Large Rifle primer VariFlame Primer Adapters

Wow! These stainless steel adapters were designed as a superior alternative to the 209 primer. They prevent nasty blow-back that eventually clogs firing pins and stains your rifle's scope. These T/C Large Rifle Variflame Primer Adapters work with any powder you choose to use. Improves your accuracy (shrinks your shot groups) over the hotter 209 primers that tend to cause those unexplained flyers. I shot up a whole bottle of the new cleaner burning Blackhorn 209 powder using the same 10 stainless steel adapters and they never needed cleaning at all. They still looked like new; no powder burns or corrosion at all. With this particular powder there was no need to swab the barrel between shots either. Beautiful! click here to order Large Rifle primer VariFlame Primer Adapters with T/C Encore / Omega breech plug The perfect ignition for Thompson Center Omega muzzleloaders. Large Rifle Primer VariFlame Primer Adapters will work with every powder including Blackhorn 209 and all smokeless powders. The hot, central flame of the large rifle primer is the perfect ignition for muzzleloader applications.  These adapters were tested with 200 grain charges of Blackhorn 209 powder without any issues. click here to order

The perfect ignition for inline muzzleloaders. Large Rifle Primer VariFlame Primer Adapters will work with every powder including Blackhorn 209 and all smokeless powders. The hot, central flame of the large rifle primer is the perfect ignition for muzzleloader applications.

These adapters have been tested with 200 grain charges of Blackhorn 209 powder.
Large rifle primer priming kit:  Contains a Lee Auto Prime, 1/16" pin punch and a #20 shell holder. CLICK HERE TO ORDER
JUST THE 1/16" PIN
JUST THE SHELL HOLDER

The .25 ACP Breech Plug Conversion

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Now available, a .25 ACP brass priming kit. This kit contains all the tools needed to prime and re-prime your .25 ACP brass. Click here for details...

Here are some emails I received from real folks that have used the Precision Rifle .25 ACP Breech Plug Conversion:

Deer Ray, The 235 grain QT did its job again. I got this buck with a Winchester .50 caliber using the 25 ACP primer conversion. The conversion has worked very well giving tighter groups when compared to the 209 primers. It also leaves almost no fouling around the firing pin and breech plug. I shot the buck at approximately 40 yards and the deer only went about 30 yards after a clean through lung shot.

Best regards, Don Greene

I included a couple of pictures of my deer from '04, in case you needed a picture for your site. I was shooting a .45 Encore with the .25 ACP Breechplug, 105 grains 777 FFFg and a 200 grain D.C. The deer grossed 162 3/8.

Thanks again, and take care,
Matt Epp

Every now and then something new comes along that just has to be shared with fellow shooters.

PRAFBP™ "Precision Rifle Accu-Fire Breech Plug" Patent Pending

Above: TC Omega modified breach plug to use .660" long .22 Hornet cases in place of the 209 primer.

The folks at Precision Rifle have this to say about their reasons for developing an improvement to the Encore / Omega.

"Too much flame; too much fouling:
Our Thompson Center Encore gets so dirty from the 209 primer that after 50 shots the firing pin will not even travel far enough to ignite the primer. I need to remove the butt stock and clean the entire action with brake clean and compressed air before it will work. Too much flame trying to get through the small hole.

If you check out the cartridge in the foreground of the photo you can see that it is perfectly clean. It has been used 27 times and has not even been wiped off. No fouling, no mess. Look inside the breach plug and action; 50 shots without being touched and not a spot of fouling anywhere.

Too much energy:
I have no idea who started the 209 craze but I believe that it provides way more energy than is required to get the job done. Try this experiment for yourself. Take your ramrod with a jag and a clean damp patch, push it all the way down the barrel of your TC Encore. Mark the ramrod where it meets the end of the barrel with a strip of masking tape. Put a 209 into the breach plug, close the gun, cock the hammer and pull the trigger. With our Thompson Center Encore, the ramrod will get blown 6"- 8" up the barrel with just the force of the 209. If we do the same experiment with our Hornet / T/C Encore breach plug with it's small rifle primer, the ramrod moves less than 1".

