Pyrodex in a Flintlock?

[D.Summers]

For flintlocks, use real black powder. Over and over again. Use the real stuff!!

 

[Grenadier1758]

There are far too many failures and slow to fire instances with Pyrodex that I have observed for me to recommend the use of Pyrodex in a flintlock. The last time I used Pyrodex was in a cap lock revolver. The inventor, Dan Pawlak was still alive. The time to fire delay was noticeable. I went back to my load of 3fg Dupont powder and never used Pyrodex again.

 

[Bergmann]

Pyrodex will often fail to fire in a flintlock. It has a higher ignition temperature than pure black. Some shooters start with a 5-10 grain load of real black powder and then some Pyrodex over that. Sounds like a lot of fussing and won't solve your problem. You will need real black powder to prime, for sure.

You can order Black Powder to be shipped to your home. I like The Maine Powder House (google it). Nice folks to deal with and fast service.

ADK Bigfoot

And if you have a place to store it, or friends to kick in for a share, buy a 25lb lot! The price isn't going down! Stock up on flints, too!

 

[Bergmann]

There are far too many failures and slow to fire instances with Pyrodex that I have observed for me to recommend the use of Pyrodex in a flintlock. The last time I used Pyrodex was in a cap lock revolver. The inventor, Dan Pawlak was still alive. The time to fire delay was noticeable. I went back to my load of 3fg Dupont powder and never used Pyrodex again.

I tested Pyrodex back when it was fairly new on the market! Using BP and a percussion rifle in .50, I could hit a target at 100yds. Switching to the same load using Pyrodex ,the ball went into the dirt a couple of yards in front of the target! That told me all I needed to know about Pyrodex! I haven't used it since! Not saying it doesn't have its uses - just that I have no use for it! Not worth the time to try to make it shoot in a flinter! IMHO

 

[Nuthatch]

Not sure where ‘around here’ is (your user profile doesn’t give us a clue), but if your are somewhere in the US Lower 48 you can have black powder delivered. And just maybe there is a LGS that carries it. If you already have the Pyrodex and a flintlock, try it for yourself. Won’t hurt anything, except maybe your pride it there are witnesses and it doesn’t work. The FFFg Pyrodex would likely be easier to light up.

I'm in Fresno, CA. No local gun shops have it -- I've asked. None of them want to store it. We do have a local black powder club but contact is spotty when I've reached out. I know the range that they shoot at is not a good one. Might have to look on the Central Coast area as those folks just seem more organized & with it.

 

[Nuthatch]

Dobermans & Flints - friends who shoot black powder? Ha! That's a good one! I'm sure they're out there. We don't really even have muzzleloader seasons in CA -- just muzzleloader hunts on lottery tags. If I was looking for some kind of special mod for an AR -- that's easy to come by, ironically considering our state gun laws. But black powder is a rare commodity that I've never seen in real life -- ever.

 

[springfield art]

I hear the real deal black powder is best. But I think I'd have an easier time making my own than trying to buy some around here. I'd like to try a flintlock but I've heard that Pyrodex and flinters don't mix. Or, at the least, I'd need some legit BP in the priming pan. Alas, the only loose powder I can find around here is Pyrodex in FFg or FFFg. Opinions, please. Can the substitutes work in flintlocks with good ignition? Or is it just an exercise in frustration?

Nein. Nyet. Verboten. NO! Use the black, you'll never go back!

 

[Sidney Smith]

If you're gonna use a kicker charge of some real black anyway, then why bother using the pyrodex at all?

 

[Black Powder Guy]

Google Buffalo Arms. They have black powder and it comes in at the low of 5 lbs. It cost me $162.99. Brian

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I hear the real deal black powder is best. But I think I'd have an easier time making my own than trying to buy some around here. I'd like to try a flintlock but I've heard that Pyrodex and flinters don't mix. Or, at the least, I'd need some legit BP in the priming pan. Alas, the only loose powder I can find around here is Pyrodex in FFg or FFFg. Opinions, please. Can the substitutes work in flintlocks with good ignition? Or is it just an exercise in frustration?

