1960-62, our Reenactment group used original Civil War powder in our 3" cannon, never had a problem. And our original 1863 .577 cal Springfields used FFG from 5 lb cans also from the same period. We did use fresh-cast and lubed minie' balls.
Cannon powder question
- Thread starter pamtnman
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Thank you. Sounds like these circa 1980 cans of FFG should shoot ok in our cannons. I am still leery about the FFFG, but I like the suggestion above to do deliberate squib loads with taters. Guessing half an ounce charge should be safe. Only powder we have used is Scheutzen Cannon Grade, very coarse and slow burning. We send all kinds of projectiles hundreds of yards.
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Be careful with gifted powder. Make sure that the container was not re-purposed for something else, like smokeless powder.
Excellent point, thank you. I am skeptical of all old cartridges, old powders unless they are sealed and original. There is just no telling what might have been done with them. I think this FFG is going to be good salute and squib load material. We normally use fuse to fire the cannons, but a trickle of FFFG and a long linstock can work, too. Got a lot of good ideas, advice and suggestions here. Really appreciate it
At Jamestown and Yorktown we use 2F for blank artillery charges and 3F for priming as a matter of policy. You don’t say what size guns you have (what I consider a “big bore” cannon is probably not what you’re talking about) but in a 6 pound gun in good shape, a half pound blank charge is perfectly safe and impressively noisy.
Jay
Jay
“Our two cannons have bores 2” and 2.5” in diameter.”
My impression is most guys think of those smaller 1” salute cannons as the standard. It is amazing how quickly a cast iron cannon increases in overall size and weight to accommodate a relatively minor increase in bore diameter.
Thank you for your experienced FFG suggestion, it helps clear my concerns. Nice to have the original question addressed. People were questioning my sanity, my patriotism, my intelligence because I don’t want to pour old mystery powder down the gullet of my treasured firearms
We have always used green fuse in the touch hole, but I like the idea of the FFFG in there, and a linstock.
I like to follow the N-SSA artillery rules stating the use of Fg or courser powder for projectiles.
"Maximum powder charges for all cannon shall be limited to the amount permitted by the chart as published in Table 10.1. Only commercially manufactured black powder of American standard Fg granulation (150,000 granules per pound or 220 granules per 10 gr.wt. (avdp.) sample), or a coarser granulation, may be used."
I use 2.25 oz or half of the maximum charge of cannon grade in a 2.25" Hern gun with a 22 oz zinc ball.
In a much larger, thicker, Trail Rock Ordnance 2.5" gun I use 4 oz of cannon grade with concrete filled 16 oz beer can projectiles. The maximum as per the N-SSA chart would be 5 oz of Fg or courser.
For blanks I use the same charges with an equivalent weight of flour ahead of it in the tinfoil.
I would stick to using the FFFg for linstock use as you mentioned. This is exactly what I do for both guns. It's to fine for even blanks in my opinion unless ridiculously low amounts are used.
I would not be afraid to work up a load, especially a blank load, with FFG by starting with 1 oz of FFG & flour equivalent to the charge volume.
I may even be tempted to measure recoil distance & compare to your normal Scheutzen Cannon Grade blank recoil distance. I do not believe that I would use a projectile with FFg personally.
"Maximum powder charges for all cannon shall be limited to the amount permitted by the chart as published in Table 10.1. Only commercially manufactured black powder of American standard Fg granulation (150,000 granules per pound or 220 granules per 10 gr.wt. (avdp.) sample), or a coarser granulation, may be used."
I use 2.25 oz or half of the maximum charge of cannon grade in a 2.25" Hern gun with a 22 oz zinc ball.
In a much larger, thicker, Trail Rock Ordnance 2.5" gun I use 4 oz of cannon grade with concrete filled 16 oz beer can projectiles. The maximum as per the N-SSA chart would be 5 oz of Fg or courser.
For blanks I use the same charges with an equivalent weight of flour ahead of it in the tinfoil.
I would stick to using the FFFg for linstock use as you mentioned. This is exactly what I do for both guns. It's to fine for even blanks in my opinion unless ridiculously low amounts are used.
I would not be afraid to work up a load, especially a blank load, with FFG by starting with 1 oz of FFG & flour equivalent to the charge volume.
I may even be tempted to measure recoil distance & compare to your normal Scheutzen Cannon Grade blank recoil distance. I do not believe that I would use a projectile with FFg personally.
I would try the powder for hunting, I;ve shot stuff from the 30's, no issues if the cans are sealed.
Nit Wit
Nit Wit
The cans are all opened, partially full, several have labels made of tape with chickenscratch on them. The oldest printed production date is 1980, several have no production date and look older than 1980, are painted olive drab, and do have producer names I have never heard of. I do a lot of research on old bp cartridges, and I frequently encounter powders from bygone days. Not these curiosities. So this is a collection of mystery powders of questionable quality and even questionable substance. The ones that look 2F we will use as cannon salute and entertainment squib loads, as recommended above, and the 3F we will try to use as ignition. Pretty good re-use of basically old barn finds. Thanks again for all the good natured help, as I had requested.
