Jack's Battle Powder Is Entirely Safe

In the July/August issue, Mike Nesbitt wrote a review on Jacks Battle Powder sold by Angelo Piazza of Jacks Powder Keg. This is a powder that Angelo and his reenactor associates have been using for awhile, mainly for firing blank loads at reenactments. It is a less expensive powder, and Mike referred to it as blasting powder. That caused reader, Don Steiner, to jump to the conclusion that it was a sodium-based powder, and he penned a letter that warned against using this powder in muzzleloaders. We ran Don's letter in the Sept/Oct issue.

Well, it turns out that I owe a big apology to the readers and to Angelo for publishing Don's letter without checking into the background of this powder. Jacks Battle Powder is entirely safe to shoot in muzzleloading guns. This powder is a potassium-based black powder made by Goex in Doyline, Louisiana. It's made with the same ingredients as the Goex sporting powder we'll all used for years. The difference is in the grading of the milled powder and the fact that it's not coated with graphite. Because there are fewer steps in production, it's less expensive than sporting grade powder.

So, if you already own some, use it in good health. If you're interested in trying a less-expensive powder, see Mike's review in the July/August 2009 "Prime Possibles." Mike is also doing some testing with live rounds and will be reporting his results in a future issue. So far, he's been pleased with his shooting with Jacks Battle Powder.

Bill Scurlock