What is Your Prefered Black Powder?

They do deliver all the time but not with that hazmat fee....there is no way I'm paying double for the privilege.

So you would not pay 18.30 per lb. of Goex for 10 lbs. or 1490 per lb for
25 lbs delivered to your door?

You pay the hazmat fee on every can of "powder" you buy.
How much gas can you buy to drive around town looking for powder to buy for 27.50$?

loose noose said:

I use anything in the real black powder as long as it is the real thing. Goex, KIK, Swiss, Elephant, like I said I won't even shoot the "make believes" in any of my many BP arms.

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Thats the attitude im talking about.

That attitude is fine for anyone who chooses it as they are more than welcome to form their own opinion. It's when they they are so angry they are spitting on you while berating you that I find it quite detracting.

Loose Noose, though I can only guess, didn't have the bad attitude I'm talking about. That's fine he feels that way, and I can certainly understand the sentiment of using traditional stuff in traditional weapons as that's what they used.

I'm not exactly traditional by any means, but I see the allure of it.

I really feel the old timers who are complaining about the old ways declining ought to relax a bit on their views and just help bring in those who are curious. After the hook has been set they can work on the traditional aspects. It worked on me!

I am not a "Traditionalist". I shoot a Rugar Old Army and a bunch of Italian made replica revolvers. They use modern percussion caps that are not manufactured in the way they were 150 years ago. I usually use black powder substitute as it is available in the retailers in my area and is affordable. My LGS does not want to mess with the special storage requirements, especially for a product that does not have much demand.

Yes I know I can order black power online. I don't want to tie up a lot of money ordering the "HOLY BLACK" in 25 pound kegs or any subsets there of. That quantity of powder is more than I want to keep on hand and a fire risk that I don't want to deal with for the next several years. I still have several containers of smokeless powders from reloading projects of years gone by.

For those that only shoot the "Holy Black" that is fine by me. It is your right to do so. Why do you fell it necessary to belittle those of us that use the subs? I dont understands why some of you fellows want to condemn those of us that use the subs. You treat us as if we farted in church or something worse.

As I have said before. I would use dirt or the droppings from the cat box as long as it puts the lead where I want it to go.

You can order black in as small as 5 lb lots.. That's not much powder if you're shooting much at all. Shooting 5 cylinders in a 44 will take 150 grs of powder per trip, that makes for 46 reloads per can...

That's not the point. I don't want to order black powder. I don't want to pay the hazmet fee. The subs work fine and are available.

The hazmat fee is applied to every shipment of powder that goes anywhere via common carrier. You pay it whether you see it or not.

I think the objection is to paying the hazmat fee for as little as five pounds, when the stores get powder they definitely aren't ordering five pounds. Yeah you pay for it one way or the other but that $25 +/- is amortized out over a lot more pounds when you buy it from a retail store.

Bower64 said:

Thats the attitude im talking about.

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I'm gonna suggest that you might be mistaking opinion for "attitude" on this one, of course I could be wrong since it's just my "opinion."

I personally don't care for substitutes. My reasons are my reasons and really should have nothing to do with what you put in your guns unless it becomes a safety issue. If I didn't have the financial wherewithal or availability of the real stuff within a hundred or so miles of home I most certainly would be shooting whatever I could find at the local gun shop.

Online the powders are typically a little cheaper, and the shipping takes the place of the tax and gas. So at about 3 pounds of powder I feel I come close to coming even. Now I'll just buy from Grafs.

I have a dealer about 15 minutes from my house who always has Goex in stock. There could be other brands available but the "Hassle to Benefit" ratio says go with whats immediately available, plentiful, and works well.
No rap on OTHER brands, I just like to keep things simple.

I'm also new at muzzleloading, but I am starting out with a rifle. Blackhorn 209 is definitely the best muzzleloading powder around, but it's sort of cheating. It's consistent measuring, low smoke and easy cleanup is not much different than handloading smokeless powder. The downside is the co$t at about $55/lb or about $0.50/shot.

I've been trying out Black MZ this week and at $23/lb it's less than half BH209. The upside is easy ignition, easy cleanup (again, Hoppes #9 and a few patches are all you need) and about as much smoke as real black powder but not the rotten egg sulpher smell, just a lot of white smoke so it looks realistic without the mess and corrosives.

The downside is terribly inconsistent drops unless you make your measurements exactly the same. You can get 10% difference just by tapping on the powder measure long enough. You can shoot 6-8 shots without swabbing, but a single dry patch cleans everything out so it doesn't take much extra time. I've fired 33 BH209 shots without swabbing.

For pistols, I would definitely recommend Black MZ. Lots of smoke, not very messy, fairly inexpensive and for short range, you don't need to worry about inconsistent powder drops.

777 in my old army...3" groups at 50 when my eyes arent crossed

Man, that would set new records at the Nationals that would never be broken.
You would go down in history. It appears there are lots of shooters on here
that are far above and better than any of the best shooters now and ever was
at the Nationals. Just goes to show you.

Khwi43 - I had a 5 shot quarter size group at 50 yds, offhand, last month in competition ....

The problem is they weren't in the 10 ring, and I couldn't hold steady enough to put the other 5 in there

But give me time...

The record is only a 98 3 X's. You will be breaking records in no time. Looks like your target
scores a 83.

Yeah Pyrodex P is fine when you first start out, but after a while you'll discover other "Real" black powders and you'll never look back. I still have 1 1/2lbs of Pyrodex that I put away and probably wont use. I've been shooting my own powder and wont ever buy another pound again ever

Great shooting Vagun!! At 50 yards? I thought they shoot at 25 yards for competition pistol? What are you using for a revolver and load?

They shoot 25 yds, 50yds and 100 yds in Pistol. Wife won the 100 yd match.

Crawdad1 said:

Great shooting Vagun!! At 50 yards? I thought they shoot at 25 yards for competition pistol? What are you using for a revolver and load?

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In the N-SSA we shoot 25 & 50 yd revolver. I shoot a Pietta Remington shooters model with 14g of Goex 4f & filler.

For the Muzzloaders at our Range the owners only allow Black Powder so there is no choice.At some other Ranges nearby Pyrodex is allowed.I personaly stick to BP since I shoot from a Historical Perspective.I would say from the Hunters point of view "whatever brings home the Meat" is a good maxim.

BP

I shoot Swiss FFFg mostly.Need to use BP....flintlocks, y'know.
Pete

Goex FFFG.