Black MZ....and patches.

Before I bought my first pound of BLACK MZ, I emailed Alliant asking about it. Their rep told me to use DRY PATCHES. He said that the first round I could lube the patch, but after that to load with dry patches since the powder "lubes" during the shot and something about the powder not liking moisture.
To the folks shooting Black MZ, are you doing this, or just running lubed patches? We have been doing this with all our muzzleloaders, and works well, but... The youngster is having a tough time loading his .50 muzzleloader...some work to seat the ball, so much work he can't do it. Suggestions? Thinner patch? Lube the patch for easier loading?

Jim

I have no experience with Black MZ powder, but when i hear dry patch it brings back an old NOT so great memory LOL! The first time i ever shot a Muzzleloader in my life, I knew nothing about swabbing between shots etc. I knew how to load and shoot the rifle safely. I tried to swab the fowling with a dry patch, i BARELY got away with it 1 time, the next time i tried i had to drive home with a stuck ramrod in the rifle LOL! I stil look back on that and laugh!

The Black MZ powder is interesting, are you using a 209 primer to set it off? Here in Idaho we can NOT use a 209 on a Muzzleloader only hunt. I use Swiss 2 and 3F powder, and #11 CCI Magnum or RWS 1075 Plus (10-3/4) German Caps. I have about given up on the RWS Caps though, they are ridiculously expensive around here! I recently bought a 1000 #11 CCI Magnums, they seem to be right on par with the RWS for Hot, and at half the price of the RWS in the few places I frequent here.

No, Black MZ ignites very easily(people say online, I am "new" so I have nothing to compare it to). We use CCI #11 Magnum since that is all we have ever bought. I bought that and Pyrodex P when we finally took the son's CVA Squirrel in .32 out to shoot for the first time. Being impossible to find .32 patches locally, we used cotton .22 cleaning patches...shot very well. We shot that rifle probably 10X only spit lubing the first patch, dry after that, and no swabbing the barrel until clean-up when we were done. You should really try this stuff out!!! How can you go wrong when it is only $10 a can at Sportsman's Warehouse?!! I even went down and just bought another 4 pounds to beat any possible price increase. That Pyrodex I bought has yet to be opened...

Jim

DakotaElkSlayer said:

No, Black MZ ignites very easily(people say online, I am "new" so I have nothing to compare it to). We use CCI #11 Magnum since that is all we have ever bought. I bought that and Pyrodex P when we finally took the son's CVA Squirrel in .32 out to shoot for the first time. Being impossible to find .32 patches locally, we used cotton .22 cleaning patches...shot very well. We shot that rifle probably 10X only spit lubing the first patch, dry after that, and no swabbing the barrel until clean-up when we were done. You should really try this stuff out!!! How can you go wrong when it is only $10 a can at Sportsman's Warehouse?!! I even went down and just bought another 4 pounds to beat any possible price increase. That Pyrodex I bought has yet to be opened...

Jim

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I like the idea of the Black MZ being 'nearly' non corrosive, i might give it a try sometime. I have never tried Pyrodex powder, my Good friend Idahoron uses it with great success! The reason I haven't tried it is i have real Black powder nearly at my disposal, i live 30 minutes from Buffalo Arms and they sell every variety of real Black powder, they do not sell any substitutes. Since i can get Real Blackpowder so easily i feel i would be going backward to go with anything else. I shoot the upper end stuff, Swiss 2 and 3F

Been using Black MZ almost exclusively since it came on the market. i shoot a lot of patched round ball with Black MZ. Yeah, they say Black MZ lubes itself: When the humidity is high it sometimes does that. But it won't lube itself all the time, especially in low humidity. With Black MZ fouling often builds up in the last 3-5" of the bore. This makes starting the patched round ball very difficult.

i like GoJo hand cleaner for a patch lube. i smear GoJo on the patch just before loading. It keeps the last few inches of the bore clean and easy to load.

maybe yer gettin' a "crud ring" like people say happens when ya use 777 powder? don't know anything about Black MZ, just a thought.

maybe yer gettin' a "crud ring" like people say happens when ya use 777 powder?

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It's not a crud ring. It's an accumulation of residue near the muzzle end of the barrel.

Okie Hog said:

maybe yer gettin' a "crud ring" like people say happens when ya use 777 powder?

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It's not a crud ring. It's an accumulation of residue near the muzzle end of the barrel.

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he says the lad is havin' trouble SEATING the ball. I don't know how YOU load but, the ball seats at the BREECH END/BOTTOM of the barrel when I load.

Sounds to me like a good swabbing between shots would erase this problem, i buy old white and gray T shirts at thrift stores and cut them in to patches for swabbing, no need to pay the high prices for pre cut patches when you can make your own for pennies. My swab between shots mixture is Blue windex (with ammonia) the amount of ammonia in this stuff is tiny, i pour half the bottle out to another container and then fill the windex spray bottle back up with 91% isopropyl alcohol giving me a 50/50 mixture, i give a patch one good shot of this mixture and roll it around in my fingers (i always have a rag or 2 around when shooting my black powder rifles) if there seems to be a lot of excess moisture on the patch i just squeeze it between a dry rag/towel to sponge up the excess, then push it to the breech, you will feel the crud ring wherever it is, if there is one? Focus on that spot back n forth til you feel it free up, then run 2-3 dry patches through to make sure you get the bore good and dry (the high content isopropyl alcohol i use dries quickly) Then load back up and shoot. I find swabbing to be an absolute necessity when Shooting paper patched and sized bullets, if you dont swab the second, 3rd and so on loadings will get so stiff that it compromises the paper patch and likely tears it up somewhere down the bore. Swabbing between shots is super simple, takes an extra minute of your time, but ensures easy and consistent loading shot after shot, which in my opinion also improves accuracy. Without swabbing between shots the bullet/ball is seating harder and harder each time making each shot different. I swab my rifles with them laying on there side nipple/snail UP, this way i am not getting the Patented breech/Ante chamber wet, i push my last dry patch all the way to the breech til it stops, load a cap and pop it off, maybe 2 caps, this will blow any possible moisture 'goo' out from the Snail and onto the patch, pull the patch and you are ready to reload