went out to day and shot for an hour or so with pyrodex fffg powder no probs at all. i changed out all 6 nipples in my new army and loaded up with the pellets.the first 6 shots worked fine. loaded up pellets again 2 out of 6 hang fired. that happens now and then. load her back up with pellets 3 out of 6 didnt go off so i put new primes on and 1 went off with the longest hang fire ever the other 2 nope. 2 more primers nothing. brake out the cordless drill and brass screw and pulled the loads out.go back to the fffg powder and shot for a nother 1/2 hour. no probs at all. just my 2 cents
pyrodex pellets suck bad
- Thread starter husker
- Start date
- Status
arcticap
Member
Gee, I wonder if the ignition would improve with a few grains of loose powder loaded into the bottom of the cylinder first?
Since one side of the pellet is supposed to be loaded downward, could some of them have been inserted into the cylinder upside down?
Since one side of the pellet is supposed to be loaded downward, could some of them have been inserted into the cylinder upside down?
scrat
Member
Pyrodex pellots you have to also make sure the black side is down. IF not you will have hangfires and fail to fires. If and when you have a fail to fire. pull the nipple off. pour in some black. then it will fire. For those pellots though you almost have to put some black in the cylinder. then it depends on caps and nipples as well. i found that the #11 CCI Magnum caps work best for shooting pellots.
Pulp
Member
The pellets are easy to crush while seating the bullet. If crushed they may be harder to ignite. They work fine in cartridges such as .45Colt and .44-40 Winchester, but I haven't had much luck with Pyrodex in cap and ball. Pellets or powder. Seems I always have a slight but noticeable delay 'twixt pop and boom.
WilliamFeldmann
Member
When I bought my first Remington years ago i bought 200 pellets, cause I thought it would be easier. Same problem, every time I try for reloads. I can't figure it out.
Then I tried about a 5 grain BP charge in the bottom then the pellet. Never had a hang fire since. Of course, why prime the cylinder with your flask just to drop in a pellet. Thats why I still have about 100 of those pellets left (they are near 5 years old, i should really use them up already).
Then I tried about a 5 grain BP charge in the bottom then the pellet. Never had a hang fire since. Of course, why prime the cylinder with your flask just to drop in a pellet. Thats why I still have about 100 of those pellets left (they are near 5 years old, i should really use them up already).
ya im done with it. ill try making some firer cracker with whats left. i cant see any diff in the color of the pellet. they told me about that before i left the store. no real money lost. just wanted some feed back so thanks guys. after i go through this bottle of fffg pyro powder id like to try something else. like real B-P powder any suggestions?
Smokin_Gun
Member
When I order I get mine here...ordered10/lbs. a KIK last time ... have always used Goex.
Cost includes hazmat fees to your door.
http://www.powderinc.com/
frontiergander
Member
why are you using pellets? Thats a lot of money to be spending. 20 grains pyrodex P would cost a hell of a lot less and last you a long time.
it was only like $12 for the can. it was something i wanted to try. if it worked as good as powder i would use it. it dose make loading easy.and yes a 100 shots for 12 bucks vs 15 for a bottle of fffg powder. it dosent make muck scene to buy pellets if you have all the stuff for loading powder which i do.i think its more geared for the hunter who just once to make a kill and then the gun goes back into storage i have a few friends like this. they wont spend the money for flasks, measures, ect,
Been shooting black for over a half century now, and I have never found any substitute for DuPont ( sorry Goex) black. Pellets are unreliable, 777 is not consistent, Pyrodex is probably best but isn't as powerful as black. hey, it has worked fine for 1,000 years or so. Why change?
lagerratrobe
Member
Have now shot 100 pellets of Pyrodex P through my Pietta 1858 and have not had a single problem - period. I find them to be incredibly convenient to use at my local pistol range. Yes, the gun gets dirty afterwards. I clean it. My normal shooting session is 24 to 48 shots.
Been shooting black for over a half century now, and I have never found any substitute for DuPont ( sorry Goex) black. Pellets are unreliable, 777 is not consistent, Pyrodex is probably best but isn't as powerful as black. hey, it has worked fine for 1,000 years or so. Why change?
I've not been shooting for nearly as long as you've probably been cleaning yours but I have done a good bit of asking questions and researching, and I've done my best to shoot as much as possible which was no less than once a month spending nearly half a day there.
