American Pioneer Powder question

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

My understanding is that their (pelletized powder) pellets are square instead of round so as not to infringe on the patent held by Pyrodex and/or Triple 7, so that raises questions:

1. Are Pyrodex and Triple 7 round pellets made by the same company (which holds said patent)?

2. Most patents are 14 years, but some are shorter - does anyone know when the patent will expire so that American Pioneer can lose the stupid square ones and make round ones?

 

[arcticap]

Folks have posted here that the sticks are very inconsistent and may even need to be crushed up in order to burn completely.
So does it even make any difference that they're square?
Maybe it's just part of the nature of their formula that it won't work as well in any pelletized form.
And that's beside the fact that the weight of the sticks can vary by 5 grains or more.

 

[mykeal]

Pyrodex and 777 are both made by Hodgdon's.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

So does it even make any difference that they're square?

Yes it does, particularly *because* they are inconsistent. Dropping in round pellets is a LOT easier than crushing square sticks AND THEN measuring.

Pyrodex and 777 are both made by Hodgdon's.

Ah, yes, of course - so that makes perfect sense.

And that's beside the fact that the weight of the sticks can vary by 5 grains or more.

Ya know, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that that might *just* have something to do with it as well!

 

[Mark whiz]

And even IF Hodgedon's patent "sunsets" it won't help the APP pellets. Back when they were CleanShot and made their pellets round (before the lawsuit) - those pellets sucked HARD! You could literally see flaming hunks of pellets flying downrange when the conditions were right. I tried some of their 30gr .45cal pellets in my 1858 revolver once.....................they were SO anemic that the balls wouldn't even make it to the paper 15 yards away.

APP (CleanShot) loose powder actually works pretty good IF you can keep it from absorbing moisture - a bottle can go bad in minutes if you aren't very careful with it. It is also weak compared to 777 or Pyro - I need 25gr extra powder to equal a similiar load of 777 and 15gr more to equal a Pyro RS load.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

could literally see flaming hunks of pellets flying downrange when the conditions were right.

Cool - pyrotechnics! Kill AND cook the deer with one shot! Seriously, thanks for the info; hrmmmm. Jim Shockey sure has killed a lot of big mean animals with this powder (allegedly), including elephant and cape buff.

 

[Mark whiz]

I've killed with it too - a nice corsican ram and a wild boar.............but it was with loose powder. The stuff IS really clean shooting - but on the downside is it's weaker level of power and keeping it dry; I had a bottle literally go bad on me overnight - I can't trust that for hunting when I'm relying on 1 shot to get the job done.
But their pellets are just junk - I've not known anyone personally who had anything good to say about them.