Pyrodex and Triple Seven pellets are the area where the snake oil sales pitch starts to sizzle. Sold as black powder equivalents of "pelletized powder," they have nothing to do with traditional black powder. The pelletized powder lingo is wishful thinking, as pellets are just pellets. This type of tortured language adds more confusion to the mix. If you take two tablets of aspirin and call me in the morning, you have taken two aspirin tablets, not "tabletized acetylsalicylic acid." Sometimes pellets are just pellets, ask any rabbit, and a cigar is just a cigar. Let's talk about what they really are, and what they do.

Pyrodex pellets are a sophisticated rocket fuel type propellant, more related to an Estes rocket engine than black powder. They consist of a black igniter portion on one side of the base; although called an "ignition accelerant," this is nothing more than good old black powder. They are, of course, not volumetrically measured, and they do not burn at all like loose powder. A Pyrodex pellet burns progressively down the bore, from the base in, from the outside in, and--due to the hole in the center--from the inside out.

Though not recommended by Hodgdon, most inline manufacturers currently allow and promote the use of "three pellet loads" for velocities far in excess of what loose black powder or Pyrodex can possibly achieve. How fast? One load out of the 2004 Knight catalog shows a muzzle velocity of 2417 fps, another is 2639 fps! These velocities can actually be bettered in a longer barreled gun, like the Thompson/Center Omega.

Triple Seven pellets, used in three-pellet configuration, actually produce a bit more muzzle velocity. Where Pyrodex pellets are pressed into shape from black powder and Pyrodex RS, Triple Seven pellets are made from straight Triple Seven, and are harder to ignite. For what it is worth, I've personally found Pyrodex pellet loads to be more consistent, and more accurate.

A word of caution is in order. Hodgdon does not condone the use of more than 100 grains of their Pyrodex or Triple Seven pellets in .45 or .50 caliber muzzleloaders, and they clearly, loudly proclaim that warning with every box of pellets sold. Several people have asked, "What pressures do three pellets produce?" Well, there is no finite answer. Much is necessarily contingent on projectile weight, type, and caliber of rifle.