I wouldn't care much (never tried them) for pellets unless I could make my own since you can't tailor your loads. 30 grns might be fine for someone and may be a compromise for me. I'll take the more accurate load as long as the velocity is good. I have made paper cartridges quite a bit and enjoy using them. Quicker than a pellet too as it's an all in one thing.
With every chronographed result I see standard Goex at the bottom of the energy level. Pyrodex RS is more energetic than 3F standard Goex by a fair margin. To be fair my interest here is concerning my revolvers as their capacity is quite limited.
When I first received my Ruger Old Army I wondered if it was useful for hunting, and if it was similar to the .45 Colt. Many forums and their patrons told me it was no more powerful than a .38 Spl and inhumane. What these people didn't know was that their powders were among the weaker ones, which is why the performance was so pathetic despite the powder charge being no less than the .45 Scofield with a conical.
Come to find out my Ruger can outdo the standard .45 Colt loads with around 500 ft/lbs of energy with a conical IF I use Swiss, Olde Eynsford (by Goex), or Triple 7.
I couldn't find Swiss locally and Olde E wasn't available then so I went with T7, which worked quite fine through my Ruger, my Remington NMA, and my Lyman rifle. I've never had an issue. But I had to try real BP and found Olde E online and tried it. Great stuff and I use it more often than T7 as it's cheaper and smokier.
My father gave me three cans of Pyrodex with the Ruger, and though it works fine and is certainly more energetic than standard Goex, I dislike the fouling it leaves, and still have some all these years later.
J-Bar
Member
Pellets were designed for inline muzzleloaders, to be ignited by a 209 shotshell primer. They work just fine for that application. Pyrodex has a higher ignition temperature than "real" black powders. So it's no surprise that Pyrodex Pellets are hard to ignite, too. When I used granulated Pyrodex in a percussion revolver I would frequently get a fraction of a second delay, a "pop-bang" effect, when shooting with percussion caps. I don't get any perceptible delay using any "real" black powder in percussion revolvers. I like Pyrodex granules in cartridges and shotshells...no problems with ignition at all, and I think it burns cleaner than Goex.
As always, your mileage may vary.
As always, your mileage may vary.
The pistol pellets aren't meant for inlines though.
From their site:
Cap and Ball revolvers just entered the modern age! No flask or spout, no loose powder mess; loading has never been cleaner or easier. These 30 grain volume Pellets are intended for use in 44 or 45 caliber cap and ball revolvers. Packed 100 pellets to the jar. May be used in 45 caliber in-line muzzleloading rifles in conjunction with 50 grain pellets in combinations not exceeding 100 grains.
And with that said these aren't meant for 209 primers.
From their site:
Cap and Ball revolvers just entered the modern age! No flask or spout, no loose powder mess; loading has never been cleaner or easier. These 30 grain volume Pellets are intended for use in 44 or 45 caliber cap and ball revolvers. Packed 100 pellets to the jar. May be used in 45 caliber in-line muzzleloading rifles in conjunction with 50 grain pellets in combinations not exceeding 100 grains.
And with that said these aren't meant for 209 primers.
J-Bar
Member
Also from the Hodgdon website, the .50 and .54 caliber pellets were the first ones on the market and were intended for inline rifles:
"The original Pyrodex Pellet designed for use in 50 caliber, in-line rifles. A single 50/50 pellet may be used for a light target or small game load while two 50/50 pellets may be combined to provide a potent 100 gr. equivalent load for big game. They are packed 100 pellets to the box and 24 pellets to the card. It may be used with standard caps, musket caps or 209 ignition systems."
Those friends of mine who tired using percussion caps found ignition less reliable than those using the 209 primer. Their experiences were echoed by a whole bunch of other shooters.
The smaller diameter pellets came on the market later, and were tried in percussion revolvers and even brass cartridges with varying success. (See the OP's comments).
If you like 'em, use 'em; to each his own. No doubt Hodgdon would like everyone to use them in their revolvers, considering the cost.
lagerratrobe
Member
I agree that the inability to tailor a load is an excellent reason to not use pellets. And perhaps the fouling is worse with Pyrodex - I simply don't know, but the ignition problems mentioned here and elsewhere have not been an issue for me, at all. So far I have found them practical in reducing the number of items I have to bring to the range with me and in giving me a consistent charge to practice with.
