My velocity seems slow....

blazingsaddle

Active Member
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I finally found a load my new rifle likes to shoot well. My speed is quite slow compared to what I thought I should see. I will leave it as is based on the accuracy, but it seems to be 200-300 ft slower than I thought.

The rifle is a CVA Accura V2 MR
25" barrel
70gr (by weight) 209 Blackhorn = 100gr by volume
260gr Scorpion Gold PT
12 shot average of 1615 fps. through my chrono.

What are you guys seeing velocity wise with similar setups/loads?

Am I missing something here? It was 95 degrees the day I shot and it was over a brand new chrono as well.

Im a very casual muzzy shooter and don't claim to know much.....
 
That sounds right. 100 grains of Goex 2f pushes a 250 grain XTP at about 1700 out of my 28" barrel Traditions pursuit. Muzzle loaders are not speed demons or long range guns. They are realistic 150 yards guns for deer and 100 yard guns for elk. Sure people have killed at longer and people have killed elk at 500 with a .243 and claim that it's a good idea.

I have killed 3 elk with 370-385 grain bullets and 70-90 grains powder. It works fine. My load this year is 100 grains and a 300 grain XTP. Longest shot I have had is right at 100, shortest, maybe 60, the other about 75.
 
Something seems off to me.

Out of the same rifle (I think): I shot 100 by volume 70 by weight of BH209 with a 250 Hornady out of my friend's rifle at an average of 1850+ fps. I can't imagine your extra 10 grains of bullet would make 200 fps difference.

I shoot 250 accutips at 2200 fps and 275 Parker's at 2185 fps with the same powder charge of 95 grains by weight out of an Rem Ultimate. That's only 15 fps difference with 25 grains more bullet.

I'm still a rookie when it comes to front-stuffing so maybe some of the hardcore guys will comment but first thing I'd do is shoot it through another chronograph.

Zeke
 
The killer is the barrel. 25 inches is short. There have been many advances, but it is only good for so much.
 
LAST EDITED ON Aug-09-16 AT 04:08PM (MST)[p]I do fully understand it's a muzzle loader, not a barn burner. I also figured the shorter barrel would slow it down some. But it does still seem slow....I compared it to the load data charts off Blackhorns website and it suggests the same. It does not however say the barrel length from which they tested from.

That same day I shot my .270 WSM and its velocities came in on par. But it would help to track down another chrono to check against. Good idea!

I guess in the end it won't matter, the accuracy is there, and I can verify drops by shooting it at various distances.
 
That seems really slow for blackhorn. My shortest barrel is 26" my longest 28" but my velocities are several hundred feet faster than that. Try a different bullet & sabot combo, you may not be getting a good gas seal. I would also bump up by 10 grains and see what happens.
 
I don't know if it would make a difference, but, have you replaced the factory breech plug with the BH209 breech plug? The BH209 plug provides better ignition.
 
Check the breech plug as well. You also don't know what gun blackhorn used and what the barrel length is. Just like in reloading. Every gun is different and posted data may not be anywhere near what is actually obtained in your gun. Don't put to much stock in that and go hunt.
 
I do have the replacement breech plug designed for the 209 powder.
I am using the crushed rib sabot from Harvester. I will bump up one size and see what happens. The bullet/sabot does slide down the barrel very easily. Much easier than my other muzzloader ever did. I chalked it up to a new gun bullet combo. But maybe that is the issue?

Thanks for all the thoughts.
 
If it loads really easy I would try the non-crush rib sabot from Harvester for the same diameter bullet if you can get your hands on some. Or a similar sabot from MMP.
My experience with Blackhorn powder is that it shoots best when the projectile combo is relatively tight in the bore.
 
Sounds like your chronograph might be to close and its actually picking up the sabot rather than the bullet.

"the 110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209 and 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold out of the 24-inch barreled Redemption, and averaged 1,934 f.p.s. "

Notice thats the 300 grain version and a 24" inch barrel.

www.FrontierMuzzleloading.com
 
LAST EDITED ON Aug-11-16 AT 10:17AM (MST)[p]Snake- Thanks for the sarcasm. Of corse it will kill deer, but that's not my worry.

Frontier- Thats an excellent thought! I was 10-15 feet out in front with the chrono. I will stretch that to 20 or more and see what it reads. I never thought of that. But it makes complete sense.
 
Just an update.
Frontier was correct. My chrono was reading my sabot. I moved the chrono further away and was able to get correct velocities.
It read a 9 shot string for an avg of 1740 ft/sec. This is more in the ballpark of where I thought it should be.
Thanks everyone for the help.
 

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