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Looking at a .50 cal SS CVA Optima... what does BH209 mean?
Ok what is different about them, makes them better, what should be avoided?
o.k.
Blackhorn 209 is a special powder substitute that is easy to cleanup with just soap and hot water. It doesn’t have the sulfur stink or corrosive properties. It is far superior to actual black powder in modern inlines. If you go more traditional like Brent or Ben use than Swiss black powders seem to be the ticket.
There are literally 100’s of options when it comes to projectiles. It can be overwhelming when you first start. Everyone will have an opinion on what works best. Most haven’t tried many to actually say what’s best. They tried one or two and it worked and they kept using it.
A lead round ball will absolutely kill a deer. A high speed .40 cal sabot will kill that same deer, just as dead with less drop.
I’ve been doing this for 30 some years. I’ve tried probably 40 or so different projectiles. Not all are created equal.
What I look for is ease of loading accurate, and terminal performance in that order.
There are some great bullets that use Sabots. They can take a lot of force to load especially after the first shot. I have literally had to tap one in by ramming the whole gun into the base of a tree.
As you can imagine that changes your pressure when you fire it. It makes the gun inaccurate and dangerous.
Power belts solved that and were easy to load and are accurate. However, their terminal performance is suspect. Lots of horror stories of wounded game because of bullet failure. They are too soft and can make a mess. Same as pistol bullets in sabots.
Thor is a great bullet and you size it to your barrel. Then you order what size you need. They load ok and meet the other two criteria with ease.
The bore driver loads great and is slightly undersized. It is like a .499 or .498 bore size. The base is a plastic ring that seals the .002 difference. When fired it catches the gas and pushes the lead outward expanding it to bore size. They are accurate and the lead is hard enough it stays together on impact. Hornady really did a great job designing them. I had drawers full of different projectiles and they either got sold or pitched after I started using these new bore drivers. They simply are the best I’ve seen and used. There is a thread on here with pics of how they perform. I’ve killed deer and elk with them without issue.
