Cleaner firing black powder

[Chris_B]

Currently my Dad and I are using Pyrodex (P?, I don't exactly recall). His pistol is a .44 Old Army Remington repro, mine is a .36 Colt Police repro, steel frame. I'm using a 20 gr load, and he's shooting the same

Cleaning is actually quite easy, but I did have the barrel pilots get fouled and jam the barrel onto the frame last time we were shooting- judiciously use of the loading lever pushed the barrel off, no trouble, but I have heard of a cleaner black powder. What's the story with that?

[Linear Thinker]

Chris,

There are a few competitors to Pyrodex out there, I tried Canyon (out of business) and American Pioneer.
Canyon powder was much harder to ignite, was not much cleaner than Pyrodex, and was hygroscopic. After a couple of years in original sealed cans it turned to inert clumps.
American Pioneer seems to be somewhat cleaner, and works well. I am not convinced it's any better than Pyrodex, and don't know if it will keep.
Pyrodex will store for 20+ years, from personal experience.
Your question was about clean alternatives - American Pioneer might be your ticket.
Good luck,
LT

[mec]

Pyrodex will store for 20+ years, from personal experience

A lot of people deny that but it's true. We shot some that had been opened and then put in a garage the first year it was introduced. Temperature ranged from -5 to 100+ degrees. Tried it out a couple of years ago and it was just as consistent as new stuff 'though velocities were a bit lower. I believe the older pyrodex was a bit milder than current lots (from looking at old published loading data.)

[45Marlin carbine]

777 is supposedly sulfur-less, I haven't tried any, have heard good and bad about. it's supposedly easier cleanup. I use black myself. Goex or Grafs.

[mykeal]

I've used 777 for the past couple of years, with an occasional cylinder or two of Goex holy black. I am very satisfied with 777; my experience is that its cleaner than real black (not a great deal, but noticeably) and cleans up easier. It does require different loads than real black for the same accuracy (within my ability to shoot).

[Raider2000]

Pyrodex will store for 20+ years, from personal experience.


I can not state for 20 years but I will say that I have an opened & an unopened container of Pyrodex P from about 12-14 years & used that opened container last weekend "see my thread" My day with my Chronograph (http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256967) & velocities were quite impressive especially when my home "2 different ones" have ranged from 102*F w/ 80% humidity down to a nice 62*F w/ maybe 30% humidity.

As far as using your Colt Police, it actually sticks on the Main Arbor not the frame pins where it gets 100% of the blast when you fire the weapon, & it has been normal tradition for me & a few others that have Colt designed Revolvers, to use the loading lever to help in dissassembly when many shots are fired through it....