I have a Green Mountain Brush rifle in .54 cal. This is my first muzzle loader so excuse my ignorance and any incorrect terminology.
I started out using Pyrodex 777 pellets with Hornady Great Plains bullets and had no issues in cold weather but my shot group sucked. This could be due to the pellets being old or maybe my rifle didn't like the bullets? The pellets came with the rifle and I have no idea how long they had been sitting around.
Then I did some reading and learned about Blackhorn 209 and thought it sounded like a great powder.
Gave it a try with Powerbelts, CCI 209 Magnum primers. The first two shots went off with no issues and showed great accuracy. The third shot pushed the bullet out the end of the barrel and that was it, no recoil at all and little to no noise. Tried a third shot with the same result.
Thought maybe it was a primer issue so I picked up a box of Fed 209 magnum primers and had the exact same result. Grabbed the 777 and had no issues.
All three range expereinces were in 10-15 degree above zero weather.
I checked my breech plug and the ignition tube is clear so that is not the problem.
After more time spent on the internet with my good friend Google I found out others have had ignition problems with Blackhorn 209 and that Knight redesigned their breech plug because of this.
I called Knight and asked them if their new breech plug would work in my rifle and they told me to call Green Mountain. Called Green Mountain and the guy didn't even know they had produced any rifles?! He had to put me on hold and go talk to someone else who said to use 777. Thanks for the help Knight and Green Mountain.
From what I can gather this rifle is basically a Knight Disc rifle that was built at Green Mountain while Knight had their doors closed. I honeslty can't see any differences between the two rifles and I know Green Mountain makes the barrels for Knight.
Any ideas on what direction to go in order to use Blackhorn 209 reliably?
