Hello, Just getting started in BP. Have 4 books on the subject and they all refer to using powder. It was suggested that I try using the Pyrodex Pellets instead for ease of use and getting the correct charge. If I do load with a pellet do I still have to
put a wad over the charge and after loading the bullet on top of the wad, do I still put a dab of grease over the bullet?

Any comments on using the pellets would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...
Phil

Haven't used the pellets, but the purpose of the wods and greas remains the same, so use them. Grease has three uses: (1) prevents chain fires (the fash from cylinder to cylinder...not a good thing) (2) lubricates the ball's passage through the bore (3) keeps the fouling a bit softer so more shots before "coaling up".

The felt wad also prevents chain fires (but it's still good to use grease on top of the ball for the other reasons listed). The felt wads sold for this are lubed (most are dry lubed) but don't find that it actually carries enough lube.

Pyro pellets are pre-compressed, but I'd still ram the ball doen tightly against them...not so tight as to shatter the pellet, but enough to be sure the ball is in hard contact with the wad.
--------
Most of the time i don't use the felt wad at the range...if I'm loading and firing right away, just use grease on top of the ball...but you HAVE to have a well fitting ball. If you don't cut a little ring of lead when seating the ball, it's probably not a large enough ball.

Now that is what I like about you Ribb, you don't just answer the question but give a lot more data, very good, it is our lot now to pass on as much info as possable to those coming up behind us, lest , in practice, it all be forgotten.
What I want to know is what are Pyro Pellets, at a guess it sounds like pre formed balls/tubes of set weights of pyrodex, would that be near it? Down here we don't have such a thing(that I know of, or have seen used)
I also don't worry about a card on powder, we down here of course are not allowed to shoot pistol any where other than at a range, and if those that think they know better than us have their way we won't soon be able to do that.
We use beeswax and olive oil as a lube patch over the ball, find it is a good lube and keeps the barrel clean, any oil product like axle grease turns to tar in the barrel and is a bugger to get clean.
Paladin

They sell treated felt wads...also sell odd little plastic wads...and can cut wads from whatever you think would do the trick, but usually they aren't needed. Are nice for taking up powder space if you want to try less than full loads, but a small dipper of corn meal works just as well.

Right about the animal/vegitable lubes...the petroleum based lubes seem to make fouling harder to remove. If it's cold outside, Crisco works..too runny in warm weather. The commercial squeeze tubes of mini-ball lube work if it at hand. Beeswax and olive oil (or peanut oil..haven't tried saffron oil), but most people don't have ready access to beeswax (and modern toliet rings are often not beeswax).

But as a studcent, would use wheel bearing grease...mostly becasue it was free. Use to come in big drums at the gas stations, and they'd toss it out when it wouldn't draw into the pnumatic grease guns...was at least a pound of it stuck to the bottom of the drum waiting to be liberated.

Pellets are what they sould like...pre-compressed charges of pyrodex made for pecussion revlovers. Problem is that most chambers are kind of tapered at the nipple end..some are rebated...and I'm not sure the pellet matches this rebated/radius end well...so I'd want to crush the pellet a bit to be sure.