Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al-Muzzleloader Forum School me on BH 209

I bought some a few years ago but have not tried it yet. Do you guys weigh vs measure by vol ? What is a good starting weight ? It also looks like it requires a more traditional cleaning method. I also read that BH suggested using regular 209 primers and not the ones designed for pyrodex and such. Also Im shooting the Boredriver FTX bullets. Any other tips or ideas would be appreciated !!!

I use 90gr in a cva optima. Measured by volume not weight. I got little tubes made by the BH209 people for measuring and carrying an extra charge for hunting.

For primers, I use standard Winchester 209’s.

For bullets, I go with Barnes 290gr TEZ, but they’re impossible to find now since I think all of Barnes stuff disappeared once Remington went under.

As far as cleaning goes, you can get away with just about no cleaning (not recommended, but I’ve had minimal effects with doing none). For three years, I shot my gun 10 times, left it in the safe for about a year (charged minus primer), then would still hit the bullseye on first shot of the season. I finally started noticing some corrosion last month and finally gave it a cleaning. It wasn’t that bad and It never effected accuracy (I just tagged two coyotes with two shots at 175yds using it)

Thanks BH26 !!!!

Thankfully you bought some a few years ago. The price has gone nuts lately. Everything BH26 said is spot on. I will add that I do weight measure my loads for more consistency. To get my number, I measured out 10 loads by volume then weighed each of those and took an average. Whether or not it even matters, I don’t know, but some of the volume measurements differed quite a bit by weight. Without going to look, seems like my preferred volume of 105 grains weighed in at an average of 76.5 grains by weight. As I mentioned, there might not be enough difference in volume measured loads to affect accuracy, but I do like having each charge exactly the same.

All my charges are weighed/matching. Fed 209A primers.

Anymore tips on the BH 209 as far as powder measuring or bullets

I use 100gr BH209 with CCI 209M (magnum) with Barnes 300gr MZ FB (Item #30583) with deadly effect.

*100gr by volume

I measure to begin load trials and when I find the accurate load I’m looking for I then weigh and dispense powder with Dump and Scale to the correct weight

Are yall looking for a certain velocity or strictly accuracy ?

Both if possible
I’m using 110 grains of BH 209 pushing a 300 grain Harvester Scorpion bullet with deadly accuracy
I’ve made kill past 200yds with this combo

Same. My gun likes about 105 grains by volume. I measured out about a dozen of those and put each of them on the scale. Average weight was 74.3 grains by weight. There’s other variables, but at least I know my powder charge is exactly the same every time.

Thanks guys, this is kinda what I was looking for !!!

Once my load is worked up, simply set up my Hornady Auto Charge to the desired weight and let er rip. 110 gr BH209 and a Hornady 250 SST cuts one hole @ 100 yards. Luckily bought 4 jugs when the price was reasonable. The price is crazy now.

First thing I noticed was that it doesn't leave the aggravating crust ring and had much better velocity than the white hots

I weigh my BH209 charges too. Hotter loads didn’t group as well. One ragged hole at 100y with 68.3gr weighed BH charge with SST 250gr sabot. Velocity is 1860fps average. That gives sufficient energy to 190 yards.
I don’t see why weighing charges isn’t the norm when you can easily carry extra charge tubes into the field. Volume in a marked tube seems very inconsistent. Maybe it’s the handloader in me….

Not sure why BH has increased in price much more than other ML powders. It has its advantages, but at $180/lb…..geez

I shoot the identical load/bullet combination with a CCI 209 Primer. Still have some primers but can't seem to find them of Federal 209A anywhere.

Larry's had Fed 209As in a brick. Forget how much, but expect ~$100. I lucked out an snagged a brick for the old price about the time they started getting scarce.

I keep hearing about special breech plugs for BH 209. I have an older TC Encore that seems to be fine. Anything I need to know about these ?

I used torch tip cleaners to open the flash hole up to 030”