Debunking De Blackpowder Performance Envelope
Much ado has been made of "blackpowder velocities," and the so-called "blackpowder performance envelope." It does not exist, and hasn't for several years now. Some feel that blackpowder itself is only capable of producing very low pressure, apparently forgetting about the Nobel and Able tests of the 19th century that proved blackpowder could produce over 100,000 PSI.
There was, of course, a time when bore-sized pure lead projectiles were popular, but that is no longer the case. Pure lead conicals, deeply cannelured and lubed, are subject to a 1400 - 1450 fps velocity without leading bores. That limitation has long been lifted, as Del Ramsey's polyethylene sabots are soon to have their twenty year anniversary. Copper clad "Power-Belts," fundamentally bore-sized conicals produced by Big Bore Express also neatly break through that 1450 fps mark, with no lubrication or lead fouling. That muzzle velocity mark is history, even though .32 black powder squirrel rifles have been popping out their diminutive 45 grain round balls at past 2400 fps for a couple of hundred years. At the present, true blackpowder is just not in popular use in the muzzleloading community.
Close to blackpowder as a "performance substitute" is Pyrodex (int. 1976), essentially blackpowder hopped up with chlorates, a hoary technique dating back to 1800 or so. Yet, Pyrodex powder alone is not that big of a performance boost, as many are aware that brands like "Swiss" blackpowder are more energetic than Goex.
April 1, 1996 was the day that Dean Barrett, V-P of Hodgdon Powder Company filed for patent on the "Pyrodex Pellet." Introduced at the "SHOT SHOW" shortly thereafter, the Pyrodex pellet changed muzzleloading quickly, and forever. Despite a few shrill cries from those who felt you somehow "needed" to measure powder to muzzleload, consumers voted quickly and strongly for convenience with their purchasing dollars, and the "Pellet Dynasties" were born. Combined with saboted projectiles, it wasn't long before loose blackpowder and Pyrodex performance levels were shattered-with "magnum muzzleloading mania" that hasn't stopped since. Burning progressively down the bore, Pyrodex pellets can produce muzzle velocities from today's muzzleloading rifles exceeding 2600 fps, just as published in current in-line muzzleloading catalogs. The type of burn is akin to smokeless powder, and that is how the D.O.T. classifies it. No longer was Pyrodex in anyway a blackpowder "performance" substitute-- now, even 250 grain projectiles can exceed 2300 fps in many .50 caliber "blackpowder" inlines.
In 2002, Hodgdon did it again, introducing their "Triple Seven" loose powder, a sugar based propellant, which is far more efficient than blackpowder or Pyrodex, with corresponding muzzle velocities that follow in concert. In no way a "black powder performance substitute," the pressures created are far higher greater than the Pyrodex or blackpowder genre products, and so are the muzzle velocities. Triple Seven pellets soon followed in 2003, and they likewise offer more velocities in three pellet configuration than their Pyrodex counterparts-- as they can produce more gas in a finite barrel volume.
There never has been a simple, cozy "blackpowder envelope." The answer was just a bigger bore and more barrel volume in the 1800s, but today's hunters don't care for long, heavy barrels or massive recoil. Bullets got longer, pre-dating the Civil War, but the sabots combined with "pellet power" have made the 2300 fps-capable arena inline muzzleloader "uncommonly common." Still, muzzleloading is primarily a deer hunting driven market, and most deer are taken inside 100 yards.
There has been no such thing as "blackpowder performance window" for the over the last seven years. The only commonality that exists today in muzzleloading is that, true to the definition-- your rifle can be loaded only from the muzzle. Whether smoke-less or sulfur-less, pellet-powered or dipper-charged, one further limitation exists-- the sabot. The sabot that ensconces our projectiles is the performance limiting factor in velocity with accuracy. Heat and pressure can overwhelm a sabot from stacks of pellets, Triple Seven powder, or when using smokeless powder as a blackpowder substitute. Make no mistake; it is the same, identical phenomenon.
The rest is strictly in how you package it, and how you sell it-- and what your company might have to sell. No game animal can possibly tell the difference, no game animal can live on the difference. No DNR or ballistics experts can show the difference. Those that elect to give the matter a bit of intelligent, unbiased thought should really wonder what all the fuss is about. It is not about the actual and factual.
There is just no basis in reality for any fuss or frenzy as for propellant type in muzzleloading.
It is time to confuse the issue with common sense.
© 2004 by Randy Wakeman
