Hodgdon Powder - Testing the Big 3

I had put in for an order many months ago for an assortment of Triple 7 Pellets, Pyrodex Pellets and the new IMR White Hots pellets. Due to poor weather, either snowing, horrible hurricane force winds, mud, you name it! We had it over the winter and early parts of spring.

So now that the weather has finally lifted and the temps are in the mid 70's to low 80's i finally have been able to get outside and do some testing with Hodgdons main Three best selling Pellet powders.

While pellet powders are convenient, you are stuck with what grains they come in. Meaning, where as with loose form powder you can fine tune your load a few grains at a time. With pellets you have either a 50 grain pellet or a 30 grain pellet. You can use Four 30 grain pellets for 120 grains total if that's what your rifle shoots best with.

Getting to the test, i decided that i wanted to test those Three pellet brands with Two different grain of bullets. I chose the popular 245 and the 295gr Powerbelts Hollow Points. These bullets are widely used across the country when muzzle loader season starts.

On the Forums i am always reading, "Ah man! My gun doesn't shoot for nothing with the 245gr powerbelts! The normal response i read is, Mine either! I couldn't get mine to shoot the 245's for anything! I switched to the 295 powerbelts and it loves them! Puts them into an Inch and a half group @ 100 yards and has dropped Four deer so far! Im sticking with this load!"

Well in this article i am going to share my little test from a few days ago with you all and SHOW you what can happen with One bullet weight and One powder Brand.

Loadings - Cleaning process:
Swabbed bore clean with Birchwood Casey Muzzle Magic Foam between Each shot to cut down Crud ring and to make for consistent accuracy.

Target Distance: 75 yards
Gun Rest: Caldwell FCX Lead Sled
Muzzle Loader: CVA Accura V2 .50cal


Powder Type: IMR White Hots

Starting first with the New IMR White Hots, 245GR HP Powerbelt, Winchester W209 primers.

I actually ended up taking Four shots due to shot #3 dropping down into the bulls eye. Shot Four surprisingly hit just a bit above it. No explanation for this other than the weight of the bullet just may not mix well with the powder.

Experiment with as many powders, primers, bullets as possible!

Switching over to the 295gr HP Powerbelt but sticking with the 100gr White Hots charge, consistency was grouping was much better.

While it was an improvement, I am not satisfied with either group. Groups like this are something i'd expect at around 150 - 200 yards, not 75 yards.

Powder Type: Triple 7 pellets
So now that i cleaned the bore again, i switched over to 100gr Triple 7 pellets with the 245gr Powerbelts " Pictured left" An improvement over the White Hots but still not great in the accuracy department that i demand.

Cleaning again and reloading with the 295gr HP "Pictured Right"Powerbelts i took my Three shot group, cleaning the bore out between shots and saw a very nice improvement.

While this was a great improvement, especially with the 295gr Powerbelts, this to me, for my Experience in muzzle loading and squeezing the tightest accuracy possible out of my rifles, i would have to call all of the groups, failures to be quite honest with you all.

Would these groups do the average hunter - Shooter? Absolutely! Once you start to log in the hours and Thousands of shots i shoot each year, you tend to get spoiled by accuracy and become very picky about group size, so understand this as we go along!

Powder Type: Pyrodex Pellets Now Guys i will warn you a head of time! Pyrodex is a VERY accurate and reliable powder. It has been for the past 30+ years and i believe was the first substitute powder that was on the market when the real black powder stuff began to fade off due to restrictive laws in the US.

Now the warning: More Corrosive than the previous powders listed above. Fully clean your muzzle loader after shooting Pyrodex.

Use a water based cleaner to wash away the corrosive salts, follow up with a bore brush, flush your barrel out again, dry and lubricate with a good oil such as Birchwood Casey Barricade, Birchwood Casey RIG #2 just to name a couple. These are excellent oils for short term or long term storage.

Pictured left is starting off with 100gr Pyrodex Pellets & the 245gr HP Powerbelt. First and Second shot were beautiful! Sadly though, shot #3 could not keep up with the first two. A HUGE improve over the previous Two powders when using the 245gr HP Powerbelt.

Now a very strange thing happened, and it happened when i switched over to the 295gr HP Powerbelt.

Why? No clue! Normally the 295's love the 100gr charge, In loose form they do anyway. Pellets, apparently not!

This just shows you how powders react to different projectile weights. Some may say, Change your bullet weight, others may say, Change your powder! You just won't know what exactly is needed until you try something different.

Now to do another experiment, i will next use ONE 50 grain pellet and ONE 30 grain pellet for a total of 80 grains. This will really be interesting to see how each of these bullets again does in the test. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and find the rifles Sweet Spot!