ORIGINAL: Hoosier_Hunter1963
Guys,
I am a relative newbie to ML hunting. I have only used Pyrodex Pellets so far.
What's the differences between different types/brands of pellets? Cleaner? Hotter?
So far....2 Pyro 50gr. pellets with a SW 250gr sabot seems to work AWESOME!
First off.. if you are getting AWESOME results with two Pyrodex 50 grain pellets and shockwaves.. STICK WITH THAT LOAD. That is an excellent hunting load. Or if you want to play with other powders, remember that load for your rifle and the results.
Triple Se7en pellets are about equal in strength to the Pyrodex Pellets, but I found for some reason they do not shoot to the exact same POI. They have the same energy, and should shoot the same but they do not always do that.
Triple Se7en is cleaner then Pyrodex RS. You can clean it with simply water. It might form a harder crud ring in the barrel of your rifle between shots, but that is not true in all rifles, in all areas of the country. You still have to clean your rifle at the end of the day, and clean up is about the same. You still have to swab between shots. And Triple Se7en pellets IN MY AREA are a little more expensive then the Pyrodex RS pellets.
Triple Se7en MAGNUM pellets are a little more powerful. They are trying to replicate the larger magnum loads without going to a 150 grain charge like in three pellets. Think of them as a 60 grain pellet. All they did is truly increase the weight of the amount of powder. In the Triple Se7en pellet (standard) they reduced the weight of the pellet to equal the power of the Pyrodex. In the magnum they just let them be the same weight.
APP and Shockey Gold STICKS have a lot of good reviews and bad reviews. While I shoot loose APP powder, I have never shot the sticks. Their advantage is said to be cleaner to shoot, easier to clean, but look for a reduction in power when shooting them. Also some people experience misfires with the Sticks. They report taking them from the container with chunks missing. So how can you get consistent when chunks of the pellets are missing? You can try them but if you're having good results with the Pyrodex RS, I personally would stick with them.
Have you tried loose powder? Shooting loose powder is more cost effective, you can custom load your rifle, and with shooting tubes is really not more of a problem then with pellets. That is the beauty of these rifles.. there are so many combinations to try.