I haven't messed with muzzleloaders since I was a kid 40 years ago, but the opportunity to go on a private land hunt in Colorado during ML season this fall prompted me to purchase a ML and get ready.

I bought a Knight Disc Extreme (no need for traditionalism here, I just need to shoot an elk) .50 cal. It seems quite functional and has a surprisingly good trigger.

Colorado requires iron sights, loose powder, and no sabots. As it happens I caught some Powerbelts for very cheap when the Sportsmans Warehouse closed down. They had no powder, but a few weeks later I found American Pioneer Powder loose FFg in plastic straws for cheap at Cabelas.

Cruising the web for recipies, I found a lot of negative comments of APP. Having no experience whatsoever with black powder substitutes, I figured I might have made a mistake. However, my initial four shots at 50 yards from a brand new, unfamiliar gun seemed just fine, and exhibited superior accuracy to my hunting companion's borrowed .54 cal shooting Goex FFG.

So yesterday, I decided to do some more serious testing. I WEIGHED several charges of APP of 80 grains each. The "150 grain equivalent" straws contained about 120 grains of actual weight, so I figured 80 weighed grains would be approximately "100 grains BP equivalent".

Shooting through my Oehler skyscreens at a 100 yard target, three shots with 80 weighed grains under a 348 grain Powerbelt Copper, sparked by a Winchester 209 primer, yielded an average of 1440 fps at an instumental distance of ten feet. The velocity difference in the fastest and slowest shots was only 30 fps. The first two shots in the target (the first from a freshly cleaned barrel) landed less than 3" apart at 100 yards. From that point I started fine-tuning the sights, but none of the six shots I fired were outside of the kill zone of an elk.

I boosted the powder to a weighed 90 grains, which yielded about 1600 fps. It struck a few inches higher on the target.

Overall, I can't see a problem with American Pioneer. Velocities are acceptable and consistent, accuracy is acceptable, the fouling is far less than with actual FFg, and clean-up is simple.

As a virtual muzzleloading neophyte, I would appreciate any comments from more experienced hands!

I'll jump in here. I've been using Am Pi since before they were called such. They got in trouble with Hodgdon a while back calling their sticks pellets like Hodgdon called their Pyro pellets. Its really good consistent stuff as far as I'm concerned. I've even used it in cartridge situations(45/70-40/65). I'm not too happy with Shockeys Gold, but the original stuff does good for me. You do have to keep the lid on tight, because it draws moisture like nobodies business.

My TC Omega does NOT like Shockey's Gold or Powerbelts of any size. But then it's only a .45

Funny, my 45cal Omega loves Powerbelts.

I'll warn you about Powerbelts, the original bullet, still offered, is SOFT and will come unglued with too much velocity. I shoot 150grs of Pyrodex pellets under my Powerbelts and they break up in our whitetails, which run from under 100lbs to better than 200, small doe to biggest buck.

Deer don't go far when the bullet errupts in their lungs, but a cow elk is a whole lot bigger.

JPK

Stonecreek,

Muzzle loaders are a lot more finicky (sp) than smokeless powder weapons. My experience has been that EACH BLACKPOWDER RIFLE HAS ITS OWN CHARACTERISTICS (exclusive of such things as rate of twist, barrel length); THEY ARE ALMOST LIKE FINGERPRINTS - NO TWO ARE ALIKE (close only counts with grenades & horeshoes). Yes we can learn from each other but with the individuality of blackpowder/muzzleload rifles trying several powders will yield good results.

Although time consuming I would suggest trying several brands of powder & loads. WHATEVER YOUR RIFLE LIKES, USE IT (blackpowder or synthetic) keeping in mind the other factors (aside from accuracy) that affect your shooting - cleaning between shots (if any), loading ease or difficulty of subsequent shots after initial shots, final cleanup after that trophy is in the skinning shed. (If you try several powder insure that you compare the different powders under equal conditions (temperature/humidity, barrel cleanliness, barrel temeprature).

This process can be wasteful; you will be left with 3/4ths of a can of powder that you don't prefer.

It would be great if powder manufacturers would provide trial packs of powder (maybe they do & I am not aware of it).

Good hunting