I read that Pyrodex Gold will perform in a flintlock. Does anyone have experience with it?
I read that Pyrodex Gold will perform in a flintlock. Does anyone have experience with it?
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth
Id be apprehensive. I've tried everything I could get my hands on at least once in a flintlock over the years... Still using good ole Goex 3Fg...
Never heard of Pyrodex Gold powder. There is a Jim Shockeys Gold powder made by APP.
Finally got off my butt and found the book that I read about "The Gold". It's Sam Fadala's 5th edition of the " Complete Blackpowder Handbook" and you'd think I'd know by now that I shouldn't depend on my memory. It was Pyrodex Delect. not Pyrodex Gold. Sorry, I'll try to think before I type from now on.
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth
I'd be surprised if you got any decent groups with Select even if you used a 'kicker' of BP 3F to light it off.
Yes, and if you're using a kicker charge of BP, you're already buying BP, so may as well measure out one full charge of BP, rather than one of BP plus one of Pyrodex.
The big issue with flintlocks and subs is not so much the barrel charge but what you charge the pan with. Sure igniting the powder on the inside of the vent hole is a challenge with substitutes but with the increased ignition temperature of subs, getting them ignited in the pan is quite difficult. Real BP is needed there. At best you'll likely experience a significant delay between pan and main charge ignition... More than likely if you charge the pan with a sub you'll be shaving steel a few times to get it ignited, if it'll go at all.
So either way just use real BP. Finding it locally can sometimes be a pain but you can mail order. Cleaning isn't an issue and I can have my flintlock bores clean in a matter of minutes. A bit of Butch's bore shine on a few flannel or cotton patches followed by dry patches and whala... bout 6 total, generally. I rarely pull the barrel or the lock. In the field a slightly damp patch (not soaking wet) will clean the fouling if it gets difficult to load or a fouling ring gets to the point where you can't seat a ball on the charge.
I re-read my last post and I really shouldn't type after 11 p.m. I typed "Delect" instead of "Select".
My only objection with using bp is it's availibility. I live in Southwestern Ohio and there is not one place I know of, in a 150 radius, where bp is available. All of the bp subs are available to me within 5 miles.
I currently buy bp online and a lb. of 4f goes a long way but I use 3 and 2f at an alarming rate.
Buying in bulk would seem to be the answer but I get nervous with 10 lbs of bp in my basement. The local fire depts. will just stand back a safe distance and "monitor" your house fire if they know you have a quantity stored.
My experience with 4f in the pan and pyrodex P in the barrel is sloooooow ignition. With bp in the barrel the hang-fire time, when compared to a sidelock is barely perceptible. So this is the reason I keep looking for that magic potion that is readily available at the local Walmart,shoots reliably out of a flinter, and must smell like sulfur.I may be asking too much but a guys got to dream.
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth
Pancho,
Build yourself an "outhouse" for a powder magazine, rather than storing it in your house.
Order a case (25 1 lb cans per case) and order it mixed (most places will do that at no additional cost and no additional hazmat) according to the rate you use the powder.
If you look around you can often get it cheaper, including the spread out hazmat, than you can 1 lb. at a time locally.
The only thing is coming up with the bucks to get it 25 lbs. at a time. THAT can be much harder than coming up with the local per-pound cost.
It is not much easier to get it up here in the NW corner of the state. I have ties into a reenactment unit I used to reenact with, which is the only reason I can get it fairly easily here.
Buckshot
If you are in NW Ohio, Johnson's on M52 in Adrian carry pretty much all grades of GOEX.
I've never had luck with anything but The Holy Black in a flintlock. Pan, bore charge, doesn't matter. I get a resounding "Click" and maybe a "PFFTT" and nothing more. I just use Goex for everything. FFg for the .50's, FFFg for the .36 and FFFFg for pans. In wet weather I use FFFg for the pan, it seems to last a little bit longer before becoming damp. There's also a bit of a delay with it, but it beats nothing with wet FFFFg.
I wish I believed in reincarnation. Where's Charles "The Hammer" Martel when you need him?
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