Gentlemen: It is just called "Gunpowder"
For centuries, no particular distinction was made in small arms propellants-- it was just called gunpowder, likely because that all it is. It is just a propellant.
There is a wide area for innocent misunderstanding, NOT based on facts of any sort-- but strictly on independent companies' commercial marketing attempts. Effective marketing is precisely what good companies do-- however, it has all too often been at the expense of reality. Most modern inline muzzleloaders shoot the very same projectiles at very similar velocities and very similar ranges. Loading from the muzzle is a severe restriction, and no .45 caliber projectile can fly particularly well. No .45-70 Government load can possibly have the trajectory of a .22-250 or a .300 WinMag. Basic, fundamental external ballistics physics prohibit that.
As much as muzzleloading propellant manufacturers try to change how their new propellants are presented and touted, they cannot classify their propellants or reclassify their propellants to suit their latest ad campaigns. The U.S. Department of Transportation classifies these propellants, not powder companies.
Hodgdon Pyrodex was sold for many years as a "smokeless propellant for muzzleloading." Hodgdon printed this on bottle after bottle of Pyrodex, and on box after box of Pyrodex pellets-- not by accident, by intent. The U.S. DOT says that it is. That has changed now-- not the propellant, but only the marketing of it.
Loose blackpowder is DOT classified as 1.1 Hazardous Material. It is an explosive, and is harder to legally ship, store, and sell due to the rules that come with a DOT 1.1 classification.
Hodgdon Pyrodex, Hodgdon Triple Se7en, American Pioneer, Goex Pinnacle, and Accurate Arms 5744 are all DOT 1.3 powders. They are all classified as smokeless. Perhaps American Pioneer is a bit more forthright in their products: Modern Gun Powder for Black Powder Guns™ is their trademark. That is what it is.
Even "smokeless" as commonly used is a bit incorrect; a "low smoke" propellant more precisely defines what it is. All blackpowder replacements vary in the amount of smoke they produce, energy content, and the amount of residue left behind. You cannot arbitrarily interchange a given weight of Goex blackpowder, Triple Se7en, American Pioneer, Pyrodex RS, Accurate Arms 5744, or the various synthetic stick or pellets now on the market and begin to think that performance, pressure, velocity, or SAFETY in a randomly selected frontloader with various projectiles has any correlation. They are all just propellants, and they are to be used in strict accordance with the specific firearm maker's rules.
It isn't that tough. Few people randomly swap transmission oil, motor oil, or 80-90W gear oil. Not many would consider random interchangability of propane, gasoline, nitromethane, or diesel fuel to be anything but exceedingly unsmart. Run your gun on what the manufacturer of the gun says it is allowed to run on is forthright enough for anyone accepting the responsibility of muzzleloading-- which by nature is a form of reloading.
Sulfurless propellants giving higher velocities by weight than blackpowder with less maintenance is what BlackMag3, American Pioneer, Hodgdon Triple Se7en, Goex Pinnacle and Accurate Arms 5744 all promise and deliver. None are chemically, volumetrically, or in weight identical to blackpowder. Not even close. As far as "modern" propellants, ascorbic acid based BlackMag3, ascorbic acid American Pioneer, ascorbic acid based Goex Pinnacle, gluconic acid salt based Hodgdon Triple Se7en are all far more "modern" and recent compared to Accurate Arms 5744 which has been a nitrocellulose based powder on the scene for decades. ALL of these powders can be used, and are recommended to be used in modern centerfire brass cartridges. All of them.
Now the issue of safety is somtimes injected. Not for safety, but for marketing purposes. No powder manufacturer has the authority to override the individual muzzleloading gun manufacturer's recommended loads-- not one. The Thompson / Center Cherokee is a .32 caliber sidelock, with a maximum load of 50 grains (volume) FFFg blackpowder or 50 grains (volume) Hodgdon Pyrodex "P." What powder manufacturer will sign their name to the use of 100 grains of powder by volume in this rifle? If you want to know, it won't take you long to find out.
Every box of Triple Se7en .50 caliber 50 grain "equivalent" pellets comes with a "NEVER EXCEED WARNING." NEVER EXCEED TWO PELLETS, 100 grains equivalent followed by the usual talk of severe injury to shooter and bystander, including death. However, THREE Triple Se7en pellets are allowed and encouraged by Knight, Thompson, CVA, and others in many of their guns, sometimes (incorrectly) called "magnum loads." Does anyone really think that Hodgdon Powder is so completely out of touch with their own industry that they are not completely aware of this, and have been for years? Does Hodgdon go out of their way to discourage this? Do they discourage this practice, specifically, at all by saying "DO NOT" use three pellets of Pyrodex or Triple 7 as directed by Thompson, Knight, and CVA in many of their inline rifles? Of course not-- it means more pellets are burned per shot, and that's good for business. In the case of Thompson and Knight anyway, you have well-tested proven product before these loads are allowed. Again, no powder company can tell Knight, Thompson, or Savage Arms what their guns are designed, tested, and proven to be able to use.
The reality is, shoot a quality muzzleloading manufacturer's gun, and follow their recommended loads. The manufacturer's loads exist to keep you safe. Modern blackpowder replacement powders are marketed to be sold, all too often at the expense of candid, forthright information.
More often then not, my blackpowder replacement powder in a Savage 10ML-II is a charge of 45 grains by weight of Accurate Arms 5744 pushing a 300 gr. Barnes bullet. There is NO safer way to muzzleload, by any standard of current muzzleloading firearms design. No powder company, no firearms company, no bullet company, no industry entity can show begin to show differently-- or EVER has. Don't we all really know the reasons why?
Sometimes gunpowder is just gunpowder, and a cigar is just a cigar.
Postscript:
We have no universal muzzleloading standards to rely upon today; neither SAAMI / ANSI in the United States or the CIP have any criteria for sulfurless blackpowder replacement proofing, or maximum service loads. There, of course, are no "NATO" muzzleloading guidelines, either. That leaves muzzleloading in a bit of a fix, where ad-copy and hyperbole have developed biases and attitudes, not empirical evidence.
I do shoot sulfurless blackpowder replacement powders, and have almost exclusively since Triple Se7en came out in 2002. The vast majority of today's muzzleloading hunters do not shoot blackpowder; most never have. The last half-dozen or so animals that have hit my freezer have been one-shot drops with a Savage and Accurate Arms 5744. The best bet for anyone entering muzzleloading is to buy a quality rifle from a quality manufacturer, and whether it is Savage, Thompson, or Knight-- follow their recommended propellant suggestions. None of the three are powder makers or sellers, they just want their guns to perform for you safely and well.
© July, 2005 by Randy Wakeman
