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Thread: Favorite Black Powder substitute?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    cabezaverde's Avatar
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    Favorite Black Powder substitute?

    I have been using Blackhorn 209 behind T/C maxi balls in my Encore.

    But holy smokes, the price when it comes time to re-stock. What do you guys like?
    Founder of the Single Shot section.

    A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.


    8 in the 10 ring, then I get a PING. Love my Garand.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    I just bought two of the new 8oz bottles of BH209 directly from Hodgdon Powder. I paid a crazy ridiculous amount of money for it, but……it’s enough to last me several years of deer hunting. I also use it in an Encore and a CVA in-line I just bought. For what it cost to use for hunting, it’s just not that bad a price to shoot a deer. As a percentage of my total annual cost to go deer hunting, it’s about nothing. I really don’t understand why people will spend a grand or more to go deer hunting every year and get excited about having to spend fifty or sixty bucks to shoot the gun they’re hunting with. FWIW, BH209 and Barnes TE-Z 290g bullets shoot 1moa out of both of my guns. I have tried Triple7 and it shoots almost as good, but it’s a cruddy mess in the barrel after every shot. No big deal, a patch with a spritz of Windex on it will clean it up quickly, but still it’s an “almost as good” substitute. Look at some of the centerfire round costs today. They’re also insanely high but you need ammo to hunt and it’s really a minimal cost compared to the total cost to participate.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I might be spoiled. I hunt in my own woods behind the house.
    Founder of the Single Shot section.

    A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.


    8 in the 10 ring, then I get a PING. Love my Garand.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Black MZ wasn't too bad but I don't think they make it any more. I guess for price vs availability vs performance I would go with T7 if I had to use a substitute.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy Brokenbear's Avatar
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    Triple Seven 3F ONLY in everything from a .31 Colt to a .58 musketoon

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy
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    Real black only. I compete using Swiss and I use Scheutzen when conducting an instruction session. Real black is available, don't let the naysayers tell you different. If you expect to find it in a "brick n mortar" location, forget it. Thanks to regulations and insurance coupled with few of the general shooting public using it, it's not economically feasible to stock it on a shelf on and off chance that John Q Public is going to stroll in and buy it.

    You want real black? Pool your order with a local reenactment group or NMLRA charter club. That way the shipping and hazmat is amortized to peanuts in the grand picture. I just bought a case of Scheutzen not 4 weeks ago along with 4k Scheutzen musket caps. Not available?? Really?? Some folks just don't think outside the box or try hard enough.
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  7. #7
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    I substitute 2FF when I am low on 3FFF.......

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Pyrodex "P" in all three of my muzzleloaders. Settled on that because of the ROA. Reduce volume by 10% over Pyrodex "RS".

    Winelover

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    BH 209 is our powder of choice if your breech plug design will accept it. My Austin Halleck with the factory breech plug runs best with 777.
    If liars pants really did catch on fire, watching the news would be a lot more fun!

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    777 for everything
    Failure is not an Option

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy FrankJD's Avatar
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    IMHO there is absolutely NO substitute for real black powder. I feed my firelocks Swiss 3f for both tube and pan.

    Black can be hard if not impossible to find locally and that's where mail order or attending ML events will be yer only source for the real deal powder of choice.

    In the coming possible dark future of America, how long commercial black will be available to US citizens is a viable concern. In that event, if I can still awake daily with a pulse and purpose, I'll make my own black. So sad where the world in general is heading, and America is currently its spearhead.
    The .45-70 is the only government I trust.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I found 2 bottles of 2fg & 3fg of APP, AMERICAN PIONEER POWDER. that was clumped up, so I broke the clumps up with a wooden dowel, and both grades went off fine in my muzzleloaders & all brass shotgun hulls. question, is this powder still made,& has any one else used it? and comments.

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by toot View Post
    I found 2 bottles of 2fg & 3fg of APP, AMERICAN PIONEER POWDER. that was clumped up, so I broke the clumps up with a wooden dowel, and both grades went off fine in my muzzleloaders & all brass shotgun hulls. question, is this powder still made,& has any one else used it? and comments.
    Yes, it's still around. Black MZ was the same stuff but was discontinued. It's not as energetic as T7 but compares with Pyrodex. Clean up is very easy and it doesn't seem to have real corrosive properties. I like it, maybe it will come back.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy

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    Ive only shot real BP for the last 42 years. I agree with Dave

  15. #15
    Boolit Master Hellgate's Avatar
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    Shooter's World Multipurpose Black (BP substitute)
    Is probably APP.
    https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...-1-lb-by-lovex
    Hellgate in Orygun
    With 16+revolvers, I've been called the Imelda Marcos of cap&ball.
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  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    2-Triple 7 pellets with a 200gr Hornady flex tip for my hunting load in the Encore with a adapter for using large rifle primers

  17. #17
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    Pyrodex. Some folks badmouth it as being corrosive, but I've never had a problem as I clean my guns the evening of firing.

    DG

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Shooter's World Multipurpose Black (BP substitute) Looks interesting? A lot better than $140.00 a lb for blackhorn209. will have to see how it shoots and compares ?? Has any one tried it ?? How does it compare ??

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Der Gebirgsjager View Post
    Pyrodex. Some folks badmouth it as being corrosive, but I've never had a problem as I clean my guns the evening of firing.

    DG


    Winelover

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    if my BP, powder pantry in low / dry I will use what ever substitute that I have I am not proud!! jmho.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check