BP substitutes in a flintlock

[taco650]

As state in the title, will a BP substitute work in a flintlock, especially in the pan? Who has tried this and did it work? I know most true ML's will steer clear of subs but if someone has tried it, give me your results. Feel free to PM if you don't want to get roasted in a public thread. Thanks.

Taco

[RU shooter]

Never done it but heard/read if you use some real black under the fake stuff it works ok in the barrel . As for in the pan ? Probably not .

[NSB]

I know people who have used subs in a flintlock. However, in order to get it to ignite they put some real black under the sub in the barrel and used black in the pan. If you're going to do all that, just use black to begin with. I'm not aware of any sub that will work by itself. Then again, there's a lot of things I don't know.

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

Won't work in the pan.

I've used American Pioneer and Jim Shockeys gold 2fg in the barrel with good success. I did use 4fg in the pan however. Prime the touch hole and it makes for a good day on the range.

I'd suggest buying 5lbs of the real stuff from powder inc and keep it on hand so you can get the best enjoyment out of your flintlock.

[johnson1942]

a shooter from the east coast called me once and the topic of conversation came to this subject. he said many in his club uses blackhorn 209 powder in their flintlocks but as stated above, real black under it next to the touch hole. and of course real black in the pan. the reason for it is not having to wipe as much between rounds.

[stubshaft]

Because of a lack of real black powder (none available), I have been forced to use subs in my rock locks. You will have to use real black in the pan! I also use a duplex load of 10 grs. of black first followed by Pyrodex or T7. This is the only way that I have been able to eliminate misfires and get consistent accuracy.

[jimb16]

I have been able to get it to ignite in the pan, but only in a couple of muskets that throw a huge shower of long lasting sparks, but ignition of the main charge is poor. I don't even bother trying any more. it is just too unreliable.

[Sasquatch-1]

I have tried Pyrodex in my rock locks both in the pan and the barrel. When using it in the pan and down the pipe I had inconsistent ignition of the priming charge. I got some 4-f for the pan and still tried using the sub down the pipe. I got much more consistent ignition of the pan put horrendous delayed fires. When I switched to 3-f down the pipeget a response almost as fast as my cap locks.

If you cannot find real black powder anywhere contact Back Creek Gun Shop listed below.

http://blackpowderva.com/

[rfd]

use real black powder - as long as there is a demand, it will be available. buy it. yer guns love it - so will you.

there is PLENTY of real black powder available, from more than a few online sources, too.

yes, you need to mail order it out. yes, pricey for a few pounds. yes, a group buy is the way to go to save on a bulk order.

go black, don't look back!

[Soundguy]

As state in the title, will a BP substitute work in a flintlock, especially in the pan? Who has tried this and did it work? I know most true ML's will steer clear of subs but if someone has tried it, give me your results. Feel free to PM if you don't want to get roasted in a public thread. Thanks.

Taco

I shoot pyrodex RS in my flinters. For the pan, I always used to take RS or P and crush between 2 spoons, and use that to fill my pan charge flask. Worked.. not ideal, but worked. Finally found someone selling Goex 4F a while back, and that works much better as a pan charge.

So yeah.. finely crushed 2f or 3f equiv will make them go boom, but not as easy as real 4f.

[rodwha]

use real black powder - as long as there is a demand, it will be available. buy it. yer guns love it - so will you.

there is PLENTY of real black powder available, from more than a few online sources, too.

yes, you need to mail order it out. yes, pricey for a few pounds. yes, a group buy is the way to go to save on a bulk order.

go black, don't look back!

Prior to using Olde Eynsford I used 3F Triple 7 as it was the only energetic powder I could find. I bought it at BassPro which was almost an hour round trip. But then for months it wasn't on the shelf. I finally had to look online and found that if I bought 3 lbs from Grafs it offset the expense and kept me from wasting my time.

I was interested in real BP but at that time Swiss was the only powder I knew of and nobody in all of San Antonio had it that I could find. But then Goex offered Olde E, and Grafs carried it. I'm not sure how the cost compared to purchasing from a B&M store, but being cheaper than T7 it's what I usually get since then. It's seems I've read that some stores, such as BassPro, are/were charging quite a bit more, around $30. If that's the case it would only take a few pounds to break even and lose any hassle other than signing for it.

[taco650]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Sounds like the consensus is that subs are fine in the barrel but not in the pan.