Pyrodex RS

[Thunderchild]

I went down to Wall mart to get some stuff and saw that Pyrodex RS was on sale for 9 dollars a pound. It was marked down from 16 dollars a pound. I asked if they were not going to stock it any more and they said that they are clearing the shelves until next hunting season.

I got four and I wish I had more money to buy more.

I still can't find Black powder in my area. When The pyrodex is gone I might mail order some.

 

[BrownBear]

I was given a bunch of Pyro from a friend's estate, including 14 pounds of RS. You might say that I had "incentive" to learn how to use it. Not a good one for small calibers, but with 50 and 54 RB and conicals it's just fine. Biggest problem you'll have is enduring the flack from purists.

In my experience though, it kinda likes full power loads in either caliber. Fouling starts to go up as you reduce charges much below about half of max. For midrange charges around 50 grains I actually like P better (got 9 pounds of that in the same box with the RS). In fact the P is a little cleaner even with full snort loads, but not enough so to make me pour the RS on the ground.

In fact, if I could find it for $9 a pound, I'd probably stockpile a bunch more of it. Just doesn't bother me at all to be a sinner.

 

[jaf]

I also inherited some pyrodex rs. what brown bear is saying seems to be true in my recent experience.
Although I am not a legalistic purist, I do like self-sufficiency. When I run out of pyrodex, I intend to shoot real blackpowder by:
1)making my own
and
2)buying it. until I learn to make it, where do I buy it and can it be mail-ordered?

 

[jdixon]

Making your own, an exercise in frustration, not to mention dangerous. You can buy it far cheaper than you can make it, that is if your time is worth anything - Powder Inc. is one place, Graf and Sons another, Track of the Wolf will ship full 25 lb. lots, look around, you can find it.

 

[Rikeman]

Right now I am using Pyrodex in my Walker and have been very happy with it.

 

[roundball]

When I switched from caps to flints, I had to switch to real BP in the flinter and had several pounds of RS leftover from exactly the same kind of Walmart clearance sale at that same $9/pound price.

Not wanting to waste it, I found I could pour 20grns Goex 3F down first to fill the breech then poured the balance of the load I was using with RS...ie: 30/40/50/60grns RS depending...worked perfectly, was consistent and accurate.
(a 10grn igniter charge would have probably worked fine but my smallest measure was 20grns).

I used a couple hundred free 35mm film canisters and would pre-measure a bunch with the 20grn Goex igniter charges, and another big ziploc bag full of canisters with RS charges...excellent for 50 shot weekend range sessions just shooting steel targets, cans, etc.

 

[jtmattison]

The last time I bought any it was on sale for $5 per pound in Ohio.
All I use is Goex but I sill have the RS just in case hell freezes over, then I'll use the Pyodex.
:haha:

HD

 

[Idaho Ron]

Did you hear it snowed in Bagdad a while back. :blah: Ron

 

[Smk50]

I did the same thing about 2 years a go. It started at 9$ and I bought a few, then went to 5$ and I cleaned out 3 walmarts to the tune of 35# worth. I gave 2# away to some friends at a shoot, as a babysitting fee. the rest I shot up and went back to black. No problems, but cheap is cheap and as much as I shoot every little bit helps.

 

[jtmattison]

Did you hear it snowed in Bagdad a while back. :blah: Ron

Two of my troops just returned from Iraq today. One of them told me that it did snow a little when he was there.

I guess I'll go shoot some Pyrodex this weekend.

:blah:

HD

 

[Thunderchild]

One of the reasons that I shoot Black powder ”¦”¦”¦.er ah Pyrodex ”¦”¦”¦.. Muzzleloaders, is because it is a cheep hobby. I actually was at wally world to get some cloth for patches. I never did get the cloth. Guess I will have to make another trip. I have sharpened a 1 and 1/4 inch hole saw and plan to try to cut round patches with it. I used a brick to remove the teeth of the saw and do the rough shaping of the blade. I cut about three one inch deep holes in the brick before the teeth were gone. A little water on the brick kept the dust down. I finished the blade with a dremmel bit. I am going to try to cut the patches with a drill if that is possible. Or I can cut squares. I want to shoot as cheaply as possible.

I recently got some Muzzleloaders original black powder solvent from Midway. That stuff works great. I soak the bore and then put the breech plug end of the barrel in a bucket of hot water with the nipple removed, and scrub a bit and the barrel is squeaky clean. Even those crusty areas around the nipple come clean. I noticed that the smell of the solvent smelled familiar. It smelled like floor cleaner. I am thinking this cant be spick and span. It sure smells like it. I think I am going to get some spick and span and mix my own black powder solvent in the future.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you can find some cheap window spray cleaner in a bottle, you can get by with that for cleaning the barrel. Check the Dollar General type stores.

