The number one question I get concerning meddling and trying to do 'more' is converting to 209's with our kit and shooting smokeless powder in the factory barrel:  DON'T DO IT!   It says it right on your rifle's barrel.  No kit will change the fact that the barrel is not safe for smokeless.    I don't care what you read on some forum, or what some guy on the range told you.  DON'T DO IT!  There are not any magical fairy smokeless powders for your rifle, and there  isn't any need to take that risk!

The problem here is that muzzle loader safe propellants (like Black Powder, Pyrodex, Triple Se7en, and BlackHorn209) have different burning properties than the wide spectrum that makes up modern smokeless powder.   And that difference is what saves folks from blowing up guns (so long as they follow the manufacture's rules, don't double charge, double load, etc).   I cannot emphasize enough how using only a muzzle loader safe propellant and using a witness mark on the ram rod (to know the rifle is loaded and avoid a double charge) is the key to enjoying this sport safely.

That said, some rifles, with special barrels are made to use certain types of smokeless powder.   However your Remington nor Ruger is not one of them.   Yes, some folks swap barrels to make a smokeless gun.   They of course are 100% on their own, and liable for their own technical problems and safety issues.    If it is possible to do a barrel swap, and may be legal in some states to hunt on some hunts with a smokeless muzzle loader...  why do it?  What really are you going to get and at what cost?  Typically those pursuing smokeless want faster, flatter shooting, harder hitting rifles, and think that they need to go smokeless to get better performance.   But how much increase in range or velocity will you get versus the $$$$$ spent?   How much heavier or more awkward of a rifle will you make?   Will it group any better than what you started with? 

Doesn't the original leaky rifle, with black powder, already have what it takes to kill anything in North America?!?!  Our kits seals up those breach leaks and makes it reliable.   Many modern muzzle loading propellants already out perform black powder.  These rifles with their factory barrels have a reputation of being very accurate.  Do you really need more than that? ​

But to continue the comparison: rifles re-barreled for smokeless almost always have much longer, heavier barrels.   It must be emphasized that the longer barrel itself gives an increase in velocity... all things being the same: longer barrels increase velocity.  Or in other-words shooting the same powder charge and projectile combination in a longer barrel will generate more velocity.  This is because the projectile is in the barrel longer, getting pushed by expanding gasses for longer, so more energy (AKA velocity) is transferred to the projectile. 

But with BlackHorn209, and your factory barrel, you don't have to go smokeless to get more velocity.   At heavier bullet weights, (like 275gr and up) I think you will find BlackHorn209 out performs all other muzzle loader safe propellants.   And if you were to chronograph a safe smokeless load in a barrel made for smokeless, and of the same length as the factory barrel, against a BlackHorn 209 charge (both using the same 300gr projectile), the BlackHorn209 load wouldn't be too far behind the smokeless.   By too far behind, I'm talking a couple hundred feet per second.   And lets be honest, 200 FPS is not much of an increase in range or killing power.

In general barrel swaps cost around $1200.00...  Frequently more, occasionally less if you do a lot of the work yourself.  To consider what our kit does to a standard rifle vs doing a barrel swap; you have to consider the cost against the potential performance increases.   And I don't think that $1200 is worth it.   Especially because BlackHorn209 is readily available, and safe!   You must realize that if you get something wrong with the smokeless gun, you are more probable to have a KABOOM!

​Remember, a longer barrel is essentially what the newer Remington 700 Ultimate Muzzle Loader (UML) has over the older Remingtion 700 ML/MLS.  The Ultimate is a longer, heavier rifle.  It is not as handy, and costs so much more than a good used MLS.  I've had plenty of customers tell me they sold their Ultimate and got a used 700 MLS rifle and our kit because it does the job, is more handy, easier to carry, and actually saved them $ because its cheaper over all.

I have a Savage 10ML2, new in the box.  I've never shot it!  Why?  Because its super long and super heavy: my Remington 700 ML's and Ruger 77/50's (with their original barrels) get the job done and are so much lighter and handier.   And I don't go deer hunting from a bench...  I'm walking out to the fields and woods, climbing trees, up ladder stands, etc.   My Remington and Ruger rifles with their factory barrels win hands down overall when it comes to hunting.

So for me, I wouldn't entertain a barrel swap unless the barrel was not serviceable.  And even then its probably cheaper (and definitely easier) to just buy another rifle with a factory barrel!... or find a take off barrel on Ebay from someone's smokeless build.   I get nearly the same performance from my factory barreled rifles, and without all the cost, weight, awkward handling,  and added trouble of doing the work to swap a barrel.  Dollars & work in vs performance out: I'm tickled pink with our kit and my factory barrels.  

