1F Use?

[tree]

A while back I bought several pounds of 1F Dupont
Blackpowder at a going out of bnusiness sale--
I've never used anything but 2f and 3f
in my various longarms--any use for this grade other
than cannon? thanks for any input.

 

[Rebel]

You could give it a try in a big bore musket like a Bess.

 

[musketman]

I used Fg in my Brown Bess with great result (shooting wise), it offer a study push of the ball the full length of the tube...

The down side is that it is dirty, lots of fouling residue to contend with...

But other than that, it's great...

 

[paulvallandigham]

Unless you are shooting something that is 70 caliber or bigger, trade it to someone with a cannon. I know some men who have 8 gauge shotguns, but they use FFg powder, and not Fg.

 

[Teleoceras]

Tree:

A while back I bought several pounds of 1F Dupont
Blackpowder at a going out of bnusiness sale--
I've never used anything but 2f and 3f
in my various longarms--any use for this grade other
than cannon? thanks for any input.

I regularly use Fg with all of my big bores. It is a bit dirtier, but the results have been pretty good so far.

Slowmatch Forever!
Teleoceras

 

[musketman]

I would like to point out that Fg isn't necessarily a cannon grade powder, they make/have-made a coarser powder called "cannon"...

 

[scroggwe]

I used 1F powder 30 years ago when I first got into blackpowder shooting. It worked fine in my big bore muskets. I quit using it years ago, because it was so dirty. It must be pretty old powder if it is DuPont. I don't believe DuPont has made powder in many years. Somebody here, correct me if I'm wrong. I think DuPont is now Goex?

 

[Tumblernotch]

I agree. There were four (4) grades of powder in use by the military in the 19th Century; Musket, Mortar, Cannon and Mammoth.

In granulating, 2 sieves were used for each powder. This was a "pass, don't pass" system as follows:

Musket Powder- None should pass through sieve No. 1; all through No. 2

Mortar Powder- None should pass through No. 2; all through No. 3

Cannon Powder- None should pass through No. 4; all through No. 5.

Mammoth Powder- None should pass through No. 6; all through No. 7.

Diameter of holes in sieves for granulating powder:

No. 1- 0.03 in.
No. 2- 0.06 in.
No. 3- 0.01 in.
No. 4- 0.25 in.
No. 5- 0.35 in.
No. 6- 0.6 in.
No. 7- 0.9 in.

Notice that the small diameter for cannon powder is 1/4 inch, and that the large diameter for Mammoth Powder is an inch in size!

1F powder actually is more of a mortar powder. There is a very fine line between the granulation of the larger 2F grains and the smallest 1F grains. Not every grain of powder is exactly the same size as the one next to it. Also, powder grains get crushed while loading even if the ball isn't rammed hard. Pull a load sometime and check it out.

1F will work quite well in a large bore musket, although my best results are with 2F. I'm puzzled by the comments I've read over the past several months about the coarser powders fouling more. I've never experienced that myself and the Ordnance Dept. officers who conducted trials with the new muskets actually said that the opposite was true with the rifle powders (3F). They concluded to stick with musket powder because the barrels tended to foul worse with the rifle powder. I personally haven't seen any difference in the powders, but I have noticed that bullet size and type of lube did have somewhat of a bearing on the amount of fouling and the ease of removal.

 

[Toomuch_36]

Other that for large bore muskets and cannon powder the only other use I do use 1F for loading for cartridge, but that is another ball game.

Toomuch
............
Shoot Flint

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Might be surprised at just how clean the old Dupont holy black 1F is.

 

[longfowler]

I use 1F in my 12 ga musket for bird shot - it burns a little slower so it doesn't upset the shot collum at ignition. At least that's what the books say. I belive it because my
gun throws anwesome pattern for turkeys with 1F, blown patterns with anything else. 75 grs 1F + overpowder wad + ciclefly cusion wad + pastic shot cup + 120 gr measure full of #6's = dead bird. I use 3F for every thing else. If you don't want to use it find some one with a smoothbore and make a friend!

 

[tree]

Thanks for all the input--I am now going to try
this 1F in my .69 smoothbore 1842 Springfield
repro.This is a great forum!