Personally I do not shoot pellets. I can not justify the added expense and I like to tweek loads too much to be set to any combination of charges.Loose powder is much less expensive then pellets. You can pick up loose powder on sale for sometimes as low as $10.00 a pound for Pyrodex. A box of pellets will run you almost twice that amount.

Reference performance, if you have the right load for your rifle, both should give excellent performance. Many people do report excellent accuracy and performance with pellets, but I personally feel with a little work I could match that with the loose powder.

As for clean up and maintaince, they should be equal. Once the rifle is fowled the rifle has to be cleaned. If you want a powder that is easy to clean, look into the Triple Se7ens, APP, Pinnacle, and Black Mag3 (from the reports I have read on it). If you want to save money, shoot Pyrodex or Goex black powder.

Because I shoot sometimes as much as five times a week or more, I shoot Goex Black Powder most of the time. I buy it by the case to save money. I do keep Triple Se7en, Pyrodex, Clean Shot, and Pinnacle around the house (or have shot it all off and not bought more). Since I do not worry about cleaning the rifle (they all have to be cleaned.. it just takes longer then other times) Goex is a real favorite powder. I like the 3f grade. Next order I will get some more Pinnacle to play with again.