If you are tired of the clean up of Black Powder substitutes, and wanting to get away from them for that reason, BlackHorn209 comes out ahead there too.   Blackhorn209 cleans up great with standard gun cleaning solvents, just like a smokeless gun.    You can read more about that by clicking here.

All that said: any muzzle loader safe propellant works great in the Remington and Ruger original barrels (with our kits installed on the bolt and sabot/projectile).  It so much easier just to convert to our system and get great performance, I don't think I'll ever re-barrel a rifle and go smokeless.

But if you are absolutely set on swapping barrels, we offer "half kits."  Smokeless conversions usually use a custom breech plug that sits deeper into the breech.  So, folks putting a new barrel on a Remington will probably want a longer nose.   Our long nose protrudes farther forward and will not work with our standard breech plug, nor the original barrel. The cost is the same for a half kit with a long nose or a standard nose (just tell us in the "note to seller" portion of check out what nose you want):

So there you have it.   I got on my soap box, and told folks that I'll sell them what they want, but I won't necessarily agree with them that they 'need' it.

So if you contact me asking about smokeless mods, I'll try and figure out what your priorities are, see if they could be met with a cheaper option: our kit, the rifle's original barrel, BlackHorn209, and Sabots.  Those are deadly combinations.   

That's my advice, because that is what I use and resolved to myself.

Alas, the customer is always right.

Option 1:  Buy a Remington kit and Do It Yourself (DIY).  

​The is your least expensive option.   To decide if you want to pay us to convert the bolt, have your gunsmith do it, or try it yourself, I recommend you study the online installation instructions and see the tools and skills needed.   

The most common thing people mess up up during the conversion process and need to replace is the firing pin, and a new one costs more than our install service.   So I always recommend you purchase our install service and send me the bolt (I'm getting ahead of myself as that is option two below). Note, there is not an "Option 1" for a Ruger (the Ruger's conversion is too complicated).

Option 2:  Send us the bolt and pay us to convert it​

​You can purchase the kit for a Remington and add installation, or purchase an installed kit for the Ruger.  Then ship us the bolt.   Let's call this option 2.   It's in the middle of cost, but very simple as you just have to ship us the bolt, we convert it and send it back.   While the costs differ, this option is basically the same between the Remington 700 ML and the Ruger 77/50.   When it comes to option 2:  you send us the bolt,  it's converted, then shipped back with the new breech plug/vent liner and other small tools.  Of course with the Ruger 77/50, there is no option one.​

Welcome to the blog of the company that has the best fix for your Ruger 77/50 and Remington 700 ML/MLS.   Our kits are the fix for blow-back, miss fires, etc.   Our kits are Blackhorn209 compatible and seal up the breech with 209 primers.   If an internet search brought you here, your search is over.  This blog has lots of articles about those two rifles and our products for them.  You can click on the links in them or in the banner at the top of the screen to find the items you may be interested in.

The Remington 700 ML and Ruger 77/50 are our specialty.  They both came from the factory with the same fatal flaw:  blow-back coursing backwards through the bolt from each firing.  The Remington and Canadian 209 mods didn't improve this.   If anything they only made blow-back worse.

If not quickly and properly cleaned after firing, the bolt will corrode and freeze up.   Our kits correct this fatal flaw by sealing up the breech.   But not everyone has our kit yet, and seeing these rifles are all 10 to 20 years old,  it's all to common for some one to have shot and then put it away without a proper cleaning.  Be thankful if the bolt was at least removed!   Getting a frozen bolt out of a rifle is a nightmare!

So beyond installing our 209 system on bolts that have been well to decently cared for, we frequently get challenged when folks send us neglected froze up bolts.   Sometimes we get them before they get beat on, other times we get to see if we can pick up the pieces and make it work.   You can read more about some of the crazier ones we get here in the "Badger's Den" by clicking the "Maintenance" subcategory on the menu bar.

If you have a tough Remington or Ruger bolt, please reach out to us via our contact form.  We'll get back to you with a cell phone number and email address so we can start the process!