And that's a big reason I've not cared to even try them. They've accepted plenty of my money from loose 3F T7!
That is until I found 3F Olde E... Now they get the scraps.
Malachi Leviticus Blue
Member
I don't agree that pellets are more convenient. The pellets are unnecessarily limiting. One can of loose powder of your choice will work with multiple pistols, revolvers, rifles, and the smooth bores.
Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy
What a crock! Somewhere around here there is a container of Pyrodex pellets I won as a door prize at a CAS match. Don't even know where they are, I never used them. Pouring in loose powder is so difficult!
Patocazador
Member
"pyrodex pellets suck bad"
All Pyrodex sucks bad. It also corrodes worse than most of the subs. Use REAL black powder and you'll be a lot happier.
All Pyrodex sucks bad. It also corrodes worse than most of the subs. Use REAL black powder and you'll be a lot happier.
Exactly! I don't mind one bit measuring my charges at the range. I can see how match shooters would like premeasured charges, both for precision as it can be weighed, and for ease. I bought powder containers for both pistols and rifle for hunting. This is more to reduce the stuff I'd need to carry.
lagerratrobe
Member
So far, what I see from people who are posting anti-Pyrodex comments is mostly opinion with a smattering of factual experience thrown in. Those little nuggets of factual experience seem to imply 3 general complaints with the product:
- Increased fouling
- Difficulties with ignition
- Increased corrosion, even after proper cleaning
I've used a fair bit of Pyrodex P and RS. It's not so much an increased amount of fouling that I noticed unless you compare it to say Triple 7, which I've used quite a bit of.
My fouling complaint with it is this somewhat sticky like fouling. It's just different.
I never had any ignition issues with it and it was some old stuff with one bottle having been opened long ago (the sticker showed a price of under $10). The pellets I've heard of having issues.
Pyrodex isn't corrosive once it's been cleaned. However it does begin corroding quicker than BP. My rifle had a quick water patch (both sides) followed by an alcohol patch (both sides) and let it sit over night and found a rusty mess.
There's a fellow who did a test on steel plates with T7, Pyrodex, and BP leaving them in the garage for 4 days and found Pyrodex much worse than BP. T7 was nearly pristine.
Other than fouling it's not as energetic as T7, Swiss, or Olde E, and my guns are used for hunting. Pyrodex is more powerful than many other BPs though. It's somewhere in the middle.
My fouling complaint with it is this somewhat sticky like fouling. It's just different.
I never had any ignition issues with it and it was some old stuff with one bottle having been opened long ago (the sticker showed a price of under $10). The pellets I've heard of having issues.
Pyrodex isn't corrosive once it's been cleaned. However it does begin corroding quicker than BP. My rifle had a quick water patch (both sides) followed by an alcohol patch (both sides) and let it sit over night and found a rusty mess.
There's a fellow who did a test on steel plates with T7, Pyrodex, and BP leaving them in the garage for 4 days and found Pyrodex much worse than BP. T7 was nearly pristine.
Other than fouling it's not as energetic as T7, Swiss, or Olde E, and my guns are used for hunting. Pyrodex is more powerful than many other BPs though. It's somewhere in the middle.
Malachi Leviticus Blue
Member
You sound like your mind is made up that the advice you have read is mostly unsubstantiated opinion and that Pyrodex is the best choice for you.
However, you did still ask the humorous question.
Since failures to ignite, increased fouling when it does ignite, and more corrosion afterwards does not paint a compelling enough picture for you. I will add that Pyrodex also has a much shorter shelf life. Extremely short when exposed to moisture, whereas Black Powder has a virtually indefinite shelf life, even if exposed to moisture, as long as you dry it out before attempting to ignite it.
...and for bonus points, In my opinion Black Powder smells a lot better when you're shooting!
Driftwood Johnson
Member
The nearest place to buy Black Powder for me used to be one hour away. I would make the trip every few months and buy a few pounds to make it worth my while. It was a really good, well stocked gun store, so I enjoyed going there every few months. Then they stopped carrying real BP and the next closest place was an hour and a half away. That's when I decided to go in with a pal and buy 25 pounds at a time from one of the larger distributors. Buying 25 pounds at a time cut the cost per pound down, and it costs just about the same as Pyrodex. Buying in quantity means I don't have to resupply as often.
- Status
Similar threads
