bad powder?

[Whacked]

so I went to the range today.
Nothing like a little fire & brimstone in a indoor range

Anyways, during one round I had a spent cap jam up the cylinder.
It was a bit hairy (I had cylinders still loaded), but I removed the barrel and cylinder to get it out.
While it was apart I cleaned up the arbor a bit as the cylinder wasn't rotating smoothly and the residue made getting the cylinder off the arbor a pita.

The next cylinder load I ran into problems.
the first shot fired fine. second was a pop and a LOT of sparks, almost like a sparkler.
Anyways, not sure what went wrong so I treated it like a misfire.
After verifying the gun did fire and the ball was not in the barrel I fired again.
Same thing. All of the remaining rounds were like that.

The only thing I can think of was bad powder. I was using pyrodex pellets.
only other thing is maybe I still had a little TC #13 on my hands after cleaning the arbor.
That doesnt seem too likely as I always keep a rag at the station to remove some of the grease and bp soot from my hands.

Anyone else experience something similar?
I'm probably the only one here that uses pellets in a pistol, but once my new powder measures come in I'm gonna switch to 777.

 

[Skinny 1950]

The pellets were designed for rifles and probably what is happening is fragments of the pellet are being spewed out and then igniting outside the gun. I have tried Triple Seven in cap and ball revolvers and found that huge amounts of soot got into the trigger works requiring a complete teardown every 150-200 rounds,switched to black powder (Goex FFFG) problem solved.

 

[arcticap]

I don't know if it's true or not that Pyrodex pellets have a pad of black powder to promote ignition and need to be loaded with that side facing down.

In fact, blackpowder is added as the “igniter pad” to Pyrodex pellets . . . where the loading of a pellet backwards may result in a misfire for #11 capped firearms.

http://randywakeman.com/PropellantChoices.htm

When I examined Pyrodex rifle pellets I couldn't detect where any layer of black powder was applied.
On the other hand, they're said to have a short shelf life.
All that I know is they work in some guns.
Have they worked well in your gun before?

Here's a video that shows how well Pyrodex Pellets can work in C&B revolvers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGkxQBtWOG8&feature=player_embedded

 

[Whacked]

Skinny:
These are most definitely pistol pellets. Apparently a new thing from Hodgdon.
44/45 caliber 30 grain volume equivalent

Articap:
I looked at the pellets. cant tell one side from another. I even read the little pamphlet thingy that was inside. No mention of different sides. the gun is new as are the pellets. I've fired about 40 rounds total

 

[Noz]

I know from experience that damp Pyrodex can make for spectacular shooting. In a shot gun, the shot barely makes it to the target but the special effects are fantastic. Flames, balls of fire, melted shells, burning plastic fun. After the first two, I retired the remainder of the shells made during that loading session.
Pyrodex does funny things on occasion.

 

[Whacked]

Well, tomorrow going to order a mess of sized flask spouts from DGW so I can ditch the pellets entirely.

 

[Pulp]

I found that with the Pyro pellets I would crush the pellet while seating the ball. That caused delayed fire, but never anything like you're describing.

Your loads would be wonderful for a night shoot.

 

[Noz]

Pulp, I loaded a set of shells with SKIRMISH Fg for the Illinois State night shoot last year.
Big mistake. Spectacular for the spectators but first shot destroyed all night vision for each stage. They said my burning powder was bouncing off of the target faces.
I literally had to shoot from memory on all stages.