Real Black Powder

[Okie Hog]

Corrosion and crud happens because folks neglect or don't properly clean their rifles. Use whatever powder that is available, clean your rifle shortly after; no corrosion problem. i own a cheap CVA rifle bought new in 2000. It has fired over 3,500 rounds using Pyrodex. The bore shines like a new rifle.

 

[Throwdown58]

Well I've shot it for twenty years, and the only way you would be able to tell if it is less corrosive is if you don't clean your guns. I do, and have noticed that BP makes you pay dearly when you think you got it all but didn't. I have a Brown Bess and Charleville that have battle scars from my mistake of not removing my lock and soaking it with soapy water. Just regular toothbrushing wasn't good enough. That has never happened throughout all my years of pyrodex P, and for many of those years I was shooting Patersons at cowboy shoots (before the nannys banned them for being five shots), so I had to take my guns down between stages to load them. Never had an issue with surprise rust all those years. And I've never not been able to shoot the next stage because of crud in my cylinder gap, which happened every time I tried to shoot BP in my conversion guns.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Pyrodex and most substitute black powders produce less apparent sooty fouling than real Black powder such as GOEX, Swiss, KIK, Wano, Graf's et al. But the fouling that is produced by Pyrodex is far more corrosive than the black powder fouling which is corrosive. After all the fouling is a salt that attacks steel. It may take a little more to clean Pyrodex, but all can be cleaned with water and a bit of soap. Do take the time for thorough cleaning.

 

[Zonie]

Your right in saying fouling consists of salts.
I disagree with you though when you say salt attacks steel. Actually, the salts produced by real black powder and by the synthetic powders don't attack steel at all, until they absorb moisture. Then, it's the dissolved salts in the water that does the damage.

I'm not saying this to be argumentative. The reason I'm saying it is because if a shooter thoroughly cleans his gun within a few hours of shooting it, no damage will be done to the steel. I know I'm getting grumpy in my old age but, if the shooter "puts it off" his cleaning and doesn't clean their gun within a few hours after shooting, they will get what they deserve. Rusting and pitting. Unfortunetly, the innocent gun can end up ruined if the shooter puts off cleaning the gun for more than a few days.

Now, if the shooter really needs to put off cleaning the gun, if he thoroughly wets the fouling with oil and sets the gun aside, the oil will prevent much of the moisture from the air from getting into the fouling. If this is done, the gun might be able to go for several weeks before the rusting will start.
The problem with this is, often, the shooter will forget that he didn't clean the gun so the next time he wants to use it he will probably find the rusting has started.

 

[Throwdown58]

Yes that's my point Zonie. Pyrodex is much more forgiving when you just do a basic cleaning after a match and procrastinate going in for every nook and crevice. The basic assumption is that you don't shoot the gun and leave it dirty with no treatment at all. I've been surprised more than once taking a gun out of a safe that I thought I remembered cleaning well, only to find one little spot on the breech face or lock rusted, when using BP. After decades of Pyrodex, I never had that happen with my pistols, and I never take them all the way apart to clean.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

You must not clean your guns for a while.

Well.........that is another interesting remark.

 

[Throwdown58]

Well how else would you know that either of them are corrosive? These forums and Facebook groups are full of people who talk out of various orifices besides their mouth and give people terrible advice. If all of your guns were spick-and-span toothbrush And Q tip 3 hours after you are done shooting, Nothing would ever have rusted your guns.

 

[user 36911]

I've never read that Pyrodex was more forgiving than BP. Actually, just the opposite.

Just what I read though. I don't mess with subs.