Encore Endevor In-Line BH Powder vs Good ol Goexa

[Davemuzz]

I bot my first in-line barrel a few weeks ago. Since I've owned a Pro-hunter frame for a few years, I just bot the barrel to go with the frame. Now, I did a lot of reading on GB's and other forums and the Blackhorn powder seemed to be the powder of choice for Encore shooters....and others as well.

Well, to make a long story short, I ended up with a very good Blackhorn load shooting 100gr. of Blackhorn with an MMP .358-.359 Sabot and the Hornady 45 Cal FTX 325gr. bullet. This was giving me cloverleafs at 100 yards, and across the chrony I was getting 1750fps.

This is a great load as I load the 325 FTX for my Marlin Lever to shoot at 1700fps and it takes down the biggest Pa. doe with one shot.

But.....man, that Blackhorn powder is like buying gold!!!  I paid a bit over $30 for a bottle of 10 oz.!!!  Now, I can buy a pound (16 oz.) of Goex FF for about $17. The cleaning difference isn't a big deal between the two.

Actually....what got me pointed down this "road" was a group of us at my gun club decided to bring out our flinter's one morning and just plink with 'em. Well....since I had this new "sissy gun", I decided to bring it. I was shooting 50gr. of FF Goex with a 45 cal Hornady lead bullet, and it was dead on at 35 yards.

So....now my tiny grey matter begins to think...and the next outing, I loaded up the 325gr Sabot with 100gr. of Goex FF under it, and ran it across the Chrony and got an average of 1425fps.  So, it was a cold and rainy day...and I quit before I increased the load...(According to my Encore book, for a 325 projectile the max BP load is 150gr which should produce a bit over 1750fps)....to 120gr of FF.

I don't really want to push it up to 150gr. of BP, but I figured perhaps 120gr. of BP....if that would get me to 1600fps or better...and with the same accuracy of course, I would simply stay with the Goex BP.

Dead is dead and I don't need to shoot gold to eat vension.  Has anyone else shot or shoot just plain 'ol BP from their in-lines?

Thanks

Dave

[luckydawg13]

i tyred BH but just went back to good old pyrodex i like it it shoots
good in all of my black powder guns killed a lot of deer with it
i just use the coexa in my cannon 

[AlbanyCO]

I like being able to leave my rifle uncapped with a load in it the whole season. The BH powder doesn't soak up water. If that is not important to you and you don't care about the clean up, then there is nothing wrong with good old black powder. For me though, I have a long drive to my hunting area every morning and some days I can only hunt a half day. So loading, and then pulling the load and putting in a fresh one each time is a pain in the butt. After a day of hunting I take the cap out of my gun and put the ramrod down the barrel is a reminder it has a load in it.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

tried goex in an inline years ago and quit after the second shot got stuck half way down the bore LOL. Good stuff in a sidelock but just plain ol dirty.  i use blackhorn209 strictly in the inlines.

[Semisane]

I bought a canister of Blackhorn two years ago and still have about a fifth of it left.  I shoot GOEX 90% of the time in both in-lines and sidelocks and a little Triple Seven or Pyrodex now and then.  My last 25 can case of GOEX cost me $11.80 a pound.  But prices went up last year and my next case will be $14 a pound (delivered to my door from Jack's Powder Keg).
 
I didn't get any better accuracy with Blackhorn over GOEX in either of my two in-lines, and most of my guns are sidelocks anyway.

As for leaving a load in a gun for hunting.  I load several guns at the beginning of the season on a clean dry bore with GOEX.  The load stays in those gun until I shoot something or the end of the three-month season, whichever comes first.  Of course, once I shoot the gun and foul the bore the gun will be cleaned.  GOEX in a clean dry bore will do absolutely no harm (have you ever seen rust on the inside of a GOEX can?).  GOEX does not absorb any more moisture from the air than does Blackhorn or any other powder.  It's the fouling that really absorbs moisture.
 
 

[Muddly]

Black ( Swiss 3f to be exact) is all I use. Consistent,reliable,easily ignited and , when properly stored, posessing a practically infinate shelf life.I also get my best accuracy with black. less corossive than Pyrodex and no crud ring are nice too!

[Landngroove]

I use Goex in both my in-lines, and sidelocks. I also use 777, and Pyrodex, in my in-lines. depends on the gun, and projectile I am using. Shot deer using all three powders. I am very fussy about cleaning, and maintenance of all my guns. The bores in my ML's are all spotless, even though I have owned and shot them for years. I agree with Semisane about keeping a load in during the hunting season. Unless I have shot the ML, and reloaded, or if I was hunting in the rain, I have no problem leaving a load in during the season.

[doninva]

To each his own. I gave up muzzleloaders due to the cleaning issues. I sold my encore and started just bow hunting. This year I bought an Optima and with help on here, I found some BH209. I agree it's a little pricy, and I'm not a rich man, but I can shoot 40 rounds without cleaning my gun. I screw the breech plug out with my fingers, run a couple Hoppe's patches thru the barrel and clean the breach plug and I'm good. I don't miss the 5 gallon bucket of water and all the scrubbing. My wife is happy I don't run hot water thru the barrel in the shower anymore. I don't even take the gun apart. If BH 209 goes to 100.00 a can, I'll save my money till I can get some. As I said, your milage may vary, but I am EXTREMELY happy with BH209. Don

[Davemuzz]

Don,

I'm kind of laughing at your BP cleaning comments. Because I can't stand the soap 'n bucket cleaning method for BP myself.  In fact, for the last 4 years I've cleaned my flint lock with Bore Blaster. That's that foaming bore cleaner. I foam it up and let it sit for 5 min or so, run a few patches down it on a jag, until it's dry, then I do it one more time and it comes out nice 'n clean. Then I just run a patch of CLP down it.

No soap 'n water stuff anymore.

Dave