Triple Seven Question...

I

IronKnees

Inactive
I've gone through about two pounds of Hodgdon Triple Seven FFg in the past few months in all of my muzzleloaders, both traditional sidelock and inline... However, this deer season is the first time I've hunted with it... I did not get a shot off on opening morning, and did not fire the charge out, but rather, I left it in there and hunted several more days (putting the rifle, a T/C Renegade sidelock) through several cold/warm cycles... I took the rifle to the range to do some shooting after a couple of weeks and got a misfire, followed by a delayed shot. (hangfire)... I'm wondering if anybody has noticed that perhaps 777 FFg tends to absorb moisture more than other powders... One thing I did notice was that the flash hole, which I had cleaned carefully using a pipe cleaner prior to loading, was gummed up a bit... Thanks in advance... :confused:
 
Muzzle mitts help

If I were going to leave any powder and ball in my gun I would put a muzzle mitt over the front and some sort of similar thing over the nipple. I think 777 is probably a little more hygroscopic than Pyrodex but I would think that the sulfur in black powder would make it pretty hygroscopic as well. :)
 
The cold/warm cycles are what is killing you (and your powder). If you're gonna leave the arm loaded after hunting, leave it outside in a safe condition (rubber mitt over the muzzle and the cap removed and plastic over the ignition hole) and out of any rain or dew. This will prevent condensation from building up inside the bore and ruining the powder.

It wouldn't shock me if 777 was slightly more hygroscopic than black powder - but it's still better than the Clean Shot/American Pioneer alternative.
 
Thanks a bunch for the replies... In fact, I used to keep a little piece of felt over the nipple when not in use, and years ago, I always kept masking tape over the muzzle to keep snow, dirt, etc. out... But, I guess that is what years and years of experience causes... Complacency! Right now, I have (just for what it's worth) a somewhat controlled experiment going on my loading bench, comparing Pyrodex FFg, FFFg and Triple Seven FFg and FFFg... I've had very good experience using 777 as far as accuracy and consistency over the chronograph is concerned, and recently took a nice cow elk using 100 grains Triple Seven and a Precision Rifle QT .40/50 cal. sabot bullet... I wrote an article about the bullet testing which you can read at this website if you like.... http://www.accs.net/users/drquick/welcome3.html
I think I had better revert back to firing the rifle when I'm done hunting, instead of being lazy, and do things like I used to... Thanks again for the replies... Dave
 
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