Loading and Use Instructions

American Pioneer^™ Powder

American Pioneer^™ Powder is a loose, granular powder that was designed and created to be a sulfurless black powder replacement. It is currently available in two granule sizes (FFG and FFFG). It is used as a volume to volume replacement for black powder. Clean up can be accomplished with only ordinary tap water.

General loading instructions are to use the same recommended volume charge of loose American Pioneer^™ Powder as you would with black powder. It will produce the same velocities that a similar volume charge of black powder would. Refer to the recommendations made by the maker of your rifle for a loading charge and do not exceed the maximum load given. No lubes are needed, and the use of lubes that come in contact with the powder will result in unburned powder, fouling and lower velocities. Seat the projectile so that it is firmly against the powder. No further compression is required or recommended. Standard caps will work just fine. When using a sabot load, pick one that is somewhat tight in your bore when loading. When sabots are used with black powder, there is an allowance made for a fouled barrel, so some may be too loose to use with American Pioneer^™ Powder and will result in lower performance. Wiping the bore between shots is not necessary, as no fouling will build up in your bore.

General loading instructions are to fill the case with loose American Pioneer^™ just to the point where the base of the bullet will very slightly compress the powder, about 1/16", when it is seated. NO FURTHER COMPRESSION is recommended or advisable and will result in increase pressures and erratic velocities! It is important that no air space or gap be left when the bullet is seated, and the use of fillers is not recommended for general cartridge shooting, but is often required and acceptable for achieving the lower velocities desired in Cowboy Action Shooting. The filler should be composed of an acceptable material as recommended by the Single Action Shooting Society. No grease cookie or lube wad is needed, and the use of one will lower the performance. Regular bullet lube is fine - no special bullet lube is required. A good consistent crimp will help give consistent results.

Any progressive loader, powder measurer, and/or an electronic powder dispenser that is safe to use with smokeless powder can be utilized when loading American Pioneer^™ Powder and/or Jim Shockey’s TM GOLD TM, however, it should be appreciated as with any gun powder (a flammable product) it is imperative that conventional safety precautions be followed.  These precautions would include, but not be limited to, making sure that the progressive loader, powder measurer, and/or electronic powder dispenser is properly grounded, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, so that any electrical charge that builds up during the measuring and/or loading process is discharged to the ground source to avoid accidental discharge into the flammable powder product.