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Black Powder is not impact or friction sensitive. I load BP rocket engines and fountains and it's done with a wooden mallet and aluminum or stainless rods that fit around the spindle ( core former ). You can pound BP all you like. It's not even a true explosive, it's been classified that way, but it's a deflagrant ( it burns end to end, not all at once ). I trust BP safety a little more since it's been around so long and we all know it's characteristics well. I have a friend who had pyrodex ignite from static or friction once, he was using newspaper to funnel some into a flask and it went up. Luckily it just flared up in the flask and he had only minor burns on his hands.
I've never had ignition problems with BP, I have with pyrodex and 777. Both pyrodex and 777 are more hygroscopic, they absorb moisture from the air easily becuase they use sugar based fuels like fructose. BP uses charcoal as the fuel, more messy and smoky, but more reliable ignition and dryer powder.
777 is a good substitute, I'd like to see Pyrodex phased out by Hodgdon so they can save money in production and start selling 777 for a reasonable price.
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