During the
summer of 2011, the Nevada Department of Wildlife took away the right for
muzzleloading hunters in the state to use a modern formulated propellant that
not only makes loading and shooting a rifle of muzzle-loaded design less tedious
and more reliable, but safer as well.
That new powder is being marketed under the brand name Blackhorn 209, by Western Powders of
Miles City, MT.
In July of 2011, NDOW sent a notice
to all hunters who had drawn a "muzzleloader
only" Nevada big game tag, announcing, "The department has recently
received numerous questions regarding the use of Blackhorn 209 during the
muzzle-loading only season. Per NAC 503.142 (1) only blackpowder or a
blackpowder substitute such as Pyrodex or Triple Seven may be used as a
propellant. The use of smokeless powder is prohibited."
This warning went on to distinguish that
what separated Blackhorn 209 from the other two powders mentioned, Pyrodex
and Triple Seven, was the fact that the newer powder relied on a
nitrocellulose base rather than the carbon base used to produce the other two
black powder substitutes. NDOW published
this warning in its August issue of OUTDOOR EDUCATOR as well.
At the September 2011 Nevada Board
of Wildlife Commissioners Meeting, under the topic issue "Muzzleloader
Black Powder Legal Issues", Chief Game Warden Robert Buonamici told
the nine-member board that prior to the hunting seasons his Division (Law
Enforcement) had received quite a few calls as to whether or not if Blackhorn
209 powder was legal to use during the state's muzzleloader seasons. He admitted that his staff did not know, so
researched the issue - first referring back to the adopted regulation code
which prohibited the use of smokeless powder during the muzzleloading hunts. He pointed out to the commissioners that the
U.S. Department of Transportation has designated Blackhorn 209 as a
smokeless powder.
The call to outlaw the use of this
powder was made entirely by Chief Buonamici and the NDOW Division of Law
Enforcement. What Buonamici failed to
share with the Board of Wildlife Commissioners was that also sharing the very same
North American and United Nations hazardous materials classification codes (NA3178
and UN0499) which he used to deem Blackhorn 209 "illegal" are all other "black powder substitutes", including the two "legal" powders mentioned by name in Nevada's
muzzleloader hunting regulations - Pyrodex and Triple Seven.
All are classified as either "smokeless powder for small
arms" or as "propellant solid - smokeless".
Through correspondence with members
of the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER
HUNTING Association has been told that the regulation, as it stands, can be
attributed to bad information and bureaucratic status quo within the Nevada
Department of Wildlife. That bad
information came from NDOW's administration, and many of the originators of the
regulation are now gone - including Director Ken Mayer, who has been fired, for
the second time.
"Nevada's ban of Blackhorn 209
should make sportsmen question many other non-serving hunting regulations on
the books around the country. We were
told that to change the regulation in Nevada is a slow process, and that
process would require that a petition first be filed - even though those
serving on the Board of Wildlife Commissioners are now aware that the
regulation was railroaded right through by a biased and agenda driven high ranking individual or a division of
NDOW. Strangely, it was done so without
any opposition from the Commission. The
legality of how this exceptionally poor and bogus regulation has been allowed
to stand needs to be investigated...and perhaps have its day in court ," states Toby Bridges, founder of the NORTH
AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Association.
Nevada is the only state to ban the
use of Blackhorn 209 powder. A
couple of other states, namely New Mexico and Utah, had considered a similar
ban, but realized that since the powder shared the very same federal and
international regulations governing other black powder substitutes, such a ban
would run into tremendous opposition from muzzleloading hunters. Collectively, the modern "non black powder" muzzleloader propellants are now used by
more than 90-percent of all muzzleloading hunters.
What has made Blackhorn 209
so popular among the fastest growing segment of muzzleloader hunting, those who
have switched to equally modern in-line primer ignition rifle models, is the
cleanliness of the powder. Other modern
muzzleloader powders leave a great deal of fouling in the bore, and for best
accuracy that fouling has to be wiped from the bore after each and every
shot. The light fouling left behind by
charges of Blackhorn 209 does not affect the accuracy of the load. In fact, many shooters have shot all morning
or afternoon, firing upwards of 50 shots or more, and still maintain great
accuracy without cleaning the bore once.
That cleanliness also means that there is a lot less chance of not
getting the projectile properly seated directly in contact with the power
charge. Firing a muzzleloader with the
projectile setting an inch or two off the powder charge creates an extremely
dangerous situation.
The new powder is also far less
corrosive than the powders named "legal" in the Nevada regulations, and due to its
nitrocellulose base, Blackhorn 209 granules are far more uniform and
result in extremely consistent volume measured charges. This in turn produces the most consistent
accuracy. Perhaps NDOW's fear of the
powder is that it is too good, allowing the state's muzzleloading hunters to
more easily make a clean and effective harvest of the game being hunted.
For more on nitrocellulose and Blackhorn 209, go to-
For more on nitrocellulose and Blackhorn 209, go to-
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