Quote:
Originally Posted by flatbutt
Is the Lyman Plains similar to the Civil War era Minie? Heavens how I'd hate being hit with that!!
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Not at all. The Minie is less than bore diameter (to facilitate loading in a heavily fouled bore) and has a hollow base, like an airgun pellet, so that it upsets upon firing to fill the grooves in the barrel. The Plains bullet is bore diameter for the bottom three driving bands, then groove diameter for the top driving band. Plus, it's solid, with no hollow base. It relies on a pretty heavy charge to obturate it enough so that the bottom driving bands fill out the grooves in the bore.
As far as cleaning, I have never had any kind of a corrosion problem. I clean with the hottest tap water I can draw and heat the barrel thoroughly. I then dry it and run a single patch wet with Hoppe's #9 down the bore and call it good. Exterior parts get wiped down with Hoppe's as well.
HardDrive, storing any firearm in a case will eventually cause it to corrode, even smokeless powder arms. They have to be left out to "breathe". Standing them in a safe qualifies.
I have never used anything but genuine black powder. Everyone I know who has ever deigned to try Pyrodex has had problems with corrosion. It's neither as accurate nor as consistent as black powder and it's considerably harder to light. It will not work in a flintlock; there is not enough ignition heat to get it to go. The only real "advantages" are shipping and storage, since it is not a class A explosive like black powder. Other than that, it's an inferior propellant in every respect.