My first time back here in a while - I tend to drift from centerfire rifles to handguns to muzzleloaders and so on. But when I saw this recent thread, I had to check in.
I don't see anyone mentioning Alliant's relatively new black powder substitute, BlackMZ. The stuff smokes less than loose or pelletized T7 or Pyrodex and White Hots pellets - almost like BH209 - and is nearly as clean burning as BH209 but cleans up with normal black powder gear. I use a T/C pre-saturated patch run through the bore once each side with two dry patches after that and the last one comes out almost dirt-free. There is NO crud ring here in humid south-central Pennsylvania. Accuracy is on a par with BH209 in my current rifle, a T/C ProHunter FX, and I buy it for $26.95 for a 16-ounce bottle. My breech plug can always be removed with just my fingers but this rifle has a exposed breech plug that is easy to grip.
Alliant told me they developed it in 2011 but spent four years testing it until they felt good about releasing it this year. They claim it is easier to ignite than any other fuel of its type and the cleanliness with which it burns bears that out. I'm using 90 grains by volume of it sparked by a Federal 209A with a 245-grain PowerBelt and getting a little over 1,800fps chronograph readings. That will harvest a Pennsylvania whitetail without harvesting my shoulder in the process. I've shot numerous one-hole three-shot 50-yard groups with that load and can usually get three shots into 1-1/2" at 100 yards with a 3-9x Leupold UltimateSlam scope (but I'm working on improving those groups). Oddly, BlackMZ isn't overly impressed with really tight sabot-to-bore fit - PowerBelts are easy for my arthritic joints to seat and it shoots them into smaller groups than Barnes or other hard-to-seat bullets. Yet, in keeping with each rifle's individuality, mine doesn't shoot Federal's easy seating 270-grain Trophy Copper bullets very well and I have a bunch of them that were sent to me for testing when they first came out.
The Alliant media relations person with whom I spoke told me they have no plans to release BlackMZ in pellet form. My only gripe with it is a minor one. The shape of its granules makes it a bit tough to get flowing out of a funnel cap and if you tap your filled measure on something, you can cause a good deal of settlement so I always top it off. But otherwise, I like it better than anything else I've tried.
Ed