pirodex or other pellets in a sidelock?

[bavarialand]

will pellets work in a sidelock like a hawken? or do you have to change the nipple to a musket cap?

 

[walruskid1]

musket cap or not, i wouldn't advise using pellets in a sidelock. loose powder works best for me.

 

[ryoung14]

Not reliably from what I hear, bavaria. I haven't tried it because I don't like pulling loads.

There are a couple of sidelocks with trick breechplugs that were made to use pellets; the T/C Black Mountain Magnum and the T/C Firestorm. I have tried pellets in my BMMag with a musket nipple and the results weren't so great. Sometimes ignition was quick (on a par with loose Pyrodex) and sometimes there was a slight delay. I saw a problem waiting to happen so went back to loose Pyrodex, which I like better anyway. T/C must've agreed because they quickly introduced the Firestorm and, not long after, discontinued the BMMag. The Firestorm ignition is reportedly reliable with pellets, even as a flinter.

It seems a little primer charge of loose RS or P could get the ball rolling with pellets in most any sidelock, but Hodgdon cautions against mixing loose powder with pellets. I figure there must be a reason as it would increase their sales if it worked.
Bob

 

[buzz bait]

will pellets work in a sidelock like a hawken? or do you have to change the nipple to a musket cap?

i tried them once in my t/c hawken like i said once it took 3 caps to fire and when it did go i had a hang fire. :redface: i would stick to lose powder.

 

[Zonie]

I suppose the pellets might be useful for a quick reload when hunting, but there are containers for loose powder and ball that would be just as quick to use and don't cost an arm and a leg like the Pellets do.

The Pellets have a coating of real black powder and some sort of glue on the ends of them to make them fire quickly in In-Line guns. (The primer in these guns is right at the rear of the pellet).
Because this coating is on the end, any gun which has the ignition coming in from the side won't IMO work very well (if at all) with them.

If your sidelock gun has a powder chamber in the breech plug which directs the cap flame at the rear of the Pellet (like TCs and Lymans), this chamber area will be empty if you load a Pellet. That results in two negative things.
First, it adds an extra distance the flame has to travel to get to the charge.
Second, there is no loose powder to be blown back thru the flame channel to the nipple. This results in the caps flame having to travel thru the twists and turns of the flame channel hole(s) which cools its temperature to the point that ignition may not occure.

 

[bavarialand]

thanks for the info. everybody. i will NOT try it. i just wanted to know if anyone had, with or without success. Dave