RE: Bad Pioneer powder or primers?
Ditch the pellets. Shockey's Gold granular is a very good powder if you work with it. Shockey's Gold is not as powerful as Pyrodex: But power is not everything. Unlike 777 and Pyrodex; thebreech plug comes out very easilyafter shooting 20 roundswith JSG.You can clean the bore using tap water and there is no crud ring like with 777.
Shockey's Gold likes a tight fitting sabot that is consistently seated very hard on the powder. My longest muzzleloader kill was a hog at a measured 192 yards with 90 grains of JSG and the 250 grain SST bullet.
Am currently using Goex Pinnacle that is made by Pioneer Powder. It is more powerful than JSG and the cleanup is the same. Like JSG, Pinnacle likes a tight fitting sabot that is seated very hard on the powder.