10.  Black powder's burning rate is very fast (much like that of smokeless pistol powder).  Smokeless powders burn slower and progressively, while black powder goes POOF! accompanied by a big, white cloud of smoke.

 

When confined and tamped-down (that is, compressed), black powder also has another nasty habit -- it detonates.  Until the invention of nitroglycerine, the predecessor to dynamite (a more stable form of nitoglycerine), the only explosive powder used was black powder (or blasting powder as some called it).

 

So, when you load your black powder firearm, do NOT use the ramrod to crush or distort the projectile and compress the powder charge.  If you do, you just might discover black powder's dirty little secret -- detonation -- with serious results for the shooter.