White .504 Whitetail Hunter and BH209

[trev33]

I have a White Model 97 .504 Whitetail Hunter with the 209 conversion kit. If I shoot 100gr. T7 or FFFg black powder it sounds normal and has plenty of kick. Its when I shoot 100gr. of BH209 it only kicks like shooting a .22 mag and it doesn't sound near as loud. It shoots ok groups with BH209. I'm using a CCI209M primer and Thor .503 bullets. Why doesn't it kick and sounds like the other powders with the same primer and bullet?

Thanks,
Trev

[Deleted]

are you sure that its fully firing? Less recoil/noise has me feeling that its just barely getting set off.

[trev33]

When I swab the barrel after each shot there is no leftover unburnt powder. It groups fairly well it just doesn't sound and feel near the same as the other powders. I don't have a chrony to test the speed.

[Deleted]

you arent supposed to swab between shots with blackhorn209. its not like triple 7 or pyrodex. Just load and shoot. Ive fired as many as 60 rounds without ever feeling it get tight.

[trev33]

I only swabbed it after I took the breech plug out to see if any powder was left unburnt. Maybe it has something to do with the breech plug.

[frogee]

Myself I don't think it is the best thing to use bs209 in open breech guns like yours. If you do make sure you have some good eye protection on.

[fireevangelism]

I assume you looked at the back of the can and you don't have the 209 breech plug which vents on the sides like the picture shows you won't work. If you do have a closed breech plug which should work, I would clean out the port directly below the primer pocket with an exact fit drill bit (3/16" maybe) and see if that helps. What I had to do in my black diamond (I have the wrong breech plug) is put a 8 grain booster load of triple seven down the barrel first and that will light up the 209 great. As a matter of fact just try that first(booster of 777) and if the gun kicks like it should your not lighten up the 209. Of course you would subtract the 8 grains from your bh 209 and only use 92 grains of it. Hope this helps.

[fireevangelism]

Oh wait a minute, your using fff 777. 100 grains of it will kick harder that 100 grain of buckhorn because the finer grain burns faster and gives more kick. 110 grains of BH 209 would be = to 100 grains of 777 approximately.

[jaybe]

I'm confused here. Reading his first post, he said it sounded and felt like a .22 magnum. That's a WHOLE lot different than 100 gr of anything would be in a muzzleloading rifle.
He also said that the groups are pretty good. Unless he's shooting at 3 yards, if the 209 wasn't igniting, he wouldn't even hit the paper, would he?
I was under the impression that for BH209 to work well, the projectile had to fit very tightly in the bore and be seated with very firm pressure. In a White 97 .504, I don't think a .503 bullet will fit very tightly.
I don't know what the answers to his questions are, but something doesn't add up.

[Deleted]

they dont have to fit very tight. Yesterday i found my first conical that wouldnt work with bh209. 385gr buffalo bullets. The ramrods weight seated them and it just wasnt enough to set the powder off at all. As long as its a snug fit bh209 works great. Most likely the breech plug in this case.

[trev33]

I talked to White Rifles and they said the breech plug is the problem. They did a little testing with BH209 but it didn't turn out too well so they quit. It honestly didn't kick very much and I was shooting at 100yds. The groups were around 2.5 - 3in. The gun itself is fairly heavy so that might have taken up much of the recoil. The Thor bullets were made to be .5035 which fit fairly snug. The .504's were too tight.

[Deleted]

Thor has the graphite " Black Thor" coming out soon hopefully. They are sized in .5045" which i see a lot of White shooters using.

Just tested 3 shots at 50 yards with the new 300gr Ballistic Tip Thor. Freakin bullets are deadly accurate!

[jaybe]

they dont have to fit very tight. Yesterday i found my first conical that wouldnt work with bh209.

Well - I'm glad to hear that. I had read on the white board that they didn't recommend using BH209 at all in white rifles because they were designed to be "slip fit" bores.
My .504 Ultra mag has a rather large bore - .504 bullets literally slide down the barrel with just the weight of the ramrod on top. I got some .5045's and they were a bit better, but still not snug at all. A fella named Greywolf made me some .505's, but I really couldn't tell the difference.
I now wrap them with two wraps of Teflon tape and they work great. Still very easy to load, but will not come off the charge - and very accurate at 100 yd range.
If I ever run out of T7, I might try some BH209.