My father believed a sharp enough impact could cause black powder to ignite and as a result of this fear (unfounded) he never had black powder, he would only shoot pyrodex and had me afraid to use the stuff. I didn't shoot actual holey black until about 13 years ago. Was just sure it was a dangerous substance and likely to blow up...
Now I only shoot Black Powder and the last can of pyrodex I bought has been sitting in my stuff untouched for about 12 years now. Just prefer BP. I find it is less stinky than pyrodex.
I totally agree with cynthialee.
Did you ever hear that dull knives (or carpentry tools) are causing more and worse injuries than properly sharpened blades? To my experience, Pyrodex and other BP substitutes are dull blades.
When BP substitutes became available for the BP shooting society in Europe, like all novelties we just needed to get hold of it, no matter what... even though there never was a real need for Pyrodex and others.
Especially in Germany (the homeland of red tape) there were laws against using Pyrodex - and lots of regulations.
Like one law requiring your firearm to be tested (proofed) for the use with BP substitutes.
You guys in America probably haven't even heard about "proof marks" on firearms?
Well, if you import an "unproofed" firearm or barrel, before ever firing on shot from it the barrel needs to be "proofed" by one of the Federal firearms proofing facilities. These facilities test fire each barrel with overloads. If the barrel stands up to the pressure, it is stamped with a date and the seal of the testing facility. Using unproofed (unmarked) barrels is illegal in Germany.
Before these authorities even got around to developping proofing standards for Pyrodex, the urge to use BB substitutes
faded out in Germany. Shooters who had hoped to see improvements through BB substitutes, soon found that there was no benefit at all to gain from using Pyrodex.
I have tried all available grades of Pyrodex für muzzle loaders, as well as CTG (for reloading 40-70 Sharps straight, .45-70 Gov. and .50-70 Gov, and I found all of them inferior to good old genuine black powder.