.44-40 with black powder substitute

[apriestley]

I recently acquired a Henry rifle in .44-40 and want to work up a skirmish load for it. I’m sure most folks here use real black powder in their Henry’s, but for me it’s an hours drive to get any Goex under $30/lb. However, Bass Pro Shop is 5 minutes away and carries multiple black powder substitutes at relatively low cost. When I lived in NY and couldn’t get any black powder locally I shot Pyrodex in both modern and traditional Muzzleloaders and didn’t hate it like many online forums seem to. I’ve even heard that some BPCR shooters even prefer substitutes. Anyone ever play around with the fake stuff and worked up a decent load in it?


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[John Holland]

READ THE RULES.......Black powder ONLY for any arm used in the N-SSA.

[Eggman]

Well John's time is limited so he probably had to skip telling the whole story. A friend of mine used one of the substitutes for deer hunting in Iowa a few years ago. It happened he had a hangnail on his right pinky finger and a few days after the hunting trip he developed a flesh eating bacteria thereupon. Amputating the finger didn't do it and they eventually had to remove his entire right forearm from the elbow forward to stop it. The CDC said it was all because he didn't wash up properly after retuning to camp. Apparently there are some 19 different bacteria that thrive in the substitutes. They can't live in black powder -- the salt you know.
I apologize to any forensic pathologists that may have been offended by this.