Black Bellamy

I bought some AP to try it out and it came in stick form.

I found the sticks to be wider at one end, just a tiny bit wider than the bore. As a result, when I push the stick down the barrel, it flakes off some on its way down. This has two results; one is that the flaking is inconsistent, meaning sometimes a larger chunk breaks off and this worries me that it will produce different pressures depending on the amount of flaking, and two, the powder that scrapes off leaves a bit of residue on the inside of the bore, and I can tell that it sometimes gets between the bore and the sabot because sometimes the sabot is very hard to load and feels a little gritty on the way down.

I like AP for the cleanliness aspect, and I'm trying to get some in powder form. I'm wondering if anyone else had this experience or did I just get a bad batch.

MLKeith

I bought some of the sticks and was really unimpressed with how much they vary in shape size and weight. Personally I quit using the sticks and will probably just shoot them up to break ina new barrel without even using a target. I think the sticks are a bad idea and certainly are inconsistent.

southpaw26888

I noticed the odd stick shape also, but after shooting about 100 rounds using these sticks, I will not go back to Pyrodex. I shot the same load(2 stick and 250 TC Shockwave bullet with Winchester Primer) thru both my Omega, Firebolt, and Optima. The results were the same in all three guns. I had sub 3" groups at 100 yards. The barrel, breech plug,and boltwas a breeze to clean and the sticks have no problem burning hot. I shot 12 rounds thru the Optima without a misfire and the grouping never changed. There are not very many powders that can boast that. I agree the sticks aren't pretty, but they seem to be very effective. JMO

I was very impressed with the sticks and have turned some of my other hunting buddies onto them. With the load above, I was pushing 1850 on the chrony..