Elephant powder, how good?

[toot]

ELEPHANT POWDER, soot or not all in my club used to shoot it because were a cheep bunch of cheep bastar$$. LOL!!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I'd love to come across a cheap or free deal on Elephant. Shoot it, have fun.

I still have two pound cans I haven't trashed yet. If you are a very-very good long-long range shooter I'll set them outside and you can shoot them. Stuff is El Junko, IMHO.

 

[Black Jack]

Free = Good

 

[rickpa]

Went out today and shot some of the Elephant. Shot GOEX 3F first for comparison. Then shot Elephant 2F. Accuracy was on a par with GOEX but was a bit dirtier. I could feel a slight buildup at the breech but not that bad. Then I shot a target with a 50/50 mix of GOEX 3F and Elephant 2F. It actually shot better accuracy wise and had about the same amount of fouling as Elephant straight. It was in the afternoon and the sun was bright and coming from the right side which played havoc with the sight picture. I'm encouraged though and might mix some and keep some pure. I still have several pounds of GOEX so it's not like I'm hurting for powder. Thanks to all who replied.

 

[rickpa]

Here's the rifle I was using. Just finished it 2 weeks ago. 31 inch swamped Rice barrel .50 cal, Chambers lock, wood from Dunlap. Dave Keck at Knob Mountain Muzzloading inletted barrel and ramrod channel.

 

[wulf1928]

I push the patched round ball down the barrel with a wet patch. Thus cleaning before the shot rather
between shots....Clean as you go...

 

[wulf1928]

That didn't print right.....It should say wiping before the shot rather than between shots or after......

 

[Snydly]

Lyman's black powder loading manual, some Elephant loads are actually hotter (faster) than Goex.

 

[hanshi]

Any powder that's free has to be useable, more or less.

 

[toot]

I agree. take what you have and use it. stop belly acing about it. it gets old after a wile. we al know what is the pro's & con's about different BP'S.

 

[Rifleman1776]

it gets old after a wile.

Wat gits old? The belly aching or the powder?

 

[hanshi]

Wat gits old? The belly aching or the powder?

I THINK he was referring to the "belly aching".

 

[tenngun]

Swiss seems to be the best, but not worth ten extra per pound to me.
I shoot mostly smoothies now, and to fifty yards, my accurate enough to hunt range, different grades don’t seem to have that great an effect.
Old timers had powder testers of old. As what was available might be different. And they had to learn to adjust loads as needed.
If you need 70 grains of X and 80 grains of Y to get the same performance you get 100 shots a pound from X and 87 from Y.
If powder is $30.00 for X and 20 a pound for Y x cost .30 per shot and .22.
Put that way I guess I’m a cheap bas**d.
But I just learn to adjust my sights for the lighter performance. 1400 FPS make deer as dead as 1600 FPS

 

[Deerslayer]

If you need 70 grains of X and 80 grains of Y to get the same performance you get 100 shots a pound from X and 87 from Y.
If powder is $30.00 for X and 20 a pound for Y x cost .30 per shot and .22.
Put that way I guess I’m a cheap bas**d.
But I just learn to adjust my sights for the lighter performance. 1400 FPS make deer as dead as 1600 FPS

Former Algebra teacher?

 

[toot]

I THINK he was referring to the "belly aching".

ROGER THAT! what happens when one has to poop real bad. a belly ache. it isn't rocket science.

 

[BJHabermehl]

The FIL of a friend passed away recently and my friend has to sell his ML accessories. The FIL mostly shot the unmentionable rifles but he did have 7 or 8 cans of 2 F Elephant powder....I've never used Elephant, always made sure I had enough DuPont or later GOEX on hand but he's willing to give it to me. I got a pound just to try and after comparing it with my GOEX 2F and 3F it looks like Elephant falls in between the two as far as grain size goes. Haven't had a chance to actually shoot it yet, just got it last night........Has any one had experience with this powder? Clean burning? Accurate? I would take the rest of the powder if it's worth shooting..........Edit.... I informed him it's illegal for him to sell the powder if I don't take it. Thanks in advance.

I shot a number of pounds of elephant powder years ago. It shot just fine. Black powder burns dirty by nature, I never saw much difference. Accuracy was equal to my eyesight so no complaints. BJH