• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Triple Seven..you owe yourself a 1lb

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 21, 2021
Messages
407
Reaction score
702
Location
S.E. Missouri
So to not hijack another post about Pyrodex the question I have is this...
I think it has been established that Pyrodex is at least as corrosive if not more so than black powder...
Knowing this when I got back into traditional muzzle loading during the BP shortage the choice was Pyrodex or T7
I chose to restart with T7 ..
Revolvers were first with 3 Colts and all are fed with T7/3F and paper cartridge system ball and conical and have had zero misfires ..even with my home made caps still no ignition problems ..
Then came a couple of civil war reproduction rifles (musket cap fired) and again no ignition problems with T7 ..
I have just added a TC .54 Renegade that I have yet to shoot (it and Covid arrived at my house the same day) and it is presently set up for # 11 caps ..
So the TC is yet to be challenged with T7/3F but it may require a change over to musket caps to be reliable ignition wise ..so be it and here is why I will go to musket caps if need be ..
With Pyrodex I ruined a TC Renegade years ago on a 10 day elk hunt (weather turned nuts cold and no way to clean) and it was not a good feeling ..
With T7 I cannot find any evidence of any corrosive activity that differs from modern day powders ..
I clean the firearms with the same solvents n oil as I do unmentionables
Further I can do a quick wipe down and do the full "Monty cleaning" at my leisure hours or even days later ..
With the "not an emergency to clean" situation if I get off work early I can pop out and make some smoke a few hours and clean the following weekend ..so I am shooting far more than if I was using Black or P'dex..
Now I know the T7 container says "water cleanup" but it just is not so ..front stuffer shooters have cleaned with water since gun powder was invented and they just want to hear "clean just like you are used to.. clean with water"
I understand T7 is a bit more $$ than P'dex but it also takes less of it as volume for volume and it is stronger than Black or Pyrodex ..so the $$ difference is not as much as it first appears ... in fact I buy from my LGS T7/2F 1lb for a bit less than what I am seeing guys say they pay for shipped/hazmatted/powder ..
DO yourself a favor and buy a 1lb of T7 as it has proven at least to me.. to be gun friendly and clean up easy ..

Bear
 
I bought some Triple 2f a couple years ago for my inline pistol. This past year, I have been using it in a few of my sidehammer guns. It actually shoots pretty darn good.
I was using about 10 grains of black powder down the barrel first ahead of whatever charge of T7. Lately, I'm not using any of my black powder for a duplex load, just the T7.
I save my black powder for my flintlock.
 
Sunday took the .58 IV hawkin out with Triple 7. 90 gr. 3 shot group was 3/4 inch at 65 yds. Called it good with PRB for upcoming Cow tag. Tried REAL a member cast for me. Literally fell out the bore. Not gonna buy the mold after all.

Subs work. Missing BLACK MS for sure
 
I always use Triple 7 in my percussion guns ever since I tried it a few years ago. I like it much better than Pyrodex. I have to drive about an hour and a half to buy Swiss or Shutzen black powder so I too save that for flintlock guns.
 
I like Triple Seven, but don’t shoot much of it. Around here, I only see it on the shelves in the fall for deer season. The in-line guys seem to snatch it up pretty quickly. I’ve also tried the T7 pellets. Seems to be a decent product. I may try to scare up another pound this weekend since you’ve reminded me!
 
forgive me brothers, for i have sinned! i strayed from holy black and muzzleloaders today. three times!
i have never shot smoothbore muzzleloaders or muzzleloading shotguns.
i have been building a fowler 20g but it is months away from finish. so.. i bought a 11ga from a member here yesterday because duck and geese are going to get kilt this weekend.
anyhow, to my sin.
i have had a zulu 12g sidelock shotgun for 40 years. to look at. shot it once years ago with low base light loads.
i also have 2 bottles of 777. anywho, i got to thinking,(very dangerous condition) that i could cut the crimp fingers off a plastic thingy, slap a primer in it and insert and close. then load from the muzzle, simulating the proper way of doing things.
started with 70g 777, .125 card, 1/2 inch of wasp nest, 1.25 oz #7.5 lead, card.
ratchet straps attached the bom... ah shotgun to my shooting bench. bunched up sheep skin got it pointing at the 35yard target.
15 feet of string, making a sharp turn behind a wall and it went bloop!
got 6 pellets in the target!
sinned a second time and this time went for it! 80g 777. cards and wasp nest the same excepti loaded 1.25 oz bb's. i really seated the over shot card and shot column. Pow! sounded like a real shotgun! 777 tossed the shot like the real thing!
last sin was 90g 777 with all else the same. that one went Bang!. and if i had had the guts to hold the contraption and had it pointed at a duck, we would be eating duck with plum sauce tonight!
can't wait for the new(to me) percussion English fowler to get here.
so did i really sin or not? you tell me. regardless it was fun!
 
