Elephant Brand Powder

[dallas10c]

I received a can of Elephant Brand powder in 3f from a friend who can't shoot anymore due to an injury. I have never used this brand before and was wondering how it compared to the Goex that I usually used. Any opinions on it would be appreciated. thanks

 

[jtmattison]

Never used it myself but the general consensus seems to be it's the dirtiest powder out there and produces velocities much slower than Goex and others.

HD

 

[J.D.]

Never used it myself but the general consensus seems to be it's the dirtiest powder out there and produces velocities much slower than Goex and others.

HD

Depends on the lot. Lots made in either '99 or 2000 were pretty good. Maybe not quite as good as GOEX, but not all that bad.

Otherwise, Elphant isn't all that great.

IMHO, shoot it when plinking. It won't hurt a thing.

 

[dallas10c]

thanks

 

[roundball]

I bought 5 cans of Elephant 3F 24'99 from Graf & Son's...couldn't use it at all in a Flintlock, and it still had so much delay even in a caplock that it was a waste of gasoline to drive to the range, and a waste of good patches and lead to try and shoot it...the cans I had were absolute garbage...poured all five cans on on bare ground in 5 ten foot lines and burned it off...wouldn't waste my time even trying to use Elephant if you gave it to me for free.

Switched to Goex and have been a happy camper for several years now...

 

[coehornboy]

I use it only in cannons, 'cuz it is really dirty and fouls everything up..

We get it cheap (about 8 bucks a can), so for cannons it's ok.

 

[Birddog6]

My experience with it is you will be much better off mentally to use it to fertilize the lawn. :grin: This way you won't expect much from it & it will do just that.
It is undoubtly the dirtiest & worst fouling & slowest igniting powder I ever put in a rifle.......

 

I had a can for a main charge when I first started years ago. It's dirty, greasy and I honestly thought I there were twigs and other junk in there :barf: .

 

[smallmouth]

Used a couple of cans in 2F, what must be 10 yrs. ago. Did not experience the dirt then, actually a tad cleaner than the GOEX. Hope you got an old can like mine. I have used GOEX exclusively for about 10 years. I'm not big on switching back and forth on essential things like powder.
Sirjohn

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I received a can of Elephant Brand powder in 3f from a friend who can't shoot anymore due to an injury. I have never used this brand before and was wondering how it compared to the Goex that I usually used. Any opinions on it would be appreciated. thanks

Ping Rebel, I am sure he will have an opine. :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Rebel]

Who me? :grin: Ohh i love Pachyderm Poop. Makes great fertilizer. Not much use in a gun though unless you really like to clean. And clean and clean and cle. Well you get the point. :grin: 'Course you only have to clean and clean if you can even get the stuff to ignite. Terrible stuff, just terrible. :rotf:

 

[dallas10c]

Well after everyone's responses I think I'll fire up an old Johnny Cash album and do my impression of the "Ring of Fire" with the stuff.Seems like the only good thing to do with it!

 

[Chiefs50]

While I agree that Elephant is dirty, I have used it when I couldn't get anything else locally. I found it to be reliable and effective in my Lyman .50 cal. I did not experience any delays and clean up was not noticeably more difficult than with other powders. I am currently hunting with some 2F I purchased just last year. I would give it a try if I were you.

 

[roundball]

I think a very big concern is that their quality control was so bad the last few years before they went out of business that buying any is a crap shoot...you might get a can like you did that you're willing to live with, but somebody else might buy one and find that it's garbage...

 

[steelerzzz]

Is Elephant and Swiss powder the same? The reason I ask is that I have been told that the Swiss powder is actually superior to Goex in that is much cleaner and a tad faster....but is also hard to find.

 

[Rebel]

NO!!!!!! Not even close to the same. Swiss is real good powder. Pachyderm poop is crap.

 

[roundball]

"...I have been told that the Swiss powder is actually superior to Goex in that is much cleaner and a tad faster....but is also hard to find.

Have to understand the manufacture of powders to appreciate what you heard...smaller granulations burn faster...and while not taking anything away from Swiss powder, there is not a direct matching size of granulations between Swiss and Goex...ie: Swiss 2F is a smaller granulation than Goex 2F, and therefore burns faster, more like Goex 3F, etc.

Might be fewer places that carry Swiss because it is still emerging into the market place where Goex has been around for a long time...and/or frankly, Swiss is so much more expensive than Goex some places may not have opted to stock it or something, dunno...but I think a few big mail order houses carry Swiss now...the Maine Powder House being one

 

[Longsmoke]

I have shot 4 cases and still have 20 cans in 5th case. I use it in Sharps and Remington rifles, flintlock smooth and rifled guns and in caplock shotguns. I target shoot, hunt and plink with it. It may not have the punch of other powders but, I have never had an ignition or fowling problem with it.

A few years back I was at a BPCR match, the match took 45 cartridges and I had with me 150 45/70s. After the match a few of us sat down to play and shot all 150 without wiping the bore or any loss of accuracy. The guys that refused to use Elephant powder (because they heard the same things that I am hearing here) had to wipe their rifles every few shots. The only thing that stopped me was taking time to let the barrel cool.

As far as muzzleloaders are concerned, I see a lot of people with big steel range rods beating balls down the bore at primitive shoots. I have seen guns out of service from balls stuck half way down the bore do to fowling (anti Elephant guys). I don’t think the old backwoodsmen carried 48” steel rods to load with.

And by the way, they didn’t have Goex or Swiss powders 200 + years ago, maybe they just know how to make their guns work.

 

[roundball]

And by the way, they didn’t have Goex or Swiss powders 200 + years ago, maybe they just know how to make their guns work.

Well...it sounds like you must have been born under a star...or are maybe part owner in the defunct elephant company :grin:

PS:
I don't know if you were actually responding to me or just happened to follow my last post...or if you're implying that someone else or all of us "don't know how to make our guns work" but in either case, rest assured that I am more than qualified "to know how to make my guns work"...so you can take it to the bank if I say that the 5 cans of Elephant 3F 24/99 I got were pure garbage...definitely unusable by any reasonable person.

:thumbsup:

 

[Longsmoke]

Roundball, just happened to follow your post, wasn’t trying to kick stool from under anyone. Not born under a star, never owned any company. Not looking at anyone in particular. I have studied your posts here and on another board (at least I think you are the person on the other board) and trust your word. I suppose that last line did sound like a slam, it wasn’t intended that way.

I'm just pointing out the fact that I see a lot of people having problems that can be attributed to something other than powder. I have first hand experience with over 100 lbs. of Elephant powder and still going. If it works consistently in a 45/70 at 500 yards then the fact is it works. If other people using much higher quality powders can’t hit that steel gong or have to wipe their bores, or can’t get their flintlocks to light I can’t help but thinking there may be something wrong other powder choice.

I suffered through learning the tricks that make our guns shoot well and reliably. I’m still baffled every now and then, I’m sure we all are. But, I know if I blamed every fowling and ignition problem on powder, most problems would never be solved.