We have all but eliminated those unexplained flyers from our TC Encore groups. Personally, I believe these flyers were the result of the 209 actually lifting the sabot off the powder charge simultaneous with igniting the powder. The much milder Small Rifle primer of the Hornet case ignites the powder just as instantly but lacks the energy to move the sabot and bullet off the powder charge therefore eliminating the flyers.

More fine tuning options:
Unlike the 209, Small Rifle sized primers come in a variety of ranges and qualities. One can experiment with Standard, Magnum and Bench Rest to add one more variable to the mix. To this point, we have seen the best success with CCI 400 but that could change with the next load.

To sum up, I love this conversion. The Thompson Center Encore is now perfectly clean inside and out shot after shot. I have eliminated the flyers caused by the excessive 209 energy levels. I find the shortened .22 Hornet cases very easy to install, remove and find in my pockets. One case has been primed over 40 times with the primer pocket fit as snug as it way when we first used it. We decap and prime the cases with the very economical Lee line of reloading equipment. As you loose them, you simply trim down another handful of .22 Hornet brass and away you go.

The .22 Hornet, possibly one of the most enduring cartridges ever designed, lends itself for yet another purpose.

June 20th update:

It's not often that we are granted the luxury of head to head comparisons of one idea versus another idea. Today was one of those rare days.

We headed to the range with a pair of brand new T/C Omega rifles. One in .45 and the other in .50. The .45 was posting groups of 3.5" to 4.0" throughout the entire day with no real pattern being evident. It's owner guessed it might be the bedding or the new scope but was really quite disappointed.

The .50, on the other hand, had a pretty good day. Most everything shot about 1.5" to 2" and it did not seem very fussy. The crowing moment came when I decided to try our 195 gr Dead Center Duplex sabots. Three shots touched at 100 yards and life was wonderful.


The .50 had been fitted with the .22 Hornet breach plug while the .45 was using the factory 209 style. During a short rain delay, I suggested that we take the best combination that we had come across with the .45 and try it again but this time use the .22 Hornet breach plug instead of the 209. It was agreed and the gun was loaded with 100 grains of Triple 7 FFF powder and 195 grain Dead Center bullet. The only change was instead of the 209, we used the shortened .22 Hornet case with a CCI 400 primer. Magic; the group shrunk by 75% to right around 1" at 100 yards. With a little encouragement, the shooter completed a second three shot group which measured just under 1.3" . The best two groups back to back that this Omega had ever shot and the only change was CCI 400 small rifle primer in place of the 209 shotgun primer. The day ended and we not only had a "semi-believer" converted; we also had another breach plug to convert."

Want your breach plug converted for your T/C Encore, Omega, G2 (.45 cal only) or NEF?

It seems that Precision Rifle is not the only shooter interested in improving the the accuracy of their muzzleloaders that use the 209 primer. Their e-mail and telephone lines have lit up since they first posted this page on their website.

Precision rifle has come up with an even better solution than the .22 hornet conversion.

After much research and testing, they have come up with .25 ACP T/C Omega & Encore breech plugs conversions.

What makes this a better idea is this conversion offers the same accuracy as the .22 hornet conversion, but there is no trimming or fitting involved and they offer the versatility of using either small rifle or pistol primers.

R & P Muzzleloading now offers these (.25 ACP Breech Plug conversion) "Precision Rifle Accu-Fire Breech Plugs" for the T/C Encore, T/C Omega. They are only $59.95. Each conversion kit includes a dozen .25 ACP cases and will be shipped by 2-3 day Priority Mail. Order today and have it shipped today.

It seems the T/C Encore 209 x 50 has had some mixed results from various users. Some are getting sub 1 inch groups at 200 yards, while others can't hit in a 2 foot square at 50 yards. I got some testing information from my manufacturer on an Thompson Center Encore he tested. I will try and summarize his experience with the TC Encore. There are a few things one can do that might go a long way toward improving the accuracy of this rifle. One thing to check, is the trigger pull. If it is over 3 pounds then it could use some work. Check the butt stock for looseness and tighten it with an Allen wrench if necessary. Ensure the fore end is not rubbing on the receiver. A little sand paper will correct this. Check to see if the pin that is used to attach the barrel is good and tight. If not, you may need to machine a tighter one for it. After this your T/C Encore should shoot very well indeed. The below groups were shot using the Dead Center .40 200 grain bullets.