Sharp Shooter

How do you guys like American Pioneer Powder? I have never shot my rifle before but I have a pound of Pyrodex for when I get to go shoot it. I like a powder that puts out a good amount of smoke. I dont like the fact that Pyrodex is really dirty. I heard that APP is not real dirty but doese leave a decent amount of smoke. Any coments about APP? Also, it says use no lube[&:].I would like to shoot Ballets as my antelope bullet. Would it be fine to leave the lube on? A second choice is to order non lubed bullets from Black Jack Hill. That would be 300gr R.E.A.L.'s for antelope and 380gr R.E.A.L.'s for elk. Anyone know where Icould order non-lubed Baffalobullets? I had planed to use a 460gr round nose Buffalo Bullet on elk and a 310gr Buffalo Ball-et on anelope.

cayugad

I would not worry about the small amount of lube on the concials. Put a felt wonder wad between the projectile and the powder if you want to shoot APP.

You Pyrodex is dirty granted, but you still have to clean the rifle whether you shoot APP or Pyrodex. A water bath will flush that fowling out of the barrel very fast. I think when you shoot the Pyrodex you will be very happy with it and you might even decide you like it and do not need to spend all that money on APP powder.

Sharp Shooter

I know you still have to clean it but when using pyrodex it takes more work.

cayugad

You might have to swab the barrel on the range once in a while, but there is really not all that much to cleaning a rifle once they get in a water bath. You start pumping hot soap and water through the barrel they all come clean real fast.

cayugad

You might have to swab the barrel on the range once in a while, but there is really not all that much to cleaning a rifle once they get in a water bath. You start pumping hot soap and water through the barrel they all come clean real fast.

TC209x50

I bought some Jim shockey's gold in 3f loose and in their .50cal stick form to do some testing with. What I found was very interesting. If you look at my post of shot group pic I'm sighted in for 100yrds with T7 and it shoots pretty good. I'm happy with it. However the second load in a hunting condition where spit patching is not possible between shots have led me to this quest to find a more forgiving powder under hunting conditions in both pellet (stick) and loose form. I tried the pellets they work for me as you can see but if you want top accuracy you really got to be careful with pellets or sticks not to crush them or to fully crush them (this leads to a lot of discussion) depending on what your shooting EZ loads or pellets (Jim's gold says not to crush, T7 says not to crush, ez loads (pinnacle) says to "pulverize"). Okay what I found waswhether or not I was shooting loose 3f of Jim's gold or stick form of Jim's gold I consistently shot 6-8" high at 100yards. To me this tells me that it might have some velocity edge over my other load(encore w/26" barrel). I prefer loose over pellets because I can change my POI with my developed load (pellets) by 1-5" depending on how I seat the pellets (tamp). Loose powder just seems to fit my personal style of tamping with my ramrod better (more consistant) and it was actually a little quicker to load in hunting conditions (using a 4-1 quick loader).After all this mombo jombo I've been babbling about I haven't done all the testing I want to do yet with this powder but I've found it to be really clean and loading multiple shots without spit patching between shots was no problem at all, and it didn't seem to effect accuracy. I give it a tenative thumbs up.

Sharp Shooter

Anyone know of non lubed bullets I can by that shoot well out of a 1-48" twist barrel?

Hookset

sharp shooter,
powerbelts are non lubed.
i shot them this year and took 2 does.
they are accurate out of my 1-48 twist barrel.
i just don't like the price.

lemoyne

Sharp Shooter,You might try Sabor tooth they are very similar to power belts but shoot much better out of a couple of my guns.
PS If you have trouble finding them try Basspro

Sharp Shooter

I cant shoot sabots here in Colorado. I might try those R.E.A.L. conicals. Sounds like alot of people like them.