Author Topic: Black Mag'3 vs. Goex Pinnacle (Read 1180 times)

Keith Lewis · « **on:** April 13, 2005, 07:36:15 PM »

Got to shoot a comparison today. Weather was hot 88degrees F. and heavy sun (which made the chronograph difficult to manage). I was shooting mostly for velocity and fouling, accuracy was not very good as I was concentrating on the chronagraph and not the target. 75 yard groups were in the 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch range and my Omega usually does better than that. I shot 90gr. charges in the .50 Omega with 300gr. Ranier cast bullets in Harvester sabots using the .25ACP conversion with Winchester small rifle primers. Three shot groups of each.
Results were:

In the Omega .50
Black Mag'3 1930fps.
Pinnacle 1350fps.

In the T/C Hawken .54- 75gr. loads (with patched round ball)
Black Mag'3 1000fps.
Pinnacle 1233fps.

Shot a couple of 300gr. Harvester Saber Tooth 300gr. with 90gr. powder in the .50 Omega
Black Mag'3 1700fps
Pinnacle 1350fps (big spread)

FOULING:
Black Mag'3 practically no fouling as expected.
Pinnacle fouling heavier than American Pioneer and somewhere between APP and Pyrodex. Black soot in bore for almost full length.
No heavy crud ring like 777 with anything shot. Most fouling would come out with wet (heavy spit) patch and a dry one to follow. Possibly could get away with spit patch only.

I tried to load two in a row with the Saber Tooth bullet sabot-skirt combination. With Black Mag'3 I managed a second load without a swab but the loading was harder than a Powerbelt. When attempting the same with Pinnacle the bullet stuck 1/3 of the way down the barrel and required pulling breechplug to get it out.

This was a quick and dirty (parden the pun) comparison but apparently Black Mag'3 works better with sabots (at least 300gr. ones) and not so good with .54cal. PRB. I also need to do the same comparison with the 209 primer however since a lower power primer is coming soon I decided to use the .25 conversion as that is what I hunt with anyway.

Flatland Hunter · « **Reply #1 on:** April 14, 2005, 04:01:03 AM »

Thanks for the report... I may have noticed a trend in the reports of BM3, conicals and round balls do not fare to well with it. Where as a sabot with better sealing to start does much better. BM3 seems to build on it's velocity... where balls and cons need oomph to fill the rifling... BM3 comes up short, not so with sabots.

Lane · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2005, 05:13:24 AM »

Keith

Thanks so much for your testing of these powders! Excellent data. You are saving us all alot of time and effort!

scienceguy · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2005, 08:30:14 AM »

Keith,

Thanks from this end also. I appreciate the time and expense you incur to check out new products. I like your clear and to-the-point reports. As soon as I can get some Black Mag 3 locally, I'll try to add additional data to what you have discovered.

scienceguy

Redhawk1 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2005, 12:25:46 PM »

One thing I found is, just because it works for one guy in his particular gun, it may not work well in yours. The thing to do is try it for yourself and see how it performs in you gun.

NimrodRx · « **Reply #5 on:** April 14, 2005, 07:15:52 PM »

So true Redhawk. I remember reading a review on the Disc Elite from Randy Wakeman that found the 220 gr Dead Center to be the cat's meow. Never could get them to shoot decent out of my Elite. The only way you will know is to shoot it out of your rifle. It's more fun that way anyways....

Keith Lewis · « **Reply #6 on:** April 15, 2005, 05:58:29 AM »

I have to agree, there are several that shoot 777 out of a T/C Omega and seem to be able to shoot more than one without a swab between shots. I cannot in my Omega. Most of the data I report is slanted more towards comparison of powder in my rifle and the relative fouling which is likely to be similar in others rifles. I think everyone that has shot Black Mag'3 will attest that it is the cleanest. Also many find the crud ring that 777 makes in my rifle happens to them too. When it comes to accuracy the name of the game is what works for you in your rifle on a given day. I have shot sub minute of angle at 100 yards and I have on a different day with the same load had a hard time getting better than 4 inch groups. I have had a hard time beating Pyrodex for accuracy but I hate the mess. Someday I have to spend a whole day at the range with the Goex real black that I have and have never shot out of the Omega. I sort of wished that the Goex Pinnacle was going to be a little cleaner. I think they tried too hard to make it black in color and the additional charcoal makes it more prone to fouling. It is possible that the 209 primer might clean it up and I would like to hear from anyone that has tried it with a hotter primer. I plan on that next but don't know when I will get time to do it.