Hodgdon Pyrodex Pellets

[Sheriff A.E. Moses]

Need a little advice.....
I loaded some Hodgdon 30 grain Pyrodex Pellets in my 44-40 cartridge with a magnum primer and a 200 grain bullet and they are plenty stiff for me. I just got my wrists back from the arthuritis family and I was wondering if anyone has cut about 1/3 of the pellet off to see what happens.
I am just getting into this black powder stuff, and I still don't understand why the same bullet from Meister Bullets is over twice as much money when you specify black powder vs smokeless powder......what would happen if a fella was to lay a little spg lube on top the pellet before he seated a smokeless bullet?
If I have to pay the price of high dollar bullets, it is almost as cheap to buy them ready made ones from Black Dawge and save myself a lot of grief.......
Tell me what ya think..............

[Willie Wheelgun]

I had some Hodgdon Pyrodex pellets and loaded them up in my 45 Colt brass as I was in a hurry for a match.  Too stout a load and clean-up was no bargain.  I am back to the real Black Powder.
Try Desperado Bullets next time.  Good price and soft lead. 
JMHO
Willie

[Qball]

If 30 grains pyrodex pellets is to stif? how does it behaves compared to 30grains regular blackpowder?
Not going to start any thing, just want's to know becaus real blackpowder will soon be out of reach
for us in sweden. (New storage rules)

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[Bad Flynch]

>I am just getting into this black powder stuff, and I still don't understand why the same bullet from Meister Bullets is over twice as much money when you specify black powder vs smokeless powder......what would happen if a fella was to lay a little spg lube on top the pellet before he seated a smokeless bullet?<

Some possibilities: Since the difference is not in the bullet alloy, but solely in the lube, it really makes you wonder. Anytime you label something for shooting, the price goes up. Anytime you label something for CAS, the price goes up to whatever the market will bear because people seem not to mind being scr***ed when buying stuff for the sport. A bit of careful price watching on the part of CAS shooters would go a long way.

Since almost everybody that uses S** lube for bp ends up charging a lot more for their bullets so lubed, that should be looked at. Still, even those companies that do not use it and use some other BP lube charge a little more, and you wonder even more. Common sense will tell you that the very small amount of bullet lube difference proabably will not account for the difference in price: some difference, yes.

It has been well documented that the size of a production run has as much to do with the eventual price of something as the cost of, say, the materials to make it. Long production runs are much more economical and setting aside a special run for low volume sellers increases costs at a high rate. Still, the bullets are not different and need not be cast in a separate run, the difference lies in setting apart batches for special lubing and charging whatever the market will bear in a sport where customers have too much money, too much time, and too little useful to do with either, evidently. Good grief, look at what the total cost is just to get outfitted properly to compete in the sport. This sport is made possible by many affluent yuppies that remember a hollywood version of the old west--and that is not a complaint, simply an observation.

By all means, learn to cast your own out of an alloy best suited to your situation. Make your own lube, out of ingredients that are reasonably priced, and make a lube that is best situated for your needs. Spend a little time with a lubricator sizer getting to know your product and take pride in producing good bullets that shoot well and help improve scores.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

[Sheriff A.E. Moses]

Qball,
To answer your question, I can not tell the difference between pellets and powder, I was trying to discover if anyone had cut a 30 grain pellet down to a 20 gr pellet for example. 30 grains will make my wrist started to ache pretty bad before a match is completed...

[Cuts Crooked]

A.E.

I jist cain't think of a way to "cut" the pellets and have any consistancy in weight. If you come up with a way to do it pleasae post the solution here. (there are definate issues there to be addressed concerning safety while "cutting" too!

[Sheriff A.E. Moses]

Cuts Crooked -
I was just planning on measuring 2/3 mark and use a sharp knife and cut through it. When handling them, they seem kind of brittle and I didn't think they would be hard at all to cut. Doing it without creating any spark was my only concern.........

[Willie Wheelgun]

I have used them in my .44 cap and ball RV's.  Rimington #11 light them okay.  I cannot think of a convenient way to cut them down and they cost way more per load than loose powder.  I would get a set of Lee Dippers and use loose.

The Lyman BP Handbook and Loading Manual shows as an example using a .44 revolver with 8" barrel, 30 grains of FFFg behind a .451 RB (138 gr) with a MV of 794.  The same load with Pyrodex P has a MV of 896.  The same drill, but with a Buffalo Conical 180 grain bullet, the Elephant FFFg at 27.5 Grains had a MV of 778 while the same setup with Pyrodex P was 761 so go figure.  The same game with a .45 Ruger OA and .457 Conical at 190 grains has a MV of 922 at 37.5 grains of Elephant FFFg vs Pyrodex P at 1059.

In Black Powder Cartridge loading, a good example is using Mike Venturino's favorite .45 pistol bullet (#454190) which is 250 grain .452.  MV with GOEX Cartridge at 35 grains is 754 while Pyrodex P is 910.  I believe the pellets are 'hotter' because they are compressed into those little pellets.

JMHO

Willie