Ep. 038 - Muzzleloading 

Just getting into black powder, but one thing that is a "golden rule" with a centerfire is _do not touch the copper fouling_ until the groups open up. That's typically somewhere around 500-700ish rounds, in between all you'd want to use is a _powder_ solvent or oil for powder fouling. If you touch the copper your velocity is going to go allll over the map until it settles down again, most of the time that means shooting up to a full box before your groups tighten back up and on a brand new bore you can see a steady climb in velocity up to about 100 rounds fired. Hoppe's 9 has ammonia which is a copper solvent, so every time you clean you can bet money your groups will suck for at least the next 10-20 shots. But again that's centerfire. You guys were talking about bore sizes being everything _but_ standard on a black powder rifle, so I'd try using just a powder solvent or oil to clean the powder fouling and see if leaving the copper fouling helps average out the velocity better.

Outstanding video. This will be my first year hunting with a muzzleloader and I couldn’t be more excited. Thanks for all the information. Got me subscribed.

Great podcast , its interesting that you guys really hunt and use your products in the field, I wish I had gotten a job like that field testing products, too late, I'm retired. I appreciate the information, I don't muzzle load but had hunted for over 30 years in the North East and deer are not as plentiful some years, but always nice to sit in the woods and watch the animals do their thing to survive and above all else the solitude. Thanks for this, brought back memories of years past. Keep these podcasts coming if you can.

Awesome as always!!! I learn so much and love the comaraderie you guys have.....

Thanks, men! Solid content and information.

Great podcast very informative! Love Hornady products!

Can't wait to dig into this!!

I have used from 210 to 300 XTPs out to 175 yards with a sabot out of my Cabelas 54 cal. plains rifle over 30 years. They all were hammers. Whitetail didn't travel far. I shoot a TC impact also, and It has been very hard to shoot sabots. It has a very tight barrel. I am looking forward to the new Boredriver bullets. I haven't shot yet, but I have loaded one, and it slid down the barrel very easily.

You might have someone from Hodgdon come on to speak about weight to volume differences between blackpowder and bp substitutes. e.g.; Triple 7, (77.7gr)=100gr blackpowder. I can see the neophyte weighing substitutes to the same bp levels.

From BlackHorn's website, "We strongly recommend using oil based solvents to clean guns using Blackhorn 209. Typical solvents for muzzleloaders are water based and are not recommended." I looked and all the cleaning patches I had were water based. On the 2 fouler comment, if you are using it for hunting, do you go with just primer fouling or do you leave you gun dirty for whatever time from last range to hunt day? I leave my powder in the rifle for the whole season until I shot something, just removing the primer before getting out of the stand.

👍👍

No offence guys but theres alot more to the muzzleloading world than youre considering . Yes 50 cals but dont leave out the 45s and now the 40s . Bc is a really big deal and leads many to custom bullets . The ability to purchase bullets in bulk and use a sabot of choice based on fit in the bore is necessasary for accuracy too . Muzzleloaders have suffered neglect in development of products for Far too long . Thats a shame really . Bullet to bore is often best for accuracy no doubt . I hope you keep a focus on this market and continue and expand your efforts .

I use Blackhorn, BUT how many granules blow past the muzzle from my "quick loader"? It's windy here. So much for careful weighing.

It’s pronounced “Say-Bow”

Y'all wanna post a link to the video of that Illinois hunt?