hometheaterman

So I always shot Pyrodex pellets in my old Remington Genesis when I had it. I shot them with a couple of different bullets, and it always shot very well. The barrel had a couple of scratches that I can only assume from the ram rod. This barrel scratched the easiest of any I've ever seen, but regardless it always shot well even with the scratches. The last time I went to the range with my friend, we shot it, but tried to shoot Speer Deep Curls with Pyrodex loose powder. I'd shot them in it before, but only with regular sabots which were very very tight. We were now trying the crush rib ones that loaded much better. It shot all over the place. I'm talking literally like 5" group for the best groups.

I started thinking that the scratches in the bore may really be affecting the accuracy. Before we left, I did try a couple of pellets in it again and it shot better, but we didn't have time to shoot it much to see how it did.

So today, we got back to shoot. We started out with pellets and only shot pellets and we shot the same Speer Deep Curls with the crush rib sabots, and it shot amazing just like it always has. I shot a 6 shot group with it that was right at 2" at 100 yards. The only reason it was 2" was that I pulled one of them. I knew I pulled it when I shot and when I looked up after the shot, sure enough it was a little to the left making the group open up. It would have been closer to a 1.5" group without that one, and 4 of those shots were under an inch. Overall, we were both impressed, and it just shot great.

So we came to the realization that this stuff hates the Pyrodex loose powder, but loves the same charge in Pyrodex pellets. Has anyone experienced something like this? My muzzle loader I have seems to shoot the powder exactly the same as the pellets as far as I can tell, so this really shocked me. I think we were both glad to see that this muzzle loader still shot so well after finding what it liked.

nchawkeye

Nope, it will shoot loose as well if you find the right combo...

pluckit

My Traditions Pursuit loves Pyrodex Pellets also. Maybe it will shoot loose powder but I haven't found that magic number yet, and why bother?

nchawkeye

Cost per shot...

pluckit

What's cost per shot trying to work up a load at the range as apposed to one shot at a deer 3 to 6 times a year in the field? The rifle shoots terrific with the pellets so I think I'll save money and stick with them.

nchawkeye

Pellets won't work in flintlocks.....

falcon

My old CVA StagHorn loves Pyrodex pellets. i used Pyrodex pellets interchangeably with loose Pyrodex for years: Using the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet in the short black sabot, two 50 grain pellets shoot to the same point of aim as 100 grains of Pyrodex RS.

TNHagies

If you only shoot a few times a year, then pellets are just fine. If that's what works well, use it.

The reason most on here do not like pellets is the cost per shot and the ability to tweek your load.

Both Genesis' I had loved Pyrodex RS (loose) I only shoot BH out of them now but if you keep playing with the charges you will probably find what you're looking for.

As a side note, I do not have any scratches in either of my Gensis' so I'm not sure where yours came from.

cayugad

I have one rifle.. a Remington Genesis Stainless Steel barrel with a Nikon Omega scope that for some reason shoots two Pyrodex RS pellets with amazing accuracy. I have tinkered with loose RS and have never been able to match the accuracy of two pellets for some reason. That three shot group was using a .452 bullet and measures .479 I believe it was. To me that was amazing. It was only 68 yards I believe.

On two other occasions I shot almost the same group. Again with Pellets. The stranger thing is, when I went to purchase more pellets, they were out of the Pyrodex RS ones so I got Triple Seven pellets. And that rifle would not shoot worth a hoot with them.

I also have an old Staghorn Magnum that shoots well with Pyrodex pellets and so does my T/C Black Diamond XR. In fact the XR is the one rifle I have that loaded with three RS pellets and a 250 grain shockwave actually shoots very accurate.

hometheaterman

That's odd as I also tried Triple Seven pellets when I first got this gun and it wouldn't shoot them well at all. I ended up given the rest of the box to a friend that had wanted to try them.

As for the cost per shot being so much cheaper with loose powder, that's why I switched to shooting it. Honestly, I prefer pellets when hunting as for me they just are easier to deal with, but I like the loose powder on the range and it saves quite a bit. My friend was hoping to shoot loose on the range to save money too, but it looks like it's a no go in this rifle.