pioneer powder

was wondering if anyone has used pioneer powder in a 50 flint and what kind of results they may have had. ive always used goex but i have a couple pounds of american pioneer 2f. got a new kit coming in a 50 42inch bbl, 1-66 . thinking a charge of 75-90 grains for whitetail . should do. ? thanks Shovelhead

Go ahead and try it but I suggest you load the ball without a patch on it. (That way, you will be able to pull the ball if the powder doesn't fire.)
That powder might work but most likely the gun won't fire at all. Flintlocks don't like synthetic black powder because they are hard to ignite and from my experience, none of the sugar based synthetic powders ignite easily.

If you do try it I think you will at least have a fighting chance if you dump 10 to 15 grains of real black powder down the barrel first, followed by the American Pioneer powder. That way, the real black powder will fire and ignite the American Pioneer powder that's on top of it.

Some say these "duplex" powder loads are dangerous but if you subtract the black powders weight from the main powder charge weight and load just that amount of the American Pioneer you should be safe.

I've used a load of Pyrodex and FFg years ago. I used 10 grs FFg then subtracted that amount from the pyrodex. This isnt a true "duplex load" IMHO because they are both a black powder or a black powder substitute.

Lots of "Duplex " load development was done during the 30s and 40s on unmentionables, when there was fewer choices of unmentionable powder choices, but that was with powder that isn't used in muzzle-loaders.

Bottom line, I think there's no problem using some "Real" black powder as a igniter for the pioneer, but what do I know?

thanks fellas think ill stick to goex. still able to get it around here.

Excellent idea.

Dave

I've often wondered how much powder winds up clinging to the barrel walls when you dump it in, and then gets pushed to the bottom when you push your patched ball down.

This weekend I had an incident where I short started the ball down about 8" or so, but forgot to fully seat it all the way down. It was only about an 18 gr. charge, so there was no problem with an obstructed bore and all that hullabaloo. Just sort of a "pssst, snap. Sounded funny so I investigated. Sure enough the ball wasn't down. I tried getting a screw in to the ball to pull it but it wouldn't take, (I stripped it by trying to yank on it too soon) so I just loaded about 12-15 gr. of 4Fg through the touch hole, then seated the ball the rest of the way and shot it out.