Newbie question - 30gr Pyrodex pellets in 1851 brasser?

Might I suggest buying 25 or 50 lbs of real Black Powder from Graffs or others online?
CHEAP per lb that way
You never know if Biden will let you get that down the road either.

1. Don't buy Pyrodex
2. If you do buy Pyrodex get powder not pellets.

Get real black powder

American Pioneer Powder is clean enough to not need any lube in the chambers, nor is lube recommend.
I'll swab the bore after 40 or more shots if needed when loading 30 grains, but many don't swab at all.
I only use the APP 3F, it flows better from a flask, and the granulation is less chunky than the 2F.

Posts #1 and #25 of this thread shows where to buy it: --->>> https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-powder-is-back-in-business-available.875655/

By putting pre-measured powder charges into vials or pill bottles, it makes loading easier, and APP is easier to clean than Pyrodex.
Or you can make paper powder cartridges which would be as convenient to load as pellets.

the pellets are convenient, and I have used them in my steel frame guns. Great idea to be honest. Sure, it isn't the real thing, but sadly around me, the real thing got hard to find a few years ago, and I'm sure near impossible now. I can find substitutes, and I would much rather shoot them than not. That said, next road trip I'll be going online to see if I can locate some Goex 3F along my path.....just because. As far as my current pyrodex use, I by loose.

No they are hot.

Im a firm strong hater of pyrodex, wont even have it in my home. But i completely understand your need for something convenient and premeasured. The pyrodex pellets for some reason or other deteriorate faster. I have heard of so many shooters who try them the next hunting season and they just pfffft...barely burn. Im sure it also has to do with storage conditions but some have mentioned that they stored them well etc but still get squibs. The powdered version also has a shelf life but it lasts longer than pellets. Now back to the convenience factor...why not make your own pellets? I make my own out of black powder..well they arent actually pellets but are shaped like them and are just as convenient. Theyre a paper cartridge without bullet so i can choose the bullet/ball of my choice. They even come with built in lube disk.

I’ll go out on a limb here and say everyone one of us will have every firearm we now posses in our safes 4 years from now if we don’t decide to sell any, and probably more.

I know my motley collection has grown by several handguns. Who knows, it may get a few more in the coming weeks.

I certainly hope so . . . there's an awful lot of "stupid" out there!!


Mike

In the mid 1970's in West Germany loose black powder was controlled heavily but you could by Black Powder pellets for your .36 reproduction 1851 Colt like over the counter. One dropped the pellet in and placed a bullet on them and used the loading lever to feel a crunch.

They worked fine. We speculated as to what they were pelletized with and some guys thought common white glue like Elmer's school glue.

A guy I knew with an Austrian "Enfield" would buy the pellets and crush them in a mortar and pestle to use as loose powder...worked fine despite wildly varying grain sizes. He also shot round ball with a precut patch so I have no idea which chamber type he had for which original Austrian bullet.

Always wonder why such actual BP pellets never caught on here. The pellet was quite a bit less diameter than the chamber and it would have been easy to make bulleted cartridges from them. There were also pellets for .44, but I do not know if they made .31 caliber ones.

I had no way to chrony the round ball loads we used but I will say they worked fine on large garbage dump rats.....

-kBob

Howdy

a word of caution.

Way back in 1968, when I was a youngin, I bought a 44 caliber, brass framed, 'Navy'. Almost exactly like yours, except mine was made by Uberti. You can see the Uberti trademark on the frame near the front of the cylinder.

Anyway, I was regularly shooting 30 grain loads of real Black Powder out of it.

Come to find out many years later I could not hit the broadside of a barn with it because it was shooting very high.

Bottom line, all those 30 grain loads had stretched the frame and now when the barrel is snugged up the correct amount it points up, causing the old pistol to hit high.






I have never used any Pyrodex pellets, I actually won some years ago in a raffle, but I have never fired them because everybody always says how very corrosive Pyrodex is.

Just a word of caution, but I would be very cautious about shooting 30 grain loads of anything in a brass framed C&B revolver.

