Elephant powders vs Goex powder

[JackAubrey]

I am considering the purchase of some Elephant brand powder.I have only used Goex.I would like to hear from others who have used this powder.The powder is less expensive than Goex.How does it compare to Goex?

 

[Rebel]

Don't waste your money unless you are looking for some spendy Lawn fertilzer. Elephant is DIRTY, hard to ignite, and pretty much worthless, especially in a flintlock. I am not the only one that has had problems with it. I'm sure you will hear from some of the others about their problems with it.

 

Truer words have never been spoken. I actually compared side by side results years ago in a Deer Creek .50 percussion halfstock. The Elephant brand (this was in about 1995 on a humid southeast Missouri day) left way more black dirt in the barrel than an equal load of Goex. The cleaning patches had almost twice as much charcoal on them after swabbing the Elephant dung out. I would pick Goex over Elephant. Never tried Swiss brand but I hear it kicks butt.

 

[waksupi]

I've shot several cases of Elephant with good results, and as clean as any other, if not more so. The difference is probably the high, dry area I live in. I don't know what it does in a damper area. All in all, a moot point, however, as the Elephant plant flooded a couple years back, and as far as I know, is out of business.

 

[leslie]

Try some Scheutzen powder it gives excellent results.I used Elephant for a long time with good results,3f is no longer available.Swiss powder is a little pricey,but is an excellent powder.Goex is a good powder.

 

[JackAubrey]

Gentlemen,I appreciate the input.I think I will stay w/ Goex.I have heard many good things concerning the Swiss although it is a tad pricey.Thanks guys!

 

[fatboy]

Elephant powder bet it takes awhile for that elephant to dry out and to grind it up and make powder or do they just pick up the leftovers that drop out of the back end to make powder maybe thats why its Dirty !! :crackup: :blah: :applause:

 

[Rebel]

Could be why it takes so long to ignite too. :crackup:

 

[brushbuster]

didn't elephant go out of business?i keep seeing references to it ::

 

[Birddog6]

As with most powders, some have good experiences & bad... depending on the lots & etc. And you hear the "I have shot it for 20 years" stories.... and you have to consider that is all they shot & don't know any different. And also consider when you change powders you have to change your loads too usually..... Thus why when I buy it I buy a case at a time so I don't have to adjust my loads all the time.

I have never had any bad Goex, Swiss, or Scheutzen to date & shot allot of all of it. I have had a bad case of Elephent and it was piteful & even the Main Powder House admitted it was a lousy lot of powder... It was horrendous fouling & about a 1 second delay in a flintlock upon ignition.... Overglazed & not enough moisture content & etc. However it was extremely accurate IF you could stand to shoot the stuff. Does work well on the flowers & yard tho.... Will work OK in a shotgun so I am told...
I decided because they didn't recall this piteful stuff, I will never buy another product from them or the Maine Powder House..

The Swiss is Top Dog, any way ya go. Pricey but superb.
The Scheutzen I would rate barely above the Goex in all ways.
The Goex is great powder & have never had a problem with it & have shot Lots of it in the past 30+ years & shot it from lots of dif lots & have never had a bad can of it...

If I could get the Scheutzen for close to the same price as the Goex I would buy it, but it is not worth much more than the Goex as they are almost equal... The last case of it I got :thumbsup:it was within .50 a pound so I got the Scheutzen & have been very pleased with it.,

 

[roundball]

didn't elephant go out of business?i keep seeing references to it ::

Yes, Elephant is no longer being manufactured.

I too tried a lot of Elephand 3F...same experience as BirdDog6...very slow, delayed igniton and was unusable in my flintlocks...tried it in my caplocks and it was still unusable it was so slow to ignite.
So I poured 4+3/4 pounds of it out in long lines on bare ground and burned it off.

Switched to Goex and never looked back...outstanding stuff, delivered to my door for $9/lb.

 

[Dave K]

Roundball, You did what I always wanted to do, burn off a long run of blackpowder. Used to watch these old westerns where they would take a keg of powder and pour a line out to a safe place and then blow up the powder magazine when the bad guys got there using the long line as a fuse. It would be my luck though that it would be a keg of Elephant! If I was a bad guy, I would pray that it was! Because it would foul or not light off the main charge when it got there. :crackup:

 

[roundball]

Roundball, You did what I always wanted to do, burn off a long run of blackpowder. Used to watch these old westerns where they would take a keg of powder and pour a line out to a safe place and then blow up the powder magazine when the bad guys got there using the long line as a fuse. It would be my luck though that it would be a keg of Elephant! If I was a bad guy, I would pray that it was! Because it would foul or not light off the main charge when it got there. :crackup:

I poured it out one pound at a time in a line 10 feet long and expected it to flash / burn the full length quickly, but just like in the movies, it just sort of burned / flared / sputtered along, took several seconds to travel the 10 foot length.

Also, a pound of BP burned at the same time makes a huge, huge cloud of white smoke, so it's easy to understand why a cannon makes so much smoke for sure...each pound made an enormous cloud of smoke.

If I had to do it over again, I would have experimented and dug a hole under the edge of an old stump in the field or something just out of curiosity

 

[TexiKan]

Jack.........don't even think about getting some of that thar Packyderm Powder! (unless you want to give some of