One step forward, two steps back?
 

This was the first year that I have hunted with a muzzleloader. I bought myself an Omega and a can of 777 and a box of xtps. Its been a great ride. I have learned to tolerate the 777 crud ring, especially with the accuracy that I have achieved with the load that I have worked up. Talking with a guy at the range the other dayand he was really excited about Pyrodox Select. Said it was very consitent and measured well. Like all of us, now I'm thinking of giving this a try.I do have a few questions. Does the Selectleave a crud ring like the 777?Do you still have to swab between shots,as with the 777? I realize that all things being equal, my velocities will be lower, but that does not concern me too much. I also realize that the Select will be more corrosive, but I baby myOmega after a days shoot, so cleaning has been part of the repertoire. Read on a post a week or so ago someone mentioned that he had it with pyrodox, too corrosive. That's makingme stop and think.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

Try 10 gr 3fff App than t7 supposed to eliminate crud ring and still have good velocity. Reduced t7 bu 10 gr. Duplex load also works with goex black powder.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

The Pyrodex RS & Pyrodex Select is the Exact same powder , The Differance between the too are the screening process the Select has a more consistant granuall size than the RS . the thought behind this is if the granualls are more consistant in size and the more consistant the size the more consistant you are apt to have a much closer load from 1 to another by VOLUM because the granualls are all the same size. and you will have a more cosistant Burn of your powder. and yes you will have to swab between every shot if u use sabots , If you are shooting Conicals Then swab every 4th or 5th shot.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

Select doesn't make a crud ring. Yes you have to swab between shots, and yes it's corrosive.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

All powders technically leave a crud residue in the barrel. If this was not so, then we would not have to clean the rifles after shooting them. The degree of crud and the consistency of crud is what concerns us the most. Using Pyrodex RS or Select will leave a crud ring. The difference is the crud ring is much softer then you might find with Triple Se7en powder. Many times a second round can be loaded using Pyrodex RS without swabbing. I have shot as many as four rounds before the fowling actually got to a degree that you had to do something about it. If you want the best accuracy possible and the most consistent accuracy possible, you would still swab the barrel when using any Pyrodex product.

Pyrodex Select is basically RS screened a few additional times. I see no advantage using it. Pyrodex does produce some excellent accuracy. Since you baby your Omega and clean it after each use, there will be no corrosive problems you would encounter.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

I've shot a lot of Pyrodex over the years and never had a problem with rust/corrosion. I have never let a gun set over a few hours before a thorough cleaning, though. Usually clean within an hour after a range session, but when hunting I've let it go longer.
I've always used R/S in my rifles & shotguns and found it a good accurate powder.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

skopia...By your reasoning, the flinter that I have had since 1975 and shot only real bp in (Goex) should be just a pile of rust by now....

Clean them before you put them up and it won't matter what propellant you pour down the barrel...Plus 85-90 grains of Pyrodex or real bp is plenty for whitetails out to a good 150 yards and most bp shooters shouldn't and don't shoot at deer much further than that anyway....

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

If you like 777, get a 25ACP conversion and no more crud ring. I did this as cleaning was much, much easier than with pyrodex. Easier to prime/deprime too.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

All I've shot over the last year is Pyrodex RS (4 lbs) and Pyrodex Select (2 lbs), until this week, when I shot T7. I do swab between each shot, though I can shoot 4-5 sabots with Pyrodex before encountering appreciable resistance. I found no noticeable difference between RS and Select other than price. What I found interesting with T7 was that there seemed to be less crud in the initial stages of my range session than with Pyrodex, but by the 10 - 15th shot, even though I had swabbed between all shots, I was encountering significant resistance, never encountered with Pyrodex. I kind of had the feeling that T7 burned more completely, but left behind a "sticky" residue distributed over the length of the bore, where the residue from Pyrodex is, as Cayugad desribed, soft, and easily removed by the swabbing. I had to swab with multiple and wetter patches to continue shooting with T7 after 20 or so rounds. That's never happened with Pyrodex. I was loading 10mm 200 xtp's and SW's with 50/40 sabots over 100 T7.

Corrosion is no problem if you clean the day you shoot.

RE: One step forward, two steps back?
 

yeoman,
That's interesting. Same thing happened to me with a range sessionwith T7. I was shooting in the early fall, bout 70 degrees. After about 12-15 shots, cleaning between each shot, sabots were going down a little harder. I wrote it off as the barrel heating up. Maybe it was the T7 build-up?