I am just curious as to why you use pellets (beside the convenience). I am in no way bashing pellets, I have used them myself. I am a 777 2f user. I am trying things I have never done before with muzzleloading, and thought I might learn something from this thread.
Why do people use pellets?
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Laziness.
Marty1
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I've hunted with pellets in the past successfully... but use loose powder exclusively now for several reason. For one, group sizes on the shooting range will shrink using lose powder vs. pellets.
There is one big CON I have with using pellets. When hunting I usually keep a charge in the rifle all season, and will shove a ramrod down the barrel every so often to make sure my bullet hasn't shifted and remains firmly seated against the powder charge. It you use pellets they are susceptible to chipping or cracking, and agressive ramrod use can fragment the pellet and there goes your accuracy.
There is one big CON I have with using pellets. When hunting I usually keep a charge in the rifle all season, and will shove a ramrod down the barrel every so often to make sure my bullet hasn't shifted and remains firmly seated against the powder charge. It you use pellets they are susceptible to chipping or cracking, and agressive ramrod use can fragment the pellet and there goes your accuracy.
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Lets not forget that pellets are more expensive too.
It is out of convenience IMO. I live in a small town an hour away from anything else and there isn't even a gun store in town. You can almost always find pellets at a Walmart or other such stores. You won't find BH 209 or loose powder at near as many places. Also, a lot of new ML shooters (such as myself) are drawn to the simplicity of pellets.
Don't use pellets but I can see why so many people do. We just know that we can attain much better accuracy and tailor the load with loose powder.
Don't use pellets but I can see why so many people do. We just know that we can attain much better accuracy and tailor the load with loose powder.
I was under the impression that some breech plugs are made to use pellets. one of our muzzleloaders is a t/c firestorm, the breech plug comes to a point which supposedly causes the center hole in the pellets to align with it sending the flame up the middle of the pellets causing a faster ignition. or at least that is what they claimed would happen when the pellets first came out. i don't know if it actually works, but I do buy both pellets and loose powder for use in different guns. jim
Funny you should post this. I had a firestorm caplock. I hear the flinters were better. If you had the caplock, how did you keep that drum clean? with those itty bitty holes, I cussed myself several times for buying the gun, I had a ftf in the field that cost me a doe. I found a .54 hawken a pawn shop, we settled on 100 and my gun, I almost broke my arm getting my wallet out to trade off that lovely firestorm. I hope you have a better experience than I did. Don't get me wrong, It killed deer, but it was the worst pain in the butt muzzleloader I ever owned. Shot pretty good with 90 grains 2f 777 and lee real 240 grain that we cast, if that drum wasn't clogged.groove said:
my firestorm is the flinter, our main muzzleloader season is flintlock only, here in Pa. I must say that I am extremely happy it hasn't changed to anything else. it separates us true black powder guys, from the rest of the world. they did add a special early, any muzzleloader, season that is a week long and doe only that starts in 2 weeks. i did a few mods to my firestorm when I got it. I opened up the flash hole one drill size and did the same to the breech plug. it goes off every time now without delay. jim
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They had the right idea when they opened that season, and required a PRB. Now they caved in , and allow sabots. Sabots in a flintlock???groove said:
Hardly a primitive season anymore.
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One example would be the Great Plains Hunter. It's a GPR with a 1-32 twist barrel.
Getting the thread back to the original question, I have been very successful using Pyrodex pellets. I have not been able to get similar accuracy with 150 gr of loose powder as 3 of the 50 gr pellets. Nor can I get the same velocity, its usually lower than the 3 pellet load. They are a lot more expensive though. I did try to switch to loose Pyrodex for a few years, but I have found its better for firecrackers than in my muzzleloaders since BH209 came out.
