Sergeant Earthworm
06-29-2013, 01:33 PM
After receiving some very good input about the pros and cons of Goex fffg BP vs. American Pioneer fffg I decided to find out how the two compare in my .44 Pietta 1858 Remington. I have always used only BP in all my guns but wanted to know if the less corrosive AP is a viable substitute.
The comparison was not entirely scientific or conclusive and obviously your results could be different. A more scientific test would have included a much larger number of shots per type and charge volume, and I would have cleaned the gun before firing each string but I just didn’t have the time to do either of those things. All things considered I think the results revealed what I wanted to know.
I fired two six shot strings for each type and volume of powder. Each shot consisted of powder, Ox-Yoke Originals lubed .125 over powder wad, .451 ball lubricated with TC Bore Butter, and CCI No. 10 cap. I have used .454 and .451 RBs in my revolver with no significant difference in accuracy, so I went with the .451 only because I have lots of them. Before the test, I fired a six shot string so the gun would be dirty for each load. Velocity was measured with a Shooting Chrony Alpha chronograph 10 feet from the muzzle, distance to the target was 20 yards and a sandbag rest was used. Temperature was 77 degrees, humidity 26%, barometric pressure 30.29 and steady, wind was 5-10 mph. Here are the results:
74839
The first thing that surprised me is the big difference in standard deviation between BP and AP. Also surprising is the minor difference in velocity 5 grains of powder makes with BP or AP. Maybe the biggest surprise is that point of impact and accuracy was virtually identical for all loads. Each load shot just below point of aim and group size for every string was just under 2 inches. To me, the bottom line is that for power and consistent velocity, BP is the way to go. For a less corrosive alternative with accuracy comparable to BP, AP works just fine.
Next comes the corrosion test...
The comparison was not entirely scientific or conclusive and obviously your results could be different. A more scientific test would have included a much larger number of shots per type and charge volume, and I would have cleaned the gun before firing each string but I just didn’t have the time to do either of those things. All things considered I think the results revealed what I wanted to know.
I fired two six shot strings for each type and volume of powder. Each shot consisted of powder, Ox-Yoke Originals lubed .125 over powder wad, .451 ball lubricated with TC Bore Butter, and CCI No. 10 cap. I have used .454 and .451 RBs in my revolver with no significant difference in accuracy, so I went with the .451 only because I have lots of them. Before the test, I fired a six shot string so the gun would be dirty for each load. Velocity was measured with a Shooting Chrony Alpha chronograph 10 feet from the muzzle, distance to the target was 20 yards and a sandbag rest was used. Temperature was 77 degrees, humidity 26%, barometric pressure 30.29 and steady, wind was 5-10 mph. Here are the results:
74839
The first thing that surprised me is the big difference in standard deviation between BP and AP. Also surprising is the minor difference in velocity 5 grains of powder makes with BP or AP. Maybe the biggest surprise is that point of impact and accuracy was virtually identical for all loads. Each load shot just below point of aim and group size for every string was just under 2 inches. To me, the bottom line is that for power and consistent velocity, BP is the way to go. For a less corrosive alternative with accuracy comparable to BP, AP works just fine.
Next comes the corrosion test...