Bought some Pyrodex today

[MCgunner]

RS, for the Hawkin. But, I've got a question. What's the difference in Pyrodex RS and Pyrodex Select RS other than five bucks???? Is the Select worth getting at five dollars more? I just got the regular, all I've ever used in the past.

Thought about getting 777, but it was even higher and it doesn't look like it's a 1:1 by volume replacement like Pyrodex is. Might be worth playing with, though, but maybe some other time.

 

[dwave]

The 777 is more powerful than pyrodex and they suggest that you reduce loads by 15%. As far as the pyrodex, I don't know because I have only used pyrodex p.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Just in case you don't know, Pyrodex is more corrosive than black powder, so make sure you clean your gun well the same day you shoot it.

 

[mec]

I've use RS in a lyman great plains rifle and found it quite accurate. Also tried it out in a Plains pistol ( .50) and replica dragoon. In the handguns, it approximates Goex 3fg more closely than it does goex 2f. Velocites are slower than with pyrodex p but extreme spread is about the same.

Shooting my rifle I found that I needed to lightly swab the barrel after every second shot to keep the group going with black powder. I could get in a few more shots between cursory cleaning with pyrodex rs.

You can get a lot of shots out of a can of H777 but its a little less predictable than the Pyrodex powders. You really need a chronograph to tell if a given load is consistent.

 

[dwave]

Mec is right, 777 is "wild" so to speak. In my '51 navy I couldn't keep good groups because it is very sensitive to pressure.

 

[NEW222]

The main difference between Pyrodex RS and Select is the consistancy of the grains I have been told by a few people. I cannot prove this as I just switched to powder this fall, but the people who told me have been bp shooters for a long time, and are rather knowledgeable.

 

[MCgunner]

Tighter groups would be the purpose, I reckon, then. I'm not a target shooter shooting a target gun, will stick with the cheaper variety as it seems to work just fine for me. THANKS for the info!

Yeah, I've been using Pyrodex for decades, always clean up when I get home from the range or in the field after a weapon is fired, I'll do it that evening. One thing about the Hawkin I have that helps, I think, is it is chrome bore. I had a stainless Old Army, but the one I have now is carbon steel/blued. I soak the heck out of both guns after their soap and water scrubbing and drying with penetrating oil. I run bore butter down the Hawkins's tube rather than penetrating oil, not as easy to get out oil from the bore. I trust the butter won't foul powder quite so bad if any gets left in before loading.

It is completely impossible to get black powder down here. Oh, if you want to run to Houston, 120 miles to the SW side of town, you can get it, but there's only a couple of places there, I understand, that you can get it. I haven't bought a can of BP since about 1974 that I can recall.

I think I'll leave the 777 alone. Don't need the complication. Oh, I may buy a can to play with in the Hawkin if I walk in there flush with money sometime, don't know. I normally tamp the load down with pretty much the same pressure in the rifle. I'd like a little hands on, first hand knowledge of the stuff. If it was really clean, didn't have the corrosion problems, might be worth playing with.