breech plugs

[ottawa rogue]

this is kind of an off the wall question, but i'm curious about something.
why won't the breechplug on my sidekick reliably shoot pellets?
everyone says that they are designed for loose powder, why is this so?
i don't have my sidekick yet, should be here tomorrow....so i have nothing for reference.
and even if i did, i still probably know by looking at it

Bryan

[Busta]

Bryan,

You never know, yours might shoot pellets just fine. I have the older 7/8" (2003) plug and mine does not like 777 pellets (slight hang-fires or delayed fires), but shoots the Pyrodex pellets well. The Pyrodex pellets have a small amount of real Black Powder bonded to one end to aid in ignition.

Your new Sidekick should have the 5/8" breech plug and may be a little better than the older 7/8" plug. The primer is over an inch away from the pellets, the powder is channeled to within about 3/8".

Try them, it might like them.

[Keith Lewis]

Part of the problem is that you need enough fire to get to the pellet to set it off. All pellets are harder to ignite than the loose powder version of the same thing. If you use a higher power primer to try to get the fire to the pellet the chance of moving the pellet column up the barrel before it ignites and burns there is a chance that it will affect accuracy and with Tripple Seven will also make the dreaded crud ring just forward of the powder charge making a second shot loading impossible until the crud ring is removed. Since the face of the breechplug has a recess it allows the loose powder to be closer to the primer consequently easier to ignite. Personally I have yet to see any benefit to using pellets as they are more expensive and if I use any type of speed loader with already measured charges of powder it is just as fast and convenient; actually a little easier as the loose powder does not care which side up you load it unlike the pyrodex pellets that have to be loaded black side down.

[ottawa rogue]

i'm probably going to start out with loose just to be able to develop a load.
i was wondering why they weren't good with pellets, more for my knowledge than anything. 
so basically the breech plug has a "powder chamber" in it, and the pellets are spaced too far away from the primer to get the full effect of the flame.  that makes sense.
what if you had a plug with no "powder chamber", just a straight flash hole...... would this make for more reliable ignition with pellets?

[Keith Lewis]

Depends a little on distance also; if the distance was the same as the one with a recess it would likely be a little better just because of concentration of the flame as it moves towards the pellet. T/C made three different styles of breechplug for the Encore/Omega rifles. One has a very deep chamber (which is supposed to be the best for loose powder) , one has a smaller recessed chamber but also has a ring around the recess (which is supposed to support pellets better and still be usable with loose powder), and finally they made one that has almost no recess at all (supposed to be a pellet only one apparently). My Omega came with the almost flat faced breechplug and with Tripple Seven powder and high power (shotgun 209 primers) it formed a real bad crud ring. The recessed chamber did the best job of reducing the crud ring although at best with my rifle Tripple Seven has always been more trouble to shoot than it was worth. I finally got the .25ACP breechplug which has the medium depth recess and with loose powder which I prefer over pellets it shoots well except with Tripple Seven. I have not had time to evaluate all of the new 209 primers as yet so maybe there is a magic combination that will allow me to shoot 777 powder.

[ken2222]

You guys just "splained" the whole thing for me too...er...re=enforced my theory!  Thanks! Ken