When the owner of the bolt seen here contacted me asking if I could help, once I replied to him, he was thoughtful enough to text me pics.  After looking at his pictures, I was pretty sure I could fix it: But I wasn't certain what parts of his I could salvage and what parts I would need to replace.  The bolt plug looked good, which was surprising... usually when folks try to take these apart and break them they mangle something.   So I counseled him that I was confident I could fix it, but couldn't be sure of the price until I had it in my hands, tore it down, and scrubbed it all clean.   I commonly have to sell new components in cases like this, or have to ask for some more money beyond the basic install fee for my time and tools/materials I put into fixing these.  But I told him to start by buying our standard kit and installation, then send me the all the pieces he had from the bolt, and we'd take it from there.

When the parts came, it was very clear that the striker/firing pin was fused to the body pretty solid.   I tried my normal tricks to get it loose, and even tried to press it out with my jig and 12 ton press.   It wouldn't budge.  So I began flushing the gunk I could out of it from the back end of the bolt, and tried the jig and the press again.  No luck.    It actually kept breaking the sacrificial pin I built into the jig to keep from over stressing stuff:  This bolt wouldn't break free.   Frustrated: I filled the back end of it up with Kroil penetrating oil to sit over night.  Worst case, I'd have to sell the customer a new bolt body (we make and sell them).

I then turned my attention to the cocking piece.   I chucked it up in my lathe and tried drilling it out left handed, that normally does the trick but it didn't budge.   So I tried small holes with screw removers wedged in, and every other trick I knew, but it wouldn't budge.   So I ended up just drilling it out and leaving the little spiral of the V from the thread in it and then picking that out.    It was a bit tougher than removing a screw from a blind hole as it all kept fracturing where the cross pin was drilled through, and it's a deep hole proportionally to its diameter.  But eventually I got the parts deep towards the bottome out with a bottoming tap and a small dental pick.   I'm glad I could save the customer from having to buy a new one (but we do stock them). 

I left the bolt body to sit for the evening so that the penetrating oil could do its work.  When I came back the next morning none of the Kroil had seeped through to the nose.  That wasn't a good sign, as it meant that pin was wedged in there and sealed.   I tried the jig and the press again.   I sheared the breakaway pin (I was really frustrated having to fab more break away pins!).

So I made a new jig that didn't have a shear pin.  Either I was going to break the pin free of the bolt body, or I'd break the bolt in the press.  At this point I had nothing to lose.  Luckily for the customer the 12 ton press and the new jig (and probably the Kroil) did the trick, the pin busted free of the bolt body, but bent the old firing pin the the process, which made it super tricky to get out, but I managed to get creative and work that one out. ​

If an internet search brought you here looking for a solution to your woes with a Remington 700 ML or Ruger 77/50 muzzle loader: Don't worry, you are in the right spot and we have the fix you are looking for.    Just keep scrolling down or click here for our wonderful 209 sealed breech fixes for those rifles.     We are a dynamic business and constantly adding to this blog.

In this installment, I figured it was time to discuss breech plugs: what works, why it is probably different than most think, and why I think it works.   I'll also showcase our service of retrofitting vent liners into breech plugs (to help them work more reliably, accurately, and better with Blackhorn209 powder).   Yes: we can help with more muzzle loaders than the Ruger 77/50 and Remington 700 ML.

One of the first things most folks realize when they examine our kits, is that the Badger Ridge breech plug, is unique and different from the rifle's original.   Our kits won't work with the original breech plug!  Our system just plain works.  Because our design works, folks frustrated with igniting BH209 in other rifles send us their breech plug for modification.

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT:  A good breech plug is a compromise of many different features.  Our design works with any muzzle loader safe powder (we can make other rifles' breech plugs work with any  muzzle loader safe powder... like Blackhorn209).

I'll try not to delve too deeply into chemistry, physics, and thermodynamics both because most won't care about the details, but also I'd probably rapidly reveal the limits of my understanding.  But some basic understanding is required.  First, heat flows from hot to cold.   There is truly no such thing as cold...  cold is a relative lack of heat.   Heat can be thought of as a form of energy...  thus a hot piece of metal just has more energy than a cold piece of the same metal.  So heat from discharging a primer will flow into the metal around it, and into the powder charge we want to start burning.

So at first it seems to get reliable ignition, you just need to get the primer close to the powder, and minimize the metal in between.   And many of the first generation of inline muzzle loaders followed that design idea.  But if you have seen any of the more modern breech plugs, especially those that use 209 primers, and are reliable with Blackhorn209: there is a large expansion chamber in front of the primer, creating a big air gap, and has a small hole at the end that abuts the powder charge.  