There is tons of information about this on various wires these days, but back in 1968 there was no such thing as the internet and nobody was telling us not to stuff 30 grains of anything in a brass framed C&B revolver.

I caution you to only put about 20 grains or so, of real Black Powder, not Pyrodex, in your brass framed 'Navy'.

I don't shoot my old brass framed 'Navy' any more, I keep it around as a sentimental Wall Hanger.

Don’t.

I use Pyrodex loose powder in cartridges and shotshells for cowboy action competition, and I have learned how to clean my guns thoroughly, so I’m not prejudiced against the Evil Pyrodex!

But pellets are a no-no for me. I get better and faster ignition (no “pop-bang”) with real black powder. Use the real stuff; the pellets are a crutch you don’t want or need.

TheOutlawKid said:

Im a firm strong hater of pyrodex, wont even have it in my home. But i completely understand your need for something convenient and premeasured. The pyrodex pellets for some reason or other deteriorate faster. I have heard of so many shooters who try them the next hunting season and they just pfffft...barely burn. Im sure it also has to do with storage conditions but some have mentioned that they stored them well etc but still get squibs. The powdered version also has a shelf life but it lasts longer than pellets. Now back to the convenience factor...why not make your own pellets? I make my own out of black powder..well they arent actually pellets but are shaped like them and are just as convenient. Theyre a paper cartridge without bullet so i can choose the bullet/ball of my choice. They even come with built in lube disk.
View attachment 961275 View attachment 961276

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I think you nailed it Kid. I wonder if a much larger version of those would work in a 1861 Springfield rifle?

Ugly Sauce said:

I think you nailed it Kid. I wonder if a much larger version of those would work in a 1861 Springfield rifle?

Click to expand...

They work just fine in inlines...but i dont shoot those . i made some for a friend and he swears by them

Could work. In the '61, the flash channel would be going right into the side of the cartridge. The flash does take a 90 degree turn, but I'm still thinking it could work.

I think I'll check it out, stand by for results...which may take a couple months. What is "inline"??

Ugly Sauce said:

Could work. In the '61, the flash channel would be going right into the side of the cartridge. The flash does take a 90 degree turn, but I'm still thinking it could work.

I think I'll check it out, stand by for results...which may take a couple months. What is "inline"??

Click to expand...

Inlines are designed to have the nipple or primer hole located at the very rear of the breech plug , directly in line with the striker mechanism and powder load.
The breech plug is usually easy to remove but not always, and can be fixed.
Many of the newest inlines use 209 shotgun primers, but they can also use percussion or musket caps with standard nipples, as well as centerfire primers.
They incorporate a variety of actions.
They can have a break action, bolt action, plunger action [or striker fired], falling block, or a box lock type action with a simple hammer, among others.

Lol articap...i think mr.ugly sauce was being sarcastic about not knowing what an inline is.

Ugly Sauce said:

Could work. In the '61, the flash channel would be going right into the side of the cartridge. The flash does take a 90 degree turn, but I'm still thinking it could work.

I think I'll check it out, stand by for results...which may take a couple months. What is "inline"??

Click to expand...

Sir you might want to try and use a nipple primer..it will trickle a small amount of.black powder into the nipple cone and give your primer a little more "umph" so that you can ensure that the paper barier gets punched through and lights the powder. I have one made by Treso...that alone makes it possible for me to use homemade caps using only one roll cap

I will take that advice, and give it a try. I have noticed in the past that if there is powder in the nipple, it can cause a very slight delay in ignition. But, one thing I am not, and that is a flincher. !!!! I can shoot old military ammo with very long hang-fires, and turn in groups as well as with no hang fires. My 'follow-through" is solid. !!! And, I am a flintlock shooter.

So yeah, I'll check that out. Been meaning to get the "stuff" to make revolver combust-able cartridges anyway, so when I do that I'll try making some musket sized cartridges, and see what they do.

TheOutlawKid said:

Lol articap...i think mr.ugly sauce was being sarcastic about not knowing what an inline is.

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Me? Sarcastic? No never. Well yeah, I was. Sorry about that Articap. !!!!!!

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Just dont nitrate your paper. Works better without nitrating