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What would be a good load in an encore

You did not indicate the bullet weight you are using. Generally speaking start at 90.0 grains and work up to 110 grains in 5 grain increments and your rifle should find a sweetspot.

Doc

80-90 grains works well in mine with 350's.

Just remember that if you weigh your charges, the formula is 70% of the volumetric charge. Either way is fine, but I prefer to weigh charges and put them in the BH tubes for convenience. I also use the tubes to carry bullets, two to the tube.

75 grains (weighed) and 250 gr bullet for me in my Knight and dads Omega.

100 gr by volume with a 300 gr Barnes bullet

Had a monster buck at 30 yds broadside last yr bigger than anything I've ever shot at muz ldr hung fire with the pellets and he got away so I'm doing things different

77.5grs by weight and a Harvester Scorpion PT Gold 300gr bullet in a Harvester Crush Rib sabot from my Encore.

BH209 is even harder to ignite than pellets. You might want to see if there is another reason for your hang fire such as a dirty breach plug. Clean it out with a 1/8th" drill bit and see what comes out. You might be in for a surprise.

Good tip with the 1/8" bit. It is amazing what will come out of the channel.


I drilled the flash hole on my breech plug with a #55 bit as well.

A pin vise makes twisting the drills a lot easier. Soaking the plug in a film (!) can of solvent helps too.

Last week, I used 777 pellets for the first time sighting in a rifle for someone else. No ignition trouble, but the plug got really crudded up, even well-slopped up with anti-sieze goop when I forgot to break the crust after the first few shots. Ballistol to the rescue! The crud ring in the barrel was easy to keep down with a damp patch, followed by a dry one and firing a cap.

For the guns that can use it, 209 is clearly the way to go. Actually, a sidelock is easier and more pleasant to shoot and clean up after than either of the inlines I've played with, whether with loose 777 or BP. I regret letting my old TC Greyhawk go. It was about as easy and simple as it gets in muzzleloading.

I use 100 gns by volume with a Barnes 300 grain expander 50 cal. It shoots 1 1/2 at 100 yards. Never tried anything different. In my experience with 209, If you hunt with it and don't shoot it you should pull the breech plug and push your charge out every day and reload each day with a fresh charge, If you do shoot. Clean the barrel before sitting all day hunting. It is the hardest substitute to light and if you are going to rely on it have a fresh charge in a clean barrel. I know because I didn't do the above and had hang fires and failure to fires.
If you just want the ultimate reliability use black powder. It will light if the cap goes off. Just a pain to clean after use.

All that is just absolutely upside down from what I know about BH209 from my experience, son's experience and bro-n-law's experience. If you're having trouble lighting it off you're doing something wrong. Read the free advice at blackhorn209.com about breech plugs, primers and cleaning. Pushing out a live charge at the end of the day is nothing but a waste of time and powder. I've left a load in the barrel for months a couple of times before firing. One Winchester 209 primer and the gun goes bang. BH is extremely stable in the barrel. As far as cleaning the barrel to avoid hang fires I have no idea how you put those two together. Residue from BH will be in the barrel after firing but it is light and does not hinder ignition. And the residue does not appear to attract moisture. The times I have left a charge in the barrel for months was with residue present. Cleaned out with the same cleaner as used with smokeless and with the same results. Regular hang fires or misfires are telling you there's a problem; most likely with either your breech plug or your primers. When using BH209 the dirtiest component in the mix is the primer. Crud from them will eventually clog the flash channel if it is left uncleaned no matter what propellant is used.

I had a misfire once with '209. Of course, that was after hunting in the rain for two days.

If it wasn't for BH209 I'd not be in to muzzleloaders.

I just fired a load I had in my barrel since December of last year.

It went bang.

Me too...

I've been using BH209 for several years now in my CVA Optima V2. Using 100 gr (volume) and a 200 gr TC shockwave, and a CCI 209 magnum primer. Goes bang every time, groups well, kills deer dead. Used same load in my TC Encore, but the CVA shoots better.

Just got a Magspark adapter for my Renegade that will supposedly let me use BH209. We shall see. It's as much about being able to use whatever powder and primers I can get in both my rifles as anything. I also have a BP plug and bolt for my Knight Ultralight.

Checked with the manufacturer of BH and pressures are similar to loose 777, so no worries there, just about ignition.

Pappy, I'll be interested in how the Magspark works with BH209, please update us when you get a chance.

Will do. My Knight is next up for the range, but that should hopefully be a sighting check.

There's some info on the NAML site run by Toby Bridges. He's a believer, and while he has sponsors, I doubt the Magspark guy is priming his pump to push this. I spoke with the owner at Warren at some length on the phone and it seems like a small, family business. Nice folks, with some interesting products.

I have a 54 cal Knight I have been using for years. I used to shoot 105gr of BH209 over a 400 gr cast 50 cal boolit with a sabot. Loading was a complete pain in the @$$. I would not reload the rifle in a climbing stand. To much shaking and wiggling for my taste and I don’t care much for heights so I may have been over cautious.

My new load is 80gr of BH209 over a 348gr Powerbelt. Easy to load, much easier on the receiving end too. Shoots great at short barreled 54 cal ranges too.

The load for my Ultralight has been 80gr with a 300gr .452XTP. Plenty of power. Last year I used the same load with a 290gr Barnes. Going to try 100gr this year, mainly for the flatter trajectory as the longest shot offered from my stand is almost 160 yards. From past range experience I know it's gonna thump me a bit, but if the accuracy is there, I'll take it. Again, based on range shooting, I can drop back to 80gr with no major POI change at normal woods ranges. The next trip to the range will tell the tale.

In my encore I shoot 100 grains under a 250 grain 45 cal bullet with the black sabot, I have killed 5-6 deer with this load.

Tried 80gr by weight and a 250gr xtp and was satisfied with the results much easier clean to

Did an experiment on BH209. If I don't clean the breech plug it will mis-fire at about the 11th to 13th shot. Never before the 10th shot. So, when shooting I clean it every 6th shot. Never had a mis-fire doing that.

I pulled the plug from my Knight after firing 9 shots Tuesday, just in case. No discernible build-up. This was using standard W209s. If I go back to the range before the season, I'll try it with CCI magnums, which have tended to get a little sticky in the past.

Federal 209A primers are what I use. The CCIs are too tight in my breechplug.

Using Blackhorn in my T/C I've shot 25 - 30 times without cleaning breech plug or barrel. Never had an issue. I've used both Winchester and Federal primers.

I had hangfires with Blackhorn and hot 209 primers in damp weather and went back to using Goex FFF. Real black goes bang for me 100% of the time. Never any hang-fires.

110gr by volume and barnes 250gn tmz. Hard to load but deadly

Only problem is, I'd have better luck find a bag of pixie dust or a Roman coin thah a lb. of real black within 90 miles of here. I even have to have my BH209 ordered! Nobody carries it. Now, 777 is everywhere.

I suppose I could order the black, also. But I've got the BH209 running pretty good in my CVA and 777 working well in my Hawken. It's all good in the hood!

I bought my most recent can of BH209 at my local Wal-Mart. Works great in my CVA optima. I use CCI 209 magnum primers. CVA makes a different breechplug specifically for BH209.

Goex black is a little harder to find, and is the best choice to use in my flintlocks.