Use a piece of wood, like Masonite, to act as a guide or template, and to hold down a stack of cloth under that hole cutter. That way the fabric can't catch on any edge, or burr, and spin around on you. Put a larger board under the stack of cloth, and the masonite, or thinner board on top and lower your cutter through the hole in the masonite.

 

[omgb]

Pyrodex is good stuff but please, please, pretty please, do not use amonia based cleaners with this stuff. If you do, the rust in your barrel will make you sick. Stick to water or water with a drop or two of vinegar. No amonia.

 

[Idaho Ron]

omgb, I have never heard that amonia will rust barrels. I know a lot of guys using window cleaner with that stuff. Ron

 

[Darkgael]

Roundball: I do the same with the stock of Pyrodex that I have. Goex FFg/FFFg as a kicker and then the balance RS.
It has always fired in my flint GPR.
Pete

 

[omgb]

Here's the scoop on amonia and Pyrodex. Bill Knight I believe it was, but I could be wrong on that, conducted a series of experiments on the corrosive nature of BP and BP subsitutes. Clearshot, Triple 7, Pyrodex, Shockey's Gold and good old GOEX were among the products tested. The results have been posted on BPCR many times over the last couple of years. It seems that the BP substitutes all work well until they come into contact with amonia based solvents. Then a very corrosive chemical action takes place that can actually rust out a barrel in a matter of hours.

I tried my own experiment and discovered that if I swabbed out a barrel with an amonia solvent and did not wipe the bore dry and oil it, the solvent would indeed produce a hairy red rust in a barrel in just half a day. So, I decided right then and there that when the makers of these products recommend water only for clean up, I guess they knew what they were talking about

 

[Runner]

I guess that means my father's, Jim's, both my nephew's, Festle's, and my muzzleloaders all have no rifling left. They get cleaned with windex after shooting pyrodex all the time, and always have since they were new. Heck, mine get cleaned with Blue Wonder sometimes too!!!!
Sorry!. Have to call BS on this one.
By the way, RS is as superior for large bore shotguns over real black as real black is over Pyrodex in a flinter. Guns the shoot low with black will shoot higher with Pyrodex. I don't use a lubed wad of any kind unless I am shooting 7's or smaller. I don't swab between shots either. Last time out my BIL and I shot the gun with light loads at 30 yards about 30 times without swabbing. I shoot RS because I am used to it from shooting P in my other guns for over 20 years. I also paid 5 bucks a pound for the supply I now have at Wally World.
You have to be careful cleaning the guns after using it, but that powder chamber out of the CVA barrel that I have posted pictures of is still shiney inside after many years and pounds of Pyrodex. There is a new flinter lock being finalized that uses a rotating frizzen lid to cover most of the flashpan so that the pan flash is partially contained so that it will ignite Pyrodex thru a commercial vent. If the lock makes it in the market, pyrodex flinters will become common I think.
Warning! I ran out of powder on the line one day. Several someones offered enough of theirs to save me a trip back to the car. When I stated that I was shooting Pyrodex, several folks stomped off disgusted that someone was shooting a sub at a gathering. The same guys were chatting with me before that. The deeeper you get into the historic crowd, the more of these guys you will find.
A gentleman said, come with me and I will fill your horn with real black and we walked off together. I went to the car and filled the horn with RS and finished the shoot. Everyone thought I was shooting black now, so they were satisfied. The guy that walked off with me went to get a loaf of fresh baked bread. The BS on the Pyrodex issue can get pretty deep! By the way, I was perfect thru 18 shots that day and then blew four easy shots at the end. It wasn't the powders fault tho!

 

[omgb]

I guess that means my father's, Jim's, both my nephew's, Festle's, and my muzzleloaders all have no rifling left. They get cleaned with windex after shooting pyrodex all the time, and always have since they were new. Heck, mine get cleaned with Blue Wonder sometimes too!!!!

NO, not at all. Obviously you don't leave the bore damp with the ammonia solution. Most likely, you are very careful when cleaning and dry and oil/grease accordingly. My point is that if you swab the bore and let it soak in any ammonia based cleaner (as one might do with Hoppes or some other cleaner) you are going to run into highly accelerated bore rusting due to an interaction of ammonia and the BP sub.

I apologize for not making this clearer from the beginning.