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What about Pyrodex? Is it corrosive like black powder?

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What about Pyrodex? Is it corrosive like black powder?

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Swiss Black Powder is highly regarded for its consistency.

It is pricey, as you would imagine.  

If you are new to black powder shooting then assemble your cleaning kit before you go shooting.  After shooting I had a 5 gallon pail that I would fill up about 1/2 way with warm soapy water.  I would take out the nipple, drop the breech end of the barrel into the water and then use a ramrod wrapped with a tight fitting "plug" of patches.  When I reached the water level in the barrel the patches would get soaked and then I would draw the rod up towards the muzzle.  

This would create suction and water would go up the barrel.  Then I would plunge out the water (and the fouling).

Don't forget to clean the lock- any place where fouling can get sprayed you will get corrosion.

Once cleaned with water I would follow up with conventional black powder cleaning solvents and then completely dry and oil all metal parts.

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If your Hawkens is 45 cal, then use 3F.  If it is 50 or larger, then 2F.

Black powder residue isn't all that corrosive, although it does have a tendency to be hydroscopic and it will promote corrosion on metal parts if left in place long enough. The blackpowder substitute called Pyrodex is pretty darn corrosive, though, so if you shoot that stuff instead of black powder you need to clean the gun right away afterwards. Triple 7 is another black powder substitute that a lot of folks  use, but it seems to behave more like black powder as far as its corrosive properties go.  It actually cleans up with just hot water.

Some years ago we did an experiment with short sections of a barrel.  We cut the barrel into six inch lengths, threaded and breeched them, and then fired them with black powder and Pyrodex. Then, without cleaning them, we put them on a shelf in my basement for a year.  After a year we sawed each one in half lengthwise so we could see what the bore looked like up close.  the black powder barrel showed some rust spots and a few pitted areas, but the Pyrodex barrel was just uniformly frosted - like it had been sandblasted or something. Some folks new to muzzle loading think that if you use a black powder substitute you don't have to clean the gun - they think it's like modern smokless powder.  But it isn't.  

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What about Pyrodex? Is it corrosive like black powder?

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Where do you guys buy your Goex powder?