Black powder substitue and moisture

Sea Buck · November 13, 2012, 10:35 AM

Deer season is nearly over and I have not connected. This means I'll take my Wolf ML to the range with last years 777 pellets. Some will fire some will not. I will then throw them away and buy some new ones. Any powders out there that do not attract moisture? I store my powder like I store my firearms:as low humidity as possible.

Pahoo · November 13, 2012, 11:20 AM

Storage and age, does make a difference on performance. I have also had problems with older pellets. With age, they have a tendancy to burn like solid rocket fuel. Kind of neat how they fly and burn, going down range but this is not what I'm looking for. Just another reason for me to go to loose powder. A few years back, I contacted Hodgdon to inquire about shelf life of 777. They never replied. In my book, there is no such thing as an easy cleaning or perfect M/L propellant. To date, all are suspect but some are bettter than others. However, to be fair, I have not tried Blackhorn-209. ...

I have often wondered if these pellets could be regenerated by drying in a warm, dry enviroment. .....

Be Safe !!!

Doyle · November 13, 2012, 11:24 AM

No. All black powder and substitutes are extremely hygroscopic. If you really want to protect it from moisture, get yourself a food vacuum sealer and seal up your powder. You could go so far as to break up a new batch into quantities you would anticipate using during one range day.

Hawg · November 13, 2012, 06:49 PM

I never had a problem with Pyrodex powder going bad.

FrontierGander · November 13, 2012, 07:23 PM

be sure to clean out the carbon from the breech plugs flash channel with a #32 or 3mm drill bit as shown.

shortwave · November 13, 2012, 08:17 PM

Sure it's the pellets going bad? Or are you just having ignition problems with the pellets in general?

Maybe your setup would be more reliable with loose powder. Lack of ignition consistency is the reason many don't use pellets. Nothing worse then hunting hard all day and when you finally get a shot, you either get the snap of the cap or only one of the two pellets fire.

Sea Buck · November 14, 2012, 10:16 AM

I'm going with Buckhorn 209.I Googled it and read all the different posts from other forums.Very few dislikes,mostly rave reviews.

shortwave · November 14, 2012, 12:28 PM

Quote:

I'm going with Buckhorn 209.

Assuming you meant Blackhorn 209, I have to ask again...what kind of primers are you using with your 777 pellets?

If your current primers are the issue with the 777 pellets not firing, the same primers may produce a problem as well with the Blackhorn since the Blackhorn requires a fairly hot primer to be consistent.

FrontierGander · November 14, 2012, 12:28 PM

does your wolf have the finger removable breech plug?

Sea Buck · November 15, 2012, 10:25 AM

Opps sorry..Blackhorn 209...I use Winchester primers...my Wolf has a breech plug wrench..I use a dab of anti-seize on the threads and seat it firmly but not over tight...my breech plug is always removed after a firing session and cleaned inside and out.

FrontierGander · November 15, 2012, 05:23 PM

probably going to have to mod your breech plug to fire BH209. The older wolf has some pretty good blow by so you may want to check into this if it has the removable firing pin bushing.
http://gandersmuzzleloadingblog.blog...ent-shims.html

wachtelhund1 · November 15, 2012, 08:13 PM

Today I fired Blackhorn 209 powder for the first time. Seemed a whole lot cleaner burning. I described how I moded my Lyman BP in post http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=506479 .

November 13, 2012, 10:35 AM	#1
Sea Buck Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2008 Location: New England,Florida Snow Bird Posts: 312	Black powder substitue and moisture Deer season is nearly over and I have not connected. This means I'll take my Wolf ML to the range with last years 777 pellets. Some will fire some will not. I will then throw them away and buy some new ones. Any powders out there that do not attract moisture? I store my powder like I store my firearms:as low humidity as possible.

November 13, 2012, 11:20 AM	#2
Pahoo Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2006 Location: IOWA Posts: 8,783	There are always trade-offs Storage and age, does make a difference on performance. I have also had problems with older pellets. With age, they have a tendancy to burn like solid rocket fuel. Kind of neat how they fly and burn, going down range but this is not what I'm looking for. Just another reason for me to go to loose powder. A few years back, I contacted Hodgdon to inquire about shelf life of 777. They never replied. In my book, there is no such thing as an easy cleaning or perfect M/L propellant. To date, all are suspect but some are bettter than others. However, to be fair, I have not tried Blackhorn-209. ... I have often wondered if these pellets could be regenerated by drying in a warm, dry enviroment. ..... Be Safe !!! __________________ 'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

November 13, 2012, 07:23 PM	#5
FrontierGander Senior Member Join Date: January 30, 2009 Location: Boncarbo,Colorado Posts: 651	be sure to clean out the carbon from the breech plugs flash channel with a #32 or 3mm drill bit as shown. __________________ https://buckskinsbp.blogspot.com/

November 14, 2012, 12:28 PM	#9
FrontierGander Senior Member Join Date: January 30, 2009 Location: Boncarbo,Colorado Posts: 651	does your wolf have the finger removable breech plug? __________________ https://buckskinsbp.blogspot.com/

November 15, 2012, 05:23 PM	#11
FrontierGander Senior Member Join Date: January 30, 2009 Location: Boncarbo,Colorado Posts: 651	probably going to have to mod your breech plug to fire BH209. The older wolf has some pretty good blow by so you may want to check into this if it has the removable firing pin bushing. http://gandersmuzzleloadingblog.blog...ent-shims.html __________________ https://buckskinsbp.blogspot.com/

November 13, 2012, 11:24 AM	#3
Doyle Senior Member Join Date: June 20, 2007 Location: Rainbow City, Alabama Posts: 7,167	No. All black powder and substitutes are extremely hygroscopic. If you really want to protect it from moisture, get yourself a food vacuum sealer and seal up your powder. You could go so far as to break up a new batch into quantities you would anticipate using during one range day.

November 13, 2012, 06:49 PM	#4
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,188	I never had a problem with Pyrodex powder going bad.

November 13, 2012, 08:17 PM	#6
shortwave Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 2007 Location: SOUTHEAST, OHIO Posts: 5,970	Sure it's the pellets going bad? Or are you just having ignition problems with the pellets in general? Maybe your setup would be more reliable with loose powder. Lack of ignition consistency is the reason many don't use pellets. Nothing worse then hunting hard all day and when you finally get a shot, you either get the snap of the cap or only one of the two pellets fire.

November 14, 2012, 10:16 AM	#7
Sea Buck Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2008 Location: New England,Florida Snow Bird Posts: 312	I'm going with Buckhorn 209.I Googled it and read all the different posts from other forums.Very few dislikes,mostly rave reviews.

November 15, 2012, 10:25 AM	#10
Sea Buck Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2008 Location: New England,Florida Snow Bird Posts: 312	Opps sorry..Blackhorn 209...I use Winchester primers...my Wolf has a breech plug wrench..I use a dab of anti-seize on the threads and seat it firmly but not over tight...my breech plug is always removed after a firing session and cleaned inside and out.

November 15, 2012, 08:13 PM	#12
wachtelhund1 Senior Member Join Date: January 4, 2007 Location: pelican lake, WI Posts: 413	Today I fired Blackhorn 209 powder for the first time. Seemed a whole lot cleaner burning. I described how I moded my Lyman BP in post http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=506479 .

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