jim shockeys american pioneer

[brl]

have any of u guys used american pioner pellets. personally i think they are garbage. when i used them they were hangfiring and not going of and all and sometimes half of the power was not burning and coming out the end of the barrel

[Gator]

I used the older pellets until this year. Never had aproblem with hang fires or such, but had wondered about the pellets not getting a full burn. Went to APP "Shockey" Gold, NOT IMPRESSED. I'll be using 777 from here on out

[BigAl1781]

im having pretty good luck out of shockey gold powder,,,its just big powder looks like cheap cat litter,but does shoot good and cleans up good

[Adjam5]

I just picked up a can of Shockey Gold last week.
$21.99 here in southern,NY. I have not gotten a chance to use it . I will be putting in thru my .50cal T/C Thunderhawk. It is one of the older in lines, made in 89. Ancient huh?
I will let you guys know how it does in my gun. I know my gun shoots loose powder better than pellets, so I'll give this Shockey powder a chance. Some time this week I should be going to the range to sight it in. I just put a Hawken Scope on it.

[gitcha_some]

777 is wwhere its at

[Adjam5]

Ok...heres the report. I was sighting in my gun today.
I started out using the powerbelt 223gr w/ballsitic tip in front of 90 grains of shockeys gold. I had inconsistant accuracy. I was all over the paper I went back to the T/C 350gr maxi hunters. Accuracy was better, but should've been much better. This was at 100 yards. I put a T/C 1.5-5X32 hawken hunter scope on it and it should've grouped better that it did.
One thing good, and bad about the powder.
It did shoot very clean and loading it shot after shot was easier than if I was using pyrodex.
The bad. The powder seemed to stick together in the measuring tube, and I really needed to make sure all the powder made it into the barrel, instead of just tipping the speed loader and pouring it into the barrel. I went thru 25 shots and got frustrated with the poor accuracy and put the gun away I have the barrel soaking in foaming cleaner right now and I am gonna try again next week with a freshly cleaned barrel to dial it in with.
To be continued!!!

[Greener]

I shoot the compressed 50 gr charges and found that I don't get proper burn if I don't really get everything seated well. I need to feel the charges "crunch" when I push the bullet down. As long as that happens, the gun goes off fine and accuracy is good.
My gun is an older MK-85 and has some barrel pitting from the previous owner. This new powder makes it much easier to clean.

[wtnhunt]

Currently shooting app gold powder here out of my black diamond, when this segment of our ml ends the gun will get a good cleaning and it will be back to the pyrodex for the next ml season. I am not really all that happy with it, and will not buy the app again. While my groups with the app are good enough out to and just over 100 yards for me to be confident enough to shoot a deer, the accuracy is not as good as shooting pyrodex, and I tried spit patches between loads and tried not using spit patches between loads for several shots each way and seemed the accuracy was better when firing the second fouled shot every time around.

[PA_RIDGE_RUNNER]

I have tried the regular APP in a sidelock percussion and in that rifle about the only positive thing I can say about APP powder is it was cleaner. I found it to be less power than even Goex. I recently went to the Hodgdon website and ordered their free Basic muzzleloading manual. Inside the front page was a comparison of Triple 7, Pyrodex, APP and Goex. The APP had the lowest velocity. This was my experience too. Plus hangfires and misfires. I was using the Regular APP FFg (read rivergravel). I thought so much of it I gave the remainder away.

[str8shooter48]

I bought a pound of Shockeys Gold fffg. I'm also giving away a pound of Shockeys Gold less 1500 grs. I went to the range yesterday to give it a try what a frustating experience. I was lucky to hold a 3" group @ 50 yrds. Went back to the range today with 777 and T/C Shockwaves same bullets as yesterday. I fired 3 shots. Went well 3/4"group an inch high dead center. No more APP or Shockeys Gold for me. 777 is the way I'll go from now on.

[ftw46]

I have never tried the Shockleys gold but I did buy the Goex Pinnacle which is made for Goex by AP and is supposed to be the same powder.

It was recommended to me to fill the powder measure with the amount of powder I wanted to use and then weigh it on a powder scale. Then weigh all your loads to that weight.

The Pinnacle and AP are very big particles of powder. I found out that just trickling one or two grains extra would make my reloading scale swing wildly.

Anyway with weighed charges and a cheap Scorpion Sabot, I found the accuracy to be excellent at 100 yards. I shot fifteen sabots in a row with no cleaning and the groups stayed consistent.

I used loose FFFG but I do think the odd shaped pellets would be a problem and it would be difficult to smash them down the same every time.

Clean up sure is easier than with the Pyrodex I used for many years before trying the Pioneer.

[shotist]

Poor accuracy, inconsistent velocities and velocities that are really kind of ho-hum. This powder is far more hygroscopic than 777 as well. Cannot recommend.