1f powder

[chuck-ia]

Watched a friend load his .50 with 1f goex and prime with 1f goex yesterday, only shot a few times with the 1f, but was hitting an approx. 3" circle, last one dead center at 50 yards.By watching, it did not seem any slower, he said the recoil was more of a push, and might have been a little slower. Just thought it was interesting. flinch

 

[BrownBear]

I haven't tried it in a 50 or 54, but it's sure dandy in my 58's and larger. You've inspired me! :thumbsup:

I've fallen into using it most of the time in my smoothbores (62 cal and up), especially with shot. Really smooth patterns with equal measures of powder and shot. I especially like it in the Bess. I figure there's a reason it has such a big pan, and coarse powder has all to do with that.

 

[wattlebuster]

I use and love it with great results in my 12 ga flintlocks :thumbsup:

 

[Col. Batguano]

I imagine that ML'ers give better patterns than smokeless guns due to the relatively slow burning rate of the powder vs. what most smokeless guys burn, which are pistol powders; Bullseye, Red Dot, Green Dot etc.. That would particularly be true burning a slower powder like 1Fg, and might be even more true if you try Cannon grade BP.

I wonder if you used a cushioning plastic shot cup (like those used in shot shells) and buffered your loads with meal or something similar to what they do in "long range" premium shells in addition to the slower powder if your patterns would be even tighter? Unlike shotgun shells, there really is no length restriction on how tall your load gets all stacked up in the barrel.

 

[BrownBear]

I wonder if you used a cushioning plastic shot cup (like those used in shot shells) and buffered your loads with meal or something similar to what they do in "long range" premium shells in addition to the slower powder if your patterns would be even tighter?

In my other Pietta 12 SxS (the one I shot so much back in the 70's and 80's before trading off when steel shot arrived), I tried plastic wads (WAA12R) as recommended by VM Starr. He reported getting MOD patterns with the full wad, IC patterns with the petals cut to half length, and CYL patterns with the petals removed.

I tried it and had the same results. Noticed some plastic fouling, so I put a lubed fiber wad under the plastic. End of the plastic fouling and nice soft BP fowling with no swabbing, so I continued the use. I told myself there "might" be a little improvement in patterns with the fiber wad for a better bore seal, but never did enough testing to confirm. If there was a gain, it was slight, so I didn't pursue it.

One thing I did find, which sent me down that fiber wad path: With the fiber wads in place the chrono revealed a little more velocity and much more consistent velocity to boot. That convinced me that there was some gas leakage around the unprotected plastic wad, confirmed in my mind by the plastic fouling. The sides of recovered plastics right down by the base showed a little burning, for further proof. With the lubed fiber wad it disappeared.

Dunno about the meal or any other buffer. Just too much else going on while bird hunting for me to mess with it. I did find that the old Winchester Copper Plated shot patterned better than anything else, but as far as I know that's no longer available.

In my current Pietta I've dispensed with the WAA12R's and just use the fiber wads. I'm no longer trying to tighten the pattern, so it was superfluous for me and simpler without. My patterns are really clean and smooth, which is good enough.

 

[necchi]

load his .50 with 1f goex and prime with 1f goex yesterday,,,
,, was hitting an approx. 3" circle, :shocked2:,,
,,last one dead center at 50 yards. :surrender:

And that special because??? :hmm:
You mean his gun fired and he was hitting the paper?
Ready for hunting season, :thumbsup:

 

[jamesthomas]

Not to be mean or anything be he should be able to shoot a sub 2 inch group with a .50 cal. at 50 yards. I personally would not be happy with a 3 inch group at 50 yards. Also how does the 1f do in terms of fouling, one would think it would a mess, since 1f is really made to used in bigger bores.

 

[chuck-ia]

He noticed the fouling not to be any different, I just thought it was interesting about using 1f powder for main and priming powder. I guess you guys are waaaay better shots than me, I would be very happy to shoot a 3" group offhand at 50 yards using slower powder. I guess the point is, if all you have is 1f powder, you can still shoot your flintlock. flinch

 

[Zonie]

Right you are flinch.

The story here is that 1Fg powder will work for both priming and the main powder charge in a flintlock.

We all have different abilities and as far as I know your friend may have shot identical groups shooting Swiss 3Fg powder for a main powder charge and Swiss Null B for the prime.

Hell. His gun might shoot the same group when it is locked down in a shooting vise and using the very finest powder available for all I know.

 

[jamesthomas]

He noticed the fouling not to be any different, I just thought it was interesting about using 1f powder for main and priming powder. I guess you guys are waaaay better shots than me, I would be very happy to shoot a 3" group offhand at 50 yards using slower powder. I guess the point is, if all you have is 1f powder, you can still shoot your flintlock. flinch

If he is shooting a 3 inch group OFFHAND then he is a good shot, I was talking about shooting off the bench.

 

[RonRC]

This thread gives me some hope with a pound of Swiss 1 1/2 a friend gave me. I wasn't certain about what firearms it might work with.
Perhaps it will work with my 54 cal percussion rifle, maybe even with cap and ball pistols.
Looking at the 1 1/2 Swiss, I could swear it looks more like FFg or even FFFg, but that is just eyeballing it.
Ron

 

[trent/OH]

I can't describe why I like 1Fg. Maybe it's because so few people use it. Maybe just because it looks different than finer powders. But I like it in my Bess.

But it certainly doesn't like to flow in and out of small diameter powder measures! Those big granules tend to bridge and clog the tube.

 

[BrownBear]

He noticed the fouling not to be any different....

That would have been my guess, but I just haven't used it in anything smaller than 62 caliber. In that and larger bores, I'm not scientist enough that I could tell which powder had been used based upon the amount of fouling in the bore.

In my shooting a good lube that keeps fouling soft is the bigger issue, no matter the granulation or caliber. With soft fouling you might not even have to swab between shots. But with hard dry fouling, break out the swabs.

 

[Dphar]

This thread gives me some hope with a pound of Swiss 1 1/2 a friend gave me. I wasn't certain about what firearms it might work with.
Perhaps it will work with my 54 cal percussion rifle, maybe even with cap and ball pistols.
Looking at the 1 1/2 Swiss, I could swear it looks more like FFg or even FFFg, but that is just eyeballing it.
Ron

1.5 Swiss is close to 2ff Swiss and works good in RB guns.

Dan

 

[bpd303]

Swiss 1.5 works very well in my original percussion fowling pieces. Patterns better than ffg for me. However if I remember Rifleman1776 had problems with it in his flintlocks.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Swiss 1.5 works very well in my original percussion fowling pieces. Patterns better than ffg for me. However if I remember Rifleman1776 had problems with it in his flintlocks.

Yeppers. Could not get ignition, no way, no how with anything less than an acetelyene torch in the touch hole. Almost :wink: . It is different stuff and, I'm told, really intended for use in bp cartridges.