Goex Blackpowder Substitute Cleans Up Muzzleloaders
by Toby Bridges
Contributing Editor
Over the past 50 years, few new products have done more to encourage new participants to take up muzzleloading and muzzleloader hunting than the development of user-friendly and better performing blackpowder substitutes.
Hodgdon Powder Company realized the need for a better powder for muzzleloaders back in the 1970s and invested heavily in constructing a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility devoted entirely to producing a brand new replica blackpowder known as Pyrodex. Then, there were an estimated 1 million blackpowder burners in the US. And by the early 1990s, those ranks had swollen to more than 2 million, with the vast majority already loading and shooting with the new powder. Today, there are an estimated 3.5 million muzzleloading shooters in the country, and less than 10% of them are still shooting with real blackpowder.
Easily, the number one selling point of Pyrodex has been its ready availability. Like modern smokeless powders, the new muzzleloader propellant was classified as a “flammable solid.” This made the powder far easier to find on dealers’ shelves than blackpowder, which was, and still is, classified as a “Class A Explosive.” In fact, a shooter can now walk into just about any Wal-Mart store and purchase Pyrodex, making this muzzleloader powder almost as easy to locate and buy as a pound of sugar or coffee!
This easy sourcing of propellant definitely contributed to the rapid growth in the numbers of muzzleloader shooters through the 1980s, especially hunters looking to take advantage of the new “Muzzleloader Only” deer and other big game hunts. And even though Pyrodex has, since its introduction, been easier to find in retail stores than blackpowder, the one thing most shooters will readily admit, despite many of the manufacturer’s claims, is that the blackpowder substitute is anything but cleaner burning. And since one of the main ingredients in Pyrodex is sulfur, the same ingredient that gives blackpowder its corrosive nature, the fouling it does leave behind is just as corrosive. In fact, many knowledgeable muzzleloading shooters claim that Pyrodex fouling is far more corrosive than the soot left behind by a burning charge of blackpowder.
Since the mid-1990s, there have been five or six major attempts by other makers to bring a cleaner burning and non-corrosive muzzleloading propellant to market. As a rule, most of the earlier powders just would not perform, velocity or accuracy wise, on par with Pyrodex. Fortunately, a number of these powders have since been refined and today’s muzzleloading shooter can now choose between several of the new “sulfur free” propellants that are in many ways far superior to Hodgdon’s older blackpowder substitute.
Ironically, the newest of the lot is a product now being offered by Goex Inc., the leading manufacturer of blackpowder in the US since the 1970s. Actually, the new replica blackpowder is a joint effort between Goex and American Pioneer Powder, the manufacturer of another sulfur-less blackpowder substitute that’s marketed under that same name. Goex will market the new powder under its label, and has dubbed it “Pinnacle.”
This past summer, Goex president, Mick Fahringer contacted me about doing some independent shooting and comparative testing of the new powder, and to provide an independent opinion of how the powder compares with other replica blackpowders currently on the market. Following are some of my findings that Gun Week readers just might find interesting.
During my initial testing of Pinnacle, I immediately took a liking to the FFFg granulation of the new powder. When loaded in the same volume-measured charges as Pyrodex “Select,” FFFg Pinnacle tended to produce faster velocities—and a lot less fouling. One of my favorite in-line rifle loads during the early 1990s consisted of 100 grains of Pyrodex “Select” behind a saboted 260-grain Speer .451-inch JHP. That load was always good for about 1,640 feet-per-second (fps) at the muzzle of a 24-inch .50-caliber barrel. An equal volume amount of FFFg Pinnacle gets a saboted 260-grain .451-inch Winchester “Platinum” HP out of the same length barrel at 1,725 fps.
Pinnacle, like Pyrodex, is a bulkier propellant than blackpowder, resulting in volume-measured charges that are lighter by weight. While the granules of FFFg grade Pinnacle look very uniform in size, I did notice that interspersed with the powder granules tended to be a fine dust.
To determine the approximate weight of a 100-grain volume-measured charge of the powder, I weighed 10 of the measured charges on an RCBS “Powder Pro” electronic scale. I wasn’t too surprised to find that from low to high, the charges varied from 77.3 grains to 82.5 grains. Likewise, when I ran 10 consecutive 100-grain volume-measured charges with saboted 250-grain Hornady SST bullets across the screens of my Shooting Chrony, the loads recorded velocities ranging from 1,688 fps to 1,744 fps. This variation in velocity resulted in 100-yard groups that tended to string shots 2&Mac251; to 3 inches vertically.
Before heading back to the range for my second shooting session with the new powder, I took the time to put together a supply of 85-grain “weighed” charges. This is basically the volume equivalent of right at 105-grains of blackpowder. And with the saboted 250-grain .452-inch Hornady SST, my first shots out of a No. 209 primer ignited 28-inch barreled .50-caliber Pedersoli 2 “Denali” recorded 1,772, 1,769, and 1,777 fps. That’s just an 8 fps velocity spread. Not too surprisingly, those three shots printed inside of 1&Mac251; inches at 100 yards.
One aspect of Pinnacle loads that has really impressed me since my first few shots has been how little fouling the powder leaves behind. Out of habit, I would lightly dampen a cleaning patch with my tongue and run it down the bore after each shot, then pull the patch up and out, turn it over and run it down once more. There was always very little fouling on the patch. In fact, after running the patch down twice, as just described, I found that if I ran another perfectly clean and dry patch down the bore, there was little if anything on it when I pulled it from the muzzle.
