Black powder is the orig. propellent, made of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulpher(i think), discovered about 1000 yrs. ago. Today it is still used in muzzleloaders and cartridge rifles and is usually more accurate than anything else in guns it was meant for. It is harder to ship because it is considered an explosive and is manufactured by at least 4 makers(imported), GOEX/USA, Swiss/Swiss, Wano/Germany, KIK/Slovenia, etc. For the shooter, real black powder is much easier to ignite than the replicas. I use "real" black powder in reloads for pistol, rifle and shotgun and wouldn't dream of using a replica. Many competitions using older guns and/or replicas do not allow replicas(pyrodex). For the experienced shooters out there this was a quick roundup and not meant to be gospel and I'm sure lots of people will want to pick holes in it. I just find it funny/odd that people are steered into using products(by the media mainly) that are replicas and not as good as the orig. product and don't know about it.
Real black powder was used to fight the wars until 1900 as thats all there was, it was used in days of the wild west, it was used to exterminate the buffalo among other things, some, like myself consider it the best gunpowder!