3F powder vs. 2F in .54cal flintlock rifle

Take 2 or 3 gallon milk jugs full of water. Set them in line at your max hunting range, about 75 to 100 yards. Load up your accurate hunting load and shoot at the bottles. If the bullet makes it into the third jug, that load will put down an elk.

3f works for me top load work up at 50yrds then a sight in/ 2f not as good in my 54 gain twist Hoyt barrel swiss powder and 10 oz denim tallow lube

Here are my results so far. I attended the Eastern Primitive Rendezvous in Zions Grove, PA (10/20 -10/27) I had no time to work up a load for my .54cal Woodsrunner (40" barrel). A friend had an old TC book with recommended powder charges. For the TC Renagade (26" barrel) it was a Wonder Lube patched .530 ball with 80gr FF Goex powder. So I gave it a go. I was shocked at how accurate this load was and placed 2nd in the Men's 25/50yd aggregate. I really don't care about winning competitions, as I built this rifle to hunt a doe or a bear in PA's Muzzleloading Season in 2 weeks (10/19 -10/26).
On the other hand I spoke with some experienced shooters, who have been competing in flintlock shoots for over 40yrs. A few guys told me was using too much powder. And I should start with 50gr for 80gr was excessive. While I do plan to work up a load by experimenting with different powders/amounts in the future, I have confidence in this load for this season. I'll keep you posted on how the hunt goes. Thanks again for everyone's input. Heck, that's why I joined this forum!

Anyone have any experience with Swiss 1.5? I’ve heard it’s essentially the same granulation as the 2F offered by other manufacturers.

I continue to shoot FFg in my .60 NW trad gun and .50 rifles because I have so much on hand. I shoot FFFg in my .45, .36 and .32 though.

olskool said:

i shoot goex, in Kibler woods runner or anythingView attachment 349958View attachment 349960 else i see no difference. here is a photo of it lighting, it gets hot. this was 2f in a TVM 54 cal. the 3 shot group i shot offhand at 50yds same powder ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Oleschool you are the man off hand wow that’s some nice shooting .As far as the difference between 2f and 3f is about 10 grains in my 54 hawken 32” barrel .

Rifleman1776 said:

2Fg in calibers over .50 was the gospel for many years. However, with experience, we (well....most of us) learned that 3fg is just fine. But you must adjust charges to get your new 'sweet spot' accuracy.

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And when your feeling frisky try 4F in appropriate amounts ,another old wife's ( tail ) is going down too . Can't say the same for a
buck !!/Ed

WALT53 said:

Oleschool you are the man off hand wow that’s some nice shooting .As far as the difference between 2f and 3f is about 10 grains in my 54 hawken 32” barrel .

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That's what I've seen in my .50 over the years too. Less fouling with 3f

Second-rate Marksman said:

Anyone have any experience with Swiss 1.5? I’ve heard it’s essentially the same granulation as the 2F offered by other manufacturers.

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It's a larger granulation than Swiss 2f but not sure about other brands though. I tried it in my .54 against 2f Swiss and the recoil and velocity was noticeably less and the accuracy was also less in my gun. I'll use it in my black powder cartridge guns. Just my experience though.

Antelope Pete said:

It's a larger granulation than Swiss 2f but not sure about other brands though. I tried it in my .54 against 2f Swiss and the recoil and velocity was noticeably less and the accuracy was also less in my gun. I'll use it in my black powder cartridge guns. Just my experience though.

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Thanks for chiming in. I got a couple of bottles of 1.5F to try in a Caywood that had a huge touch hole and was actually dribbling powder from the main charge during the loading process when using 3F. I sold the gun before I ever actually had a chance to try it and see if that would resolve my issue.

I don’t think I’d ever attempt it in my small bore firearms, but I’ll have to give it a whirl in my .62 cal NSW trade gun.

Grenadier1758 said:

Take 2 or 3 gallon milk jugs full of water. Set them in line at your max hunting range, about 75 to 100 yards. Load up your accurate hunting load and shoot at the bottles. If the bullet makes it into the third jug, that load will put down an elk.

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But what if it's flavored water?

I always put a couple of drops of red food coloring in the water jugs. Promotes reality.

FWIW yesterday I put 10-shots over the new Garmin Xero chronograph of a 54-cal using 80-grns 3Fg Schuetzen powdah and got a Standard Deviation of only 7.3!

That is an incredibly statistical LOW value, which translates to consistency!

From the bench it was a one ragged hole group @ 50-yards ... offhand not so much!

Flint62Smoothie said:

FWIW yesterday I put 10-shots over the new Garmin Xero chronograph of a 54-cal using 80-grns 3Fg Schuetzen powdah and got a Standard Deviation of only 7.3!

That is an incredibly statistical LOW value, which translates to consistency!

From the bench it was a one ragged hole group @ 50-yards ... offhand not so much!

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Impressive!

I just bought myself a Caldwell Lead Sled DFT 2 yesterday and I’m looking forward to getting out and doing some load testing. I’ve got a couple Richard Miller rifles that need sighting in.

I went to fffg in my .58 because it is easier to ignite especially in cold wet weather, plus it's a bit cleaner burning and gives more velocity for the same charge.

That is all i use in my .54 & .50 T/C.