Pennicle powder?

[Bunk Stagnerg]

A gift of "old shooting stuff" has me puzzled. It consisted of an unopened bottle of GOEX Pinnacle powder and some Dynamit Nobel caps. Two tin (not plastic) containers of one hundred 1075 caps still sealed with tape and two larger metal cans each containing 250 musket caps.

First question what is Pinnacle? It would appear that GOEX stopped making it which concerns me. Also there are so many warnings on the bottle I am unsure how or even if to use it. I am not too well schooled on the substitutes, normally regular real gun powder (not nitro) works for me

Second question is how old are those caps in a metal can, and are they corrosive or noncorrosive? They look like new RWS Dynamit Nobel 1075caps and musket caps and both  seem to work OK but I grew up on corrosive caps and find the new style make maintenance much easier especially the fire path on Sharps or Smith carbines

Respectfully submitted
Bunk
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[Lefty Dude]

Pinnacle=APP, same-oh, same oh.

[Pettifogger]

Pinnacle is a slightly older version of APP.  APP has changed many times over the past ten years.  Pinnacle should work very well if it is unopened.  The stuff draws water like a sponge and will tend to clump.  Just shake the bottle good before you use it.  After you use it make sure the little water absobent bags are still in the bottle and make sure the lid is screwed down tight.  It doesn't matter whether caps are corrosive or not since you have to clean the guns after shooting them anyway.  With APP the only cleaner you need is WATER.  Water dissolves corrosive salts.  I haven't seen corrosive caps for years.  (A lot of years.)

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Thanks Guys for the answer. It is a sealed unopened bottle. The caps will be put to good use. Mr. Hahn said not to clean the fire path as carbon fills the corners and improves ignition. That was my concern about corrosive primers.

My cleaning system is to put some moose milk (1:10) in a small plastic jar,then put the muzzle in the jar and run a patch up and down a few times. same thing for the revolver cylinder chambers. presto clean and lubricated.

Usually I do run a dry patch through the barrel and chambers to check for cleanliness and a second patch of Ballistol for protection..
That system got the double barrel shot gun, two 1861 Navy Colts, and the Sharps carbine clean in a jiffy with very little work.

The area around he cones are cleaned with a bit of solvent and a brush.quick and easy.

Close the jar and reuse the moose milk. I let it settle for a day or two, decant carefully and use a paper towel to remove all the dirt that settles out.
Again thanks
Bunk

[Pettifogger]

Thanks Guys for the answer. It is a sealed unopened bottle. The caps will be put to good use. Mr. Hahn said not to clean the fire path as carbon fills the corners and improves ignition. That was my concern about corrosive primers.

My cleaning system is to put some moose milk (1:10) in a small plastic jar,then put the muzzle in the jar and run a patch up and down a few times. same thing for the revolver cylinder chambers. presto clean and lubricated.

Usually I do run a dry patch through the barrel and chambers to check for cleanliness and a second patch of Ballistol for protection..
That system got the double barrel shot gun, two 1861 Navy Colts, and the Sharps carbine clean in a jiffy with very little work.

The area around he cones are cleaned with a bit of solvent and a brush.quick and easy.

Close the jar and reuse the moose milk. I let it settle for a day or two, decant carefully and use a paper towel to remove all the dirt that settles out.
Again thanks
Bunk

Who is Mr. Hahn?   What the heck is he talking about "fire path" and leaving "corners" packed with carbon.  I have never heard of this before and I have been shooting C&B a long time.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Dear Mr. Pettifogger;
Thanks for the post I will try to explain. I would hope this will answer your questions and please accept my apologies for not being clearer in my post.

Charlie Hahn (Hahn Machine works) does a modification on Sharps percussion rifles that replaces the sliding sleeve in the chamber for one that is fixed in place. He turns a short piece that is removable and is held tightly against the breech block. The moving breech block face is staked in place and an "O" ring presses the short piece tightly against the fixed breech face. It allows percussion Sharps to be fired many time before fouling make it very hard to open and completely stops gas blow by when firing.

The "fire path" is what Mr. Hahn calls the rather circuitous route the cap flash follows down, across, and forward through the breech block to ignite the paper cartridge. The idea is that carbon will build up in the corners of the path making the sharp corners smoother.

The problem was I could get perhaps 4 or 5 shots with paper cartridges before the breech block froze up from fouling. I knew that Sharps carbines were used in North South Skirmish Association matches and obviously they were more than a 5 shot match. I had a lot of money tied up in a gun that did not work and through the N-SSA web forum found Mr. Hahn who did a modification that made the Sharps work. I have fired at least 35 rounds with no problem and was sure that I could have easily shot that many more.

Soldiers armed with the Sharps during the War of Yankee Aggression certainly had a similar problem. I would imagine they used a little water from a canteen or water always available to a soldier when scared to free the breech block.

Again, my apologies for not giving a clearer explanation.

Respectfully submitted
Bunk

[Pettifogger]

Thanks for the clarification.  I was thinking C&B revolvers and this recommendation made no sense in that context.  Again, thanks for the explanation.

[Lefty Dude]

I had one of those Sharps back in the mid-80's. Got rid of that Monster very quickly if I recall . It was a PITA !

[Slowhand Bob]

Sadly my memory isnt what it used to be but I will try to use it as best I can.  Pinnacle was a GOEX brand bp substitute, with most of the same characteristics as the other modern subs.  I used a fair amount of it because the mail order GOEX people I dealt with allowed me to mix and match case lots with it to receive discounts and combined Hazmat rates.  The biggest difference I remember with Pinnacle was that it tended to have a lot of fine black dust when reloading, compared to the other subs?  At some point GOEX was bought out by the same folks who produced Pyrodex and they elected to drop Pinnacle, a mistake in my opinion as it was far superior to Pyrodex as a bp sub.  I actually prefer APP BUT I lost the option to mix and match shipping.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Thanks guys that is what I was wondering about. Since it was a gift i have a friend who shoots the substitutes and will use it.
i will stay with gunpowder because that i know. My first can of powder was Orange Extra Sporting Powder and i regret throwing the empty can away.
Bunk