy inconsistent groups
Still beats the hell out of workin'
I will retry both. I will also try the blackhorn with tighter fitting sabots to see if it burns cleaner.
With the high cost of blackhorn ($35 for 10 oz.) and $1 apiece HPB's - I was looking for something stellar, and got something less than.
My omega shoots sub MOA with 295 gr powerbelts and 3 - 50 gr pyrodex pellets - might switch back - despite the smell & mess.
What's your line JD? Something about accuracy kills, right?
