BP In Modern Firearms

[Buck13]

"Is clean-up with that stuff any more forgiving than genuine black?"

Nope, it is the same. Maybe not as corrosive, over time, but no easier to clean.

Wouldn't that mean it's somewhat more forgiving of imperfect cleaning? Meaning less likely to damage the gun?

 

[woodnbow]

Wouldn't that mean it's somewhat more forgiving of imperfect cleaning? Meaning less likely to damage the gun?

Not really. Pyrodex or Black Powder fouling can create a mess of rust inside of 24 hours in the right (wrong) conditions. They’re both hydrophilic and contain corrosive salts.

 

[Dark Skies]

I was looking at a bottle of pyrodex in a local sporting goods shop recently and wondering if I should try it in some .43 Magnum handloads. Is clean-up with that stuff any more forgiving than genuine black?

No. Treat them all as equally corrosive. That said in my experience the clean up of the substitutes is a fraction easier. I literally hold the forcing cone end of the 1851 barrel under a boiling hot tap and run a soft test tube brush through a few times and all the crap is gone. Push a kitchen towel wad through to remove water, let the residual heat dry the barrel, then push a wad of oiled kitchen towel through and that's all the barrel needs. The rest of the gun cleans up just as easily.