forgive me brothers, for i have sinned! i strayed from holy black and muzzleloaders today. three times!
i have never shot smoothbore muzzleloaders or muzzleloading shotguns.
i have been building a fowler 20g but it is months away from finish. so.. i bought a 11ga from a member here yesterday because duck and geese are going to get kilt this weekend.
anyhow, to my sin.
i have had a zulu 12g sidelock shotgun for 40 years. to look at. shot it once years ago with low base light loads.
i also have 2 bottles of 777. anywho, i got to thinking,(very dangerous condition) that i could cut the crimp fingers off a plastic thingy, slap a primer in it and insert and close. then load from the muzzle, simulating the proper way of doing things.
started with 70g 777, .125 card, 1/2 inch of wasp nest, 1.25 oz #7.5 lead, card.
ratchet straps attached the bom... ah shotgun to my shooting bench. bunched up sheep skin got it pointing at the 35yard target.
15 feet of string, making a sharp turn behind a wall and it went bloop!
got 6 pellets in the target!
sinned a second time and this time went for it! 80g 777. cards and wasp nest the same excepti loaded 1.25 oz bb's. i really seated the over shot card and shot column. Pow! sounded like a real shotgun! 777 tossed the shot like the real thing!
last sin was 90g 777 with all else the same. that one went Bang!. and if i had had the guts to hold the contraption and had it pointed at a duck, we would be eating duck with plum sauce tonight!
can't wait for the new(to me) percussion English fowler to get here.
so did i really sin or not? you tell me. regardless it was fun!
No sin from my point of view but that is a serious amount of T7 (90gr) ..I'm thinking 65gr max and get a better gas seal ..and a bit of concern about air space where a card wad hangs on the front edge of the tube and then the load not up against the powder
Might be safer to cut the case to where the 65 grains fills the case and then some and then you for sure have wads and load up against the powder
I have never done what you are doing so nor have I ever done what I thought was better but in truth probably both are a "no go" and just load the T7 in the shell properly and be done with it and don't forget non toxic shot is the US regulation for waterfowl

Best of luck and remember a cat only has 9 lives and you may have just used one in your "experiment" today!

Bear
PS: Send me your Plum Sauce recipe!
 
my 9 lives are at 8.5 used. kinda why stuff don't scare me anymore! but you will notice i strapped the bom... gun down and used a long string!
this was a one off thing. just saw the old zulu in the corner and started thinking. not my strong suit.:D
it did get me to notice the old gun again. need to find a plank and carve a new stock for it. the stock is mostly splinters.
 
my 9 lives are at 8.5 used. kinda why stuff don't scare me anymore! but you will notice i strapped the bom... gun down and used a long string!
this was a one off thing. just saw the old zulu in the corner and started thinking. not my strong suit.:D
it did get me to notice the old gun again. need to find a plank and carve a new stock for it. the stock is mostly splinters.
Credit so noted and please keep the tally book at the 8.5 level:doh:

Bear
 
I have a smoothbore that uses percussion caps and I have had 3 times where T7 did not ignite over about 50 shots. It went off after a few caps. On the other hand, I use Pyrodex either RS or P in the same smoothbore and I have gone around 400 shots now without a hiccup. That one gun just doesn't like T7 and I'm not sure why. I have a rifle that does not achieve its accuracy potential with T7, and groups much tighter with a load of Pyrodex or Goex. The T7 works fine in that one, but just doesn't provide the accuracy. In the opposite, one of my .54 percussion rifles has a strong preference for T7 with groups half the size of those with any amount of black or Pyrodex. So....the OP is right, you have to try it. There are many instances where it may work for you. I reserve the real BP for my flintlocks now.
 
I will add, I sometimes get a hard ring of crud with T7 down by the breach of the barrel, but it scrapes or dilutes and comes out. I don't experience this with Pyrodex or real black. Also, I clean Pyrodex and real black alike with a windex/MOS concoction that varies based on my mood and access. I follow with 91% isopropyl alcohol and I eventually end up with clean patches. No corrosion or other issues noted with Pyrodex and black and same clean up I use for T7.
 
If I remember correctly t7 ( why did they call it that!!) produces acid based deposits more so than salt based deposits and maybe less hygroscopic compared with black or P.
Its potentially not much more acidic ( if I'm correct) than some nitro products.

What ever it takes.....
 
This is all I’m currently using! Local outdoor store has it in town. It is more expensive than black powder but I don’t have to travel one hour one-way to buy it. It cleans up easy! Much easier than Pirodex! I’m only shooting capers at this point so it works great! Definitely worth a try!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top