Like many of you, for most of the past couple of years I have done the vast majority of my in-line muzzleloader shooting with Hodgdon’s new Triple Seven powders. This is also a “sulfur-free” blackpowder substitute that delivers some impressive velocities. Now, the powder maker promotes using Triple Seven without wiping the bore between shots. However, I’ve discovered that when I fail to take the time to run a damp patch (or two) down the bore after each shot, something of a crusty “crud ring” builds about where the saboted bullet sets in the bore when seated over the powder charge. I have heard from dozens of others who have experienced the same problem.
Also, until I began wrapping the first few threads of the breech plug with pink Teflon tape, I experienced several stuck breech plugs when shooting Triple Seven loads. One required having to get a good machinist to turn the plug out of the recess at the rear of the barrel. Again, quite a few other shooters have experienced similar problems.
The fouling left behind by loads of Goex’s new Pinnacle has proven far more “consumer friendly” than the fouling left by any other blackpowder substitute I’ve loaded and shot to date. While it went against my better judgment, and was extremely hard for me to do, I loaded and shot one blued-steel in-line rifle 25 times one morning, without once wiping fouling from the bore, or breaking the breech plug loose at the end of that shooting session. I then took the rifle home and set it in a corner.
Five days later, I unthreaded the breech plug (which had been installed well lubed) without any more effort than taking it out of a rifle that had just been shot a half-dozen times. And when I cleaned the bore of that rifle, three water-dampened patches had it spotless in little more than a minute. A couple of dry ones got out all remaining moisture in the bore, and a lightly lubed patch put a protective coat on the internal metal surface of the barrel.
Now, I’m not telling any of you that you can “forget about cleaning your muzzleloader” when shooting this new Goex powder . . . just that Pinnacle is more forgiving if you would forget to clean it! And the hunter who loads and shoots with Pinnacle, and finds himself successful in the last light of the day, can concentrate on getting his deer out of the woods . . . to the check station . . . and onto the meat pole without worrying about having to clean a dirty muzzleloader. That rifle can now wait until tomorrow, or even the next day, without any ill effect from the light, non-corrosive fouling Pinnacle does leave behind.
Another test that I put Pinnacle through was to see how many rounds could be loaded and shot, without wiping the bore, and still achieve acceptable hunting accuracy. One cool morning in early October, I put 30 consecutive saboted rounds inside of 3 inches at 100 yards, and concluded that the fouling did not tend to build in the bore with each additional shot. Roughly 2/3rds of those shots stayed inside of 2&Mac251; inches.
Easily the number one apprehension among would be new muzzleloading shooters has long been the fear of having to spend so much time cleaning a dirty muzzleloader. Many just don’t find any appeal for a hunting sport that often requires spending more time to clean the rifle than the deer that was just shot with the muzzleloader. Also, due to all of the afterwards cleaning involved, many seasoned muzzleloading hunters simply don’t get out and shoot their rifles all that often. As far as mandatory and immediate cleaning is concerned, Pinnacle offers a great deal of relief . . . and peace of mind.
Now, I know quite a few of you are probably saying to yourselves, “So what if Pinnacle shoots clean, I want to shoot faster than 1,800 fps! Can Pinnacle loads shoot as fast as loads of Hodgdon’s Triple Seven?” The answer is “Yes.” But it does take a little more of the powder to get the job done.
I too am a very performance-minded muzzleloading hunter, looking to use loads that deliver all the wallop possible out at 200 yards. And with modern saboted spire-pointed bullets, like the 300-grain Precision Rifle “Dead Center,” even a load that can get the bullet out of the muzzle at 1,800 fps can maintain close to 1,400 foot-pounds of energy (fpe) at that distance. And FFFg Pinnacle has turned in some great accuracy with that particular bullet.
Still, I too wanted to know if I could stoke up some of today’s modern in-line rifles to push velocities past 2,000 fps—and still shoot with accuracy. The quest didn’t take long to answer.
Relying on weighed 100-grain charges of FFFg Pinnacle, I found that I could get the new saboted 250-grain Parker Productions “Ballistic Extreme” poly-tipped spire-point out of the muzzle of the .50-caliber Pedersoli 2 “Denali” at 2,019 fps, with 2,262 fpe.
Loading with a still hotter 110-grain weighed charge of FFFg Pinnacle, I was able to get the 250-grain Parker “Ballistic Extreme” out of the 28-inch “Denali” barrel at 2,069 fps, and keep many 100-yard groups close to 1-1/2 inches. The load develops 2,375 fpe at the muzzle, and out at 200 yards it is still good for 1,165 fpe.
Ballistically, the most impressive load I’ve shot so far with FFFg Goex Pinnacle has been a weighed 110-grain charge behind the saboted 300-grain Precision Rifle “Dead Center” spire-point bullet. At the muzzle, the load is good for 1,904 fps with 2,415 fpe. Most groups averaged between 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches.
(Note: All Pinnacle loads discussed here produced best accuracy and most consistent velocities when compressed by 40 to 45 pounds of pressure on the ramrod when seating the bullet over the powder charge.)
It is possible to squeeze a few more fps out of volume equivalent loads of FFFg Triple Seven. But take it from me, nothing can live on the difference!
Presently, Goex offers their new Pinnacle powder in FFFg and FFg granulations. Rifle shooters will find the FFFg grade the better performer, while coarser FFg grade works extremely well in muzzleloading shotguns. The company also offers the new powder in compressed 50-grain equivalent charges known as “EZ Loads.” These are available for both .50- and .45-caliber rifles.
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