Choosing a brand of powder

Ricky Bobby · Dec 4, 2024

When starting out should I try several different brands of powder in my rifle or pick one and just run with it? It would be nice to just have 1 powder instead of multiple. I’m going to run 3F in my pan as well as the main charge. Swiss, Goex, or Schuetzen?

Thomas.bill92 · Dec 4, 2024

Whatever is available and within your price range. If you are going to be target shooting or doing competitions, Swiss is dang near impossible to beat but all the rest go bang just fine. I was a Goex guy until the shelves dried up and now I mostly shoot Schutzen.

stubshaft · Dec 4, 2024

I've got no choice as GOEX is the ONLY powder available to me.

Phil Coffins · Dec 4, 2024

Until you reach a national level of shooting skill you will be served well with any of them. GOEX is very good and Swiss is considered by most the best but at a considerable higher price.

snakebit · Dec 4, 2024

Kinda like Ford, Chevy or Dodge. Most guys have their favorites. But for a lot of us, we use what's available. I have a limited supply of Goex, so I'm stingy with it. I only use my Swiss in my squirrel rifles, the other ones get fed Schuetzen.

Loyalist Dave · Dec 4, 2024

Ricky Bobby said:
When starting out should I try several different brands of powder in my rifle or pick one and just run with it? It would be nice to just have 1 powder instead of multiple. I’m going to run 3F in my pan as well as the main charge. Swiss, Goex, or Schuetzen?

I will buy a good amount but that means the least expensive because mostly I'm burning blanks for living history.
I will also buy several pounds of GOEX when available because they are USA based.

LD

French Colonial · Dec 5, 2024

I burn Swiss mostly because when I was heavily into BPCRS it gave the lowest standard deviation over a chronograph, and I bought it by the case.

Now that I am pretty much retired from that discipline I still have a good amount left, so that is what I shoot.

Most ML shooters will not be able to tell the difference in accuracy between the various types (Unless your a serious heavy benchrest shooter) so buy whatever one is cheapest in bulk. You will only tell a difference in accuracy/POI if switching between brands.

Spikebuck · Dec 5, 2024

There is another difference in Swiss, in my experience, and that is less fouling. A friend of mine exclusively uses Swiss and if we were cleaning guns after a day of shooting, his guns had considerably less fouling requiring fewer patches.

But, I agree that for all practical purposes, all of the brands will shoot better than most of us can, so not much practical difference unless you are in top competitions. Choose a brand and use it.

andy52 · Dec 5, 2024

In the 40+ years I've been muzzleloading I've tried almost every kind of powder and only found one that was just not any good which was Elephant, it was god awful dirty.

Cruzatte · Dec 5, 2024

andy52 said:
In the 40+ years I've been muzzleloading I've tried almost every kind of powder and only found one that was just not any good which was Elephant, it was god awful dirty.

Yup, sure was.

Rifleman1776 · Dec 5, 2024

My experience shows no difference between Goex or Schutezen. Buy what you can when available. I know many like it but I just cannot get good groups with Swiss.

longcruise · Dec 5, 2024

andy52 said:
In the 40+ years I've been muzzleloading I've tried almost every kind of powder and only found one that was just not any good which was Elephant, it was god awful dirty.

Me too. Also, in head to head velocity testing against goex (2f and 3f) swiss, Scheutzen, Graf, and Pyrodex P the elephant was the least energetic even though the same volume measures for all powder tested showed the elephant to have a greater mass than all.of them.

BoomStick · Dec 5, 2024

Buy a couple pounds of whatever 3F is available at a reasonable price and work up your best load with that. My observation is most shooters use the same brand for as long as they can get it. I always used GOEX until it wasn't available, switched to Swiss and am happy with it, and now buying some GOEX again as it's less expensive. I'm not a good enough shooter to notice any accuracy difference, but Swiss is less fouling in my experience.

wiscoaster · Dec 5, 2024

Ricky Bobby said:
When starting out should I try several different brands of powder in my rifle or pick one and just run with it? It would be nice to just have 1 powder instead of multiple. I’m going to run 3F in my pan as well as the main charge. Swiss, Goex, or Schuetzen?

Thomas.bill92 said:
Whatever is available and within your price range. If you are going to be target shooting or doing competitions, Swiss is dang near impossible to beat but all the rest go bang just fine. I was a Goex guy until the shelves dried up and now I mostly shoot Schutzen.

Agreed with above. Your main criterion for selection is probably going to be: 1) minimum purchase requirement; and 2) waiver of hazmat fees. All the brands you mentioned perform acceptably. My preference is for Swiss.

springfield art · Dec 5, 2024

Thomas.bill92 said:
Whatever is available and within your price range. If you are going to be target shooting or doing competitions, Swiss is dang near impossible to beat but all the rest go bang just fine. I was a Goex guy until the shelves dried up and now I mostly shoot Schutzen.

Fortunately GOEX is back...unless someone is doing Olympic-type shooting, I don't think any normal human can detect any difference, all things being equal; although I know there are some here who will claim otherwise!

diyj98 · Dec 5, 2024

I normally shoot whatever I can find. Around here the choices are extremely limited.

Grenadier1758 · Dec 5, 2024

andy52 said:
In the 40+ years I've been muzzleloading I've tried almost every kind of powder and only found one that was just not any good which was Elephant, it was god awful dirty.

Yup, but at the time, it was the only powder available. I still have some that gets used up in blanks.

ETipp · Dec 5, 2024

Considering I have no choice but to order powder online, I figure I might as well get a lot at one time. I much prefer standardization. I also prefer Swiss due to it has proven to burn cleaner for me. Thus, I stick with Swiss for all my muzzleloaders. I cannot attest to Swiss actually being any more accurate out of my ML's, but it certainly is a little hotter and cleaner burning.

My thoughts are, get whatever you can afford, if you purchase online, order a fair amount each time.

B P Maniac Shooter · Dec 5, 2024

I shoot Schüetzen & Swiss.
It is available and Schuetzen/Swiss supports the hobby.

flconch53 · Dec 5, 2024

Grenadier1758 said:
Yup, but at the time, it was the only powder available. I still have some that gets used up in blanks.

I have a can of 5f Elephant I haven't shot any of this one but I had some 7f that worked good for priming . Unless the wind was blowing

. Seriously get what can can find . Don't rule out 2f though.

Choosing a brand of powder

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