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Old November 17, 2010, 07:06 AM   #23
B.L.E.
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Join Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Somewhere on the Southern shore of Lake Travis, TX
Posts: 2,603
Most muzzleloaders have an ignition system that is totally unsuitable for smokeless powder. Black powder only wants to be set on fire and that's what percussion caps and nipples with their tiny vent holes were designed to do.
The modern cartridge and primers of modern guns don't just set the powder charge on fire, the primer establishes the initial high pressure in the case that the smokeless powder needs to burn efficiently. That's one reason that a good crimp is so important in modern guns.
The primer alone in a .22Hornet will propell a .22 caliber air rifle pellet set in the case neck with enough velocity to shoot it through a beer can.

I have successfully made smokeless work in a Ruger Old Army but only after using a small charge of FFFFg to act as a kicker to get the smokeless to burn like it's supposed to. Without the black powder kicker charge, I only got failure to fires and squibs.
To really make this revolver smokeless powder friendly, you would need a special cylinder that uses sealed shotgun primers instead of percussion caps.
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