The reason Pyrodex doesn't work for beans in a flintlock is that its flash temperature is about 450° higher than real black powder. So it really takes a much hotter spark than a flintlock can more than occasionally provide. A percussion cap will provide a hot enough spark, but not a flintlock.

You can run a mix of a small bed of black powder with the rest of the main charge Pyrodex and that will work because the real BP will ignite and that is hot enough in the breech to ignite the rest of the powder. I think the common mix is 20% of the charge BP and 80% Pyrodex. I don't use it myself but others here have and I'm sure will chime in. But don't put it in the flash pan and expect it to do anything. I remember my first reenactment back in the very early 2000's and I couldn't find any BP around. So I tried some 777. That would go off every once in a while but you never knew when that was going to be.

I lived in Vermont at the time and then found out that there was a dealer in all kinds of explosives about 6-miles away and they had every grade and type of BP you could imagine because they sold it to the local Slate Quarries. The quarries liked to us BP for their explosive because it had lower frequency and deeper vibrations when it exploded, which would break of larger chunks of slate.

The modern explosives had a higher frequency explosion and that resulted in much smaller pieces of slate and for some reason they couldn't use the diamond blade cutters that Slate mines use to get big blocks out. There was a slate quarry about 2-miles away from our house and every once in a while they would use more BP than was legal for them to use. It worked great at getting big chunks and blocks, but it would also knock everything off our shelves and all the pictures off our walls. I had to file a complaint with them a couple of times and warn them I was documenting the dates and times before they stopped doing it on a regular basis. Anyhow, if you happen to have any "mining supply" stores in your area, check with them to see if they sell Black Powder. You'll never see it on display. By law they keep it in the back or in a safe.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

I was sighting in one of the newer percussion rifles, and I kept laddering my shots. No consistency from shot to shot, but I was using two of the little P-dex pellets. So, took everything back home, set up my scale, and measured the pellets.
No two were the same! Check weights for the cylinders (supposedly 50 gr pellets) ran from 42 grains to 55 grains. Made a BIG difference when I went to using the old flintlock and used 100 gr of powder (measured) in each shot - NO LADDERING. And kinda enjoyed lighting off the pellets.

 

[toot]

Flintlock and fake powder don't mix.

well I have used 7-7, TRIPPLE 7 in flint locke's and it will go off & doesn't eat up your gun the way PYRODEX will. now you will still have to use BP, to prime with. and clean up is a pleasant chore!

 

[toot]

if you worry about T-7 going off in a flinter, put 10 grs. of BP, under the main barrel charge 2 or 3F , doesn't matter. I have done it either way, with BP, under the main charge & none, just 7-7.

 

[toot]

Nein. Nyet. Verboten. NO! Use the black, you'll never go back!

now where have I herd that before?? the never go back part?

 

[smoothshooter]

I hear the real deal black powder is best. But I think I'd have an easier time making my own than trying to buy some around here. I'd like to try a flintlock but I've heard that Pyrodex and flinters don't mix. Or, at the least, I'd need some legit BP in the priming pan. Alas, the only loose powder I can find around here is Pyrodex in FFg or FFFg. Opinions, please. Can the substitutes work in flintlocks with good ignition? Or is it just an exercise in frustration?

Order as much as you can afford ( plus a few pounds extra ) and have it shipped to your house. Problem solved.
Don’t wait too long. The days of being able to have powder shipped to your house are probably numbered.

 

[Nuthatch]

Yes! Found some yesterday. After about a dozen calls, I found somebody who used to be on the Rendezvous circuit and carries all sorts of stuff to sell, including real black powder. Hoping to meet up with him in a couple weeks.

 

[Sergio Natali]

I don't think that Pirodex even exists here in Europe.
Although I'm not an expert I've been shooting muzzleloaders since 2011 but like everybody else I've only used Swiss BP.