oldsmellhound

Hey guys,

Well today was the first day in 1.5 years that I've walked into a gun store. (Being in school, I'm not allowed to spend money or my wife will kill me, so I avoid temptation all together by not going into a store)

My main question was, who here uses American Pioneer Powder, and what do you think of it?

I've shot T7 exclusively for almost 5 years now, and I've seen a lot of comparisons and reports about T7, BH209 and Pyrodex, but not much on APP. The reason I'm asking, the local stores sell APP at about $6 less per pound than T7. I know that APP has less velocity than T7, but I'm wondering about accuracy, clean up and shelf life. Any replies are appreciated.

On a side note, I almost fell into temptation and sinned by buying a new ML - they had a Traditions bolt-action, camo-stock .50 cal NIB for $79. I don't remember the model name - it certainly didn't have a fit and finish of an Encore or an Accura, but it did seem to be solid and well-put-together. That's why I don't go into gun stores until I'm done with school in August and I'm allowed to buy toys again...

MountainDevil54

i like it. Super easy to clean up, basically melts away when it comes into contact with water. Accuracy wise its very accurate, i use it strictly in my sidelock muzzleloader and my inlines as well.

sabotloader

oldsmellhound

I have and it was very anemic.... in fact I just through out a whole bottle of it on the ground last week end. It was a brand new bottle I have had for 2 years - never been opened. We opened it last weekend as LongShot wanted to try some and I thought it would be a good way to get rid of it.

LongShot has been shooting 80 grains of Pyro Select from his 54 cal Renegade shooting PRB's. With that load he was getting 1600+ fps. So we opend the new bottle - remove the cell package that they pack in to help keep the moisture out of the powder - he loaded 80 grains and got a velocity of 662 fps. I said it was a fluke, but he said it felt like he was shooting a 22. We loaded up another shot and the velocity dropped to 300+ fps. At that point I just grabbed the bottle and spread it around in the winter wheat, might make a good fertilizer.

As I got to the middle of the bottle and the rest of the way down to the end it came out in big clumps...

Stay with T7 or if you can afford it BH.. just remember BH is twice as expensive as T7 per ounce.

PS... let me tell you - you do not have to go into a store to buy a ML - believe me I know... Semi or Cayugad can tell you multiple ways to sin without going into a store....

oldsmellhound

sabotloader,

I know I don't have to go into a store to sin, but it is MUCH likelier when a rifle is in my hands...... I haven't gotten to the point yet where a picture on the computer will make me fall off the wagon...

MountainDevil54

With APP, push down hard until you no longer feel the powder compress. If you ever run across jim shockeys gold, beware that it likes a heavy bullet. APP can be picky about bullet weight as well but its a lot more forgiving than JSG is.

I will be running chronograph tests with APP 2f -3f as well as JSG 2f-3f. I have a lot of it to burn up.


Ive shot many great groups with this powder with an assortment of bullets and in different rifles as well. The sidelocks love the stuff, even my flintlock does great with it. The Accura with a 360gr minie loves 100gr FFg APP.

Ive run a few Moisture tests and its done great. I found one rifle had a leaky nipple thread and so i figured a way to make sure it was darn near 100% watertight. As for it going bad sitting in the can, i dont believe in that. I have a good 10+ lbs of JSG-APP under the desk and a few of them have been opened.

falcon

Mountain Devil is right.

Several years ago i used up about 10 pounds of Clean shot, the old APP. Then i used an awful lot of JSG before going to Pinnacle. APP, JSG and Pinnacle all have two things in common.

1. They all like tight fitting sabots.
2. The sabot/bullet must be seated very hard on the powder.

Put a furniture knob or a golf ball on the ramrod and lean on it until you feel the powder compress.

i live in a humid environment and have never ever had a problem with JSG or Pinnacle drawing moisture. My muzzleloaders are sometimes left loaded for months; they have always gone bang when they were supposed to.

MountainDevil54

OSH, I just did this test for you. I dont kid you when i say that the stuff likes a heavy bullet. I used 90gr JSG 2F this evening and this can of powder was darn near empty. Zero accuracy problems. I last used this 4 months ago, give or take.


CVA Optima - 338gr Powerbelt Platinum - Regular CCI 209 primers.

50 yards off the Caldwell Tack Driver Bag rest. Those 2 shots to the left are MY fault! I found if i hold the gun loose my bullet impacts to the left. Pull it in tight, hit right where you want it to go! Also important is the fact that there was no cool down between shots. Load up and fire.


So you know how empty the can was, This is the amount of powder that i had left after shooting those 9 shots into the target.

Note the Fine dust. I normally just throw the rest of this into a new can and shake it up.

The JSG really likes a big heavy bullet with a lot of seating pressure. I believe doing this consistently will be the difference between a good day at the range VS a WTF day at the range.

Pfffft! I go out just to do some BS shooting and find a new load the optima likes! How about that LOL. Tomorrow i want to try some 3F JSG.

oldsmellhound

MD54- Thanks for the test!! I'm convinced that I should try APP out - just for something different if nothing else.

Semisane

The only AAP powder I've used is one canister of JSG FFG that I picked up on sale. It shot pretty well accuracy wise and was very consistent over the chrono - but gave me velocities well below Pyrodex. At regular/non-sale prices in my area JSG costs about $5 a pound more than Pyrodex. It does clean up easily, but I won't be buying any more unless I run across some real cheap.

lemoyne

I used it for two years, but I like to shoot long range for fun and it is very undependable at long range and as Sabotloader said it is very anemic.
I DUMPED A LOT MORE THAN A POUND ON THE GROUND when I gave up on it; I could not even give it away around here.