How dangerous is black powder

[LONG REACH]

Pyrodex is OK as a main charge in a flintlock, but it's harder to ignite, so it's not much use in the pan, but saying that, you need a finer grade of powder for the pan, as this ignites better than the black powder used as a main charge, so your going to need to buy two types of black powder anyway, if you use a flintlock, although main charge powder can be used in the pan, the ignition isn't so consistant, so it would be better to use both types. Or even better, get a percussion weapon, then you only need to use one type of whatever main charge you use and the percussion caps are only about £5.00 per 100, so that's not going to hurt the pocket too much

I agree with what you say Smokeless, it's ok to use BP if you want to make lots of smoke, but for punching paper, can't beat Pyrodex or Triple 7, because the last thing you want to do after a long day of concentrating on that black bit on your card (which seems to get smaller as the day goes on !!!), is spending about an hour, scrubbing the crud from the inside and outside of your gun when using BP, when 20 mins will give you a sparkling clean one, after using Pyro or 777 .

ATB
Baz