Western Powders’ new Blackhorn 209 is one blackpowder substitute that permits fast reloading without a significant loss of accuracy. In fact, most shooters are finding that the best accuracy is achieved with this powder after the rifle has been shot once or twice, with the light fouling left in the bore.

One 50-degree summer morning, I shot a .50-caliber Knight DISC Extreme 50 times using a 110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209 behind a saboted 300-grain Harvester Muzzleloading Scorpion PT Gold. I allowed four to

five minutes between shots, but never wiped the bore. All 50 shots printed inside of 1. 6 inches at 100 yards.

To get this kind of performance with Blackhorn 209 requires using a very hot, magnum-strength No. 209 primer such as the CCI 209M or Federal 209A.

With some breechplug designs that feature a flash hole of around .035-inch diameter, standard-strength primers such as the Remington STS, CCI 209 and Winchester 209 primers usually give excellent ignition of this powder. However, to reduce blowback, some

IF YOU STRIVE FOR MINUTE-OF-ANGLE SHOT PLACEMENT AND LONG-RANGE KNOCKDOWN POWER, EVEN THE FINEST RIFLE WILL REQUIRE TWEAKS TO THE LOAD AND PRIMER.

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in-line rifle manufacturers have gone to smaller-diameter flash channels in their breech plugs.

Some of the Knight plugs now have a hole as small as .027-inch, and some of the T/C breechplugs have a flash hole that’s around .029-inch in diameter. With these, standard strength No. 209 primers can fail to put enough fire into the powder charge to ensure immediate ignition. However, the use of a magnum-strength primer produces more than enough heat and flame.

New Primers That Help

Prior to the introduction of Blackhorn 209, my favored load for the .50- caliber Knight DISC Extreme rifle had been a 110-grain charge of FFFg Triple Seven behind a saboted 300-grain .451-inch diameter Scorpion PT Gold bullet.

On just about any day, using standard Winchester No. 209 primers for ignition, the rifle and load would shoot inside of 1½ inches at 100 yards — as long as I took the time wipe the bore between shots.

Loaded one shot after another without wiping the bore, typical three-shot groups would open to around 3½ to 4 inches. I found that with the third load, the ramrod would set nearly a half-inch more out of the bore than when the sabot and bullet were loaded into a wiped bore. The crusty fouling build up simply wouldn’t allow the tight-fitting saboted bullet to be pushed any farther down the barrel.

Winchester, Remington and Federal now offer “muzzleloader specific” No. 209 primers that greatly reduce the foul-