Just thinking about heat flow, all the metal that makes up the wall of that expansion chamber, and that super cold winter hunt you might take your muzzle loader on, it seems stupid to lose some primer heat to it.  So why does a good breech plug have that chamber?   And why would it have a metal constriction on the end of it (ie a vent liner or small flash hole)?

Before I answer that, let's consider another reason the flash chamber doesn't make sense at first glance...  as the primer's burning gasses expand they would cool just through the act of expanding into the flash channel.

Fact: pressure, volume, and energy are all connected.     For a steady state, ideal reaction I learned in High-School Chemistry:

PV = nRT 
 (or Pressure * Volume = number of molecules * their constant value * Temperature)

Or in simpler terms if you don't change the temperature but you increase the volume the pressure will decrease to keep it all in balance.   But in real life you get both: as the hot gas expands into the chamber it loses heat just from the expansion, even before we take into account the heat that flows into the cold walls of the breech plug!

"OMG" you exclaim, "I knew that primer should be right up against that powder to be 100% reliable!"   But, I'd say practice has proven that to be wrong, our breech plugs have expansion chambers for good reason:  to keep the powder charge from blowing up the primer and venting gas all over the shooter and dropping accuracy!

Remember, after we get that powder ignited and burning, it produces a whole lot more pressure and heat than that tiny, thin walled primer could ever contain.   We want all that heat and energy to push that projectile down the barrel, but because there is that small flash hole right next to it, the gas shoots backwards into the expansion chamber that is being sealed by the primer.    The trick here is that the flash hole is so small it greatly restricts the rearward flow, and what flow makes it through, finds itself rapidly expanding, dropping pressure, and cooling as it flows into the primer's flash chamber.  And that is why the flash hole and flash channel (chamber) are there.   They work together to keep the pressure from burning powder from blowing up the sealed primer.

Keeping that primer sealed and intact keeps the mess in the breech plug, and tends to increase accuracy as the pressure seen at the back of the projectile is consistent shot to shot.

Remember that back and forth flow of hot burning gasses (primer residue and combustion gasses) erodes the flash hole with each shot.   

​When breech plugs that don't have vent liners open up, they loose accuracy.   Most folks don't realize this, and just know that  their rifle doesn't shoot like it used to.  They typically look for loose scope mounts, bad scopes,  loose action screws, etc.  I get calls from them and they are frustrated as they can't seem to figure out why the rifle isn't shooting well now.  For some, the light bulb comes on when I start asking about the size of their breech plug's flash hole.  And do they have a gage pin to measure it?

I'm confident, that manufacturers know that flash holes have a limited life.   Some just go with a cheaper breech plug, or even solder in vent liners!    Seems they just want to sell entire new breech plugs.   But we usually can offer a different solution: modifying the breech plug to take a vent liner.   Most of the time we can convert those breech plugs to take inexpensive vent liners and also put an expansion chamber between them and the 209 primer to keep the primer from seeing excessive pressure. ​

So there you have it,  a good 209 breech plug is a compromise between directing the energy of the primer into the powder, and keeping the pressure from the burning powder from blowing up the primer.  To use Blackhorn209 powder, it must be sealed up.  To use 209 primers the breech plug needs an expansion chamber that is sized to allow expansion but not rob too much heat, and it needs a small orifice in the end that abuts the powder charge.   

At Badger Ridge, we go a step further by using inexpensive replaceable vent liners.  Our  breech plugs are designed for longevity: we use vent liners to cheaply replace the flash hole instead of forcing shooters to buy new breech plugs.  And we sell pin gauges so that you know when to replace the vent liner:  if it goes through its time to replace.

We've been selling and installing our great 209 conversions for years now.   And I've noticed my questions and sales following trends influence by the various hunting seasons and their associated rules.   This time of year folks are getting ready for Colorado's muzzle loader season, typically focusing on harvesting an elk.   I also added this to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

YouTube video of our Remington 700 ML/MLS 209 kit in action (above)

Remember:  if you have questions, please read what you can, watch the videos, and then use our Contact form to reach out to us.    We usually reply via email or phone call within 48 hrs. 

(A second YouTube video below)​

You've just received a new submission to your Contact Form.  Submitted Information:
Name Wes G:

I just had you install a conversion kit on my 700 ML. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Can't wait. 

Question: Groups before your conversion between 1.5 and 2"@ 100 with 105 gr BH 209 and Barnes 290 gr T-EZs. While that level of accuracy is fine for deer @ 100 yds, I am heading to NM for elk this fall and would like to improve my 5" groups @ 200. Thanks.

Wes