Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Begara, Blackhorn and Barnes

guitarzan

guitarzan

New Member
I've had a Thompson Center Encore in .45 caliber for years. I finally grew tired of fighting with shoving bullets down the barrel and finding the weight of bullets I wanted to shoot. Last summer I broke down and bought a Bergara barrel in .50 caliber. The first thing I noticed was the breech plug. Knurled on the outside so it can be unscrewed without tools, or at least that's the thought. I started reading every article I could find about working up loads, bullets, powders, etc. I started using Blackhorn 209 powder last year in the .45, so I was previously impressed.
Then I read how without any tolerances for manufacturers to follow when making barrels, it's difficult for bullet / sabot makers to do their thing.
Randy Wakeman (like him, hate him, he seems to be right on this time) has an article on his site about finding the Barnes bullet that's right for you. Barnes has started making bullets with different combinations of sabots, and if their sabots don't work, they explain how you can make it work! Barnes has come out with a bullet combination called "TEZ". Made in 250 grains or 295 grains. They were made for those tight fitting barrels, perfect recipe for many TC's!
So I went to the range. 80 grains Blackhorn 209, 295 grain Barnes TEZ. What a recipe for my TC! :way:
If you're having trouble getting bullet / sabot combo's down your front stuffer, try the Barnes TEZ line of bullets.
Don't worry, I'm not a spokesman for Barnes, I used them years ago with a Knight, and wasn't impressed. I just know how I've suffered in the past trying to figure out a good load for my MZ.
BTW, it took me twelve shots to bull it at 100 yards and never swabbed the barrel once. Blackhorn is so clean, there's no need. No difference from loading the first shot, to the last! :D No crud ring like I was accustomed to with T7 either!!
 
I love Blackhorn. I'll have to give the Barnes sabots a try. I've been shooting Powerbelt 295 grains with 80 grains of Blackhorn with good results. The reason I've stayed away from Sabots is that they were harder to load, but I only tried the Hornadys and TC Super Glides.
 
i always had a hard time stuffing sabots down the barrel of my omega until I bought a spinjag.

http://www.spinjag.com/index.php

I really liked the results I got when using barnes TMZ but they were terrible to load. I picked up one of the spinjags one day and man it made a huge difference. I haven't found a sabot that won't load easily with this thing. I had a couple buddies try it and they both ordered one too.
 
I took a shot in the dark today and called Randy hoping he could give me a lead on somewhere that still has Savage muzzleloaders for sale. Was really suprised when he answered!! Long story short we talked for about 35 minutes and he pretty much just spewed knowledge the whole time. I think he rubs alot of people the wrong way but there is no doubt that he spends countless hours doing all kinds of research, so I'm not suprised that his suggestion was spot on. I've read that article as well and currently shoot the TMZ's with great success! Glad you found a good combo.
 
Nontypcl1 said:
i always had a hard time stuffing sabots down the barrel of my omega until I bought a spinjag.

http://www.spinjag.com/index.php

I really liked the results I got when using barnes TMZ but they were terrible to load. I picked up one of the spinjags one day and man it made a huge difference. I haven't found a sabot that won't load easily with this thing. I had a couple buddies try it and they both ordered one too.
Click to expand...
X2! The greatest invention for sabot shooters!
 
Last night I pushed the bullet out so I could clean the barrel. The breech plug unscrewed by hand, like the Begara design was, and cleaned the barrel up with a couple patches with Hoppes.
I'll have to check out the spinjag. I had one, or one like it, for my .45 barrel. Are you able to use it for loading your bullet? Most of the bullet makers want you to buy their adapter to insure you don't damage the nose of their bullet, if the spinjag solves that problem then you're ahead of the game.
I used an adapter that came with some PR bullets I had ordered before, on the first Barnes I pushed down the muzzle, the plastic piece of crap broke off in my ramrod. :mad:
 
The spinjag I have will fit barnes, tc, cva, and others. I don't know how well it would do with the elongated PR bullets. You may need a special jag for them. I bought mine 2 years ago and it is different than what it on the website. I'll have to double check but I believe the jag itself can be changed on it.
 
Have any of you guys tried bore butter patches after you clean the barrel?? I use the pre-soaked cleaning pads and the butter pads. My sabots load with two fingers down the barrel of my omega. You have to clean and than "season" and barrel and the sabots go right down. After 30 shots it may not but the first 10 are very easy. Might be a "no crap" response but I just want to throw it out there.
 
I have heard mixed feelings on "seasoning" a barrel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe some manufacturers actually state not to use bore butter for anything but elongated storage of muzzleloaders.
 
The concern I heard about bore butter was some felt it led to pitting of the barrel. I guess some were using hot soapy water to clean the gun, then applying the bore butter which trapped water under it, thus pitting. So the take home might be to make sure the barrel is very dry before coating it with bore butter for long term storage.

I have a tube of bore butter somewhere (if I haven't thrown it out), only used it when I was shooting full bore maxi's out of my ML. If you are shooting sabot/bullet combos, I would discourage using it. There are some many sabots out there to select from if you have a "tight" or "loose" barrel. Bore butter just begs for increased barrel fouling, IMO.
 
It sounds like many people, including me, have been looking and purchasing "tricks" to make bullets load easier. I think if you follow the rule that a sabot should be .003 to .004 smaller then the bore, we don't need any tricks! Just load and shoot! I had a blast at the range on Monday without all that time consuming swabbing. I know some people don't mind the xtra step, but I had time to hunt in the morning with my revolver, sight in my MZ, eat lunch and sit in the afternoon with my freshly tuned MZ! :way:
I have tried bore butter, but not the patches. I tried buttering my sabots to make them go down the barrel easier.
BTW, thanks for the tip on the spinjag, I ordered one today. :grin:
 
I have heard the tighter a sabot goes down the barrel the more accurite you will be.I have an encore and have never really had to much trouble but I ordered the spin jag to see if it makes it easier.I almost got one last year but just never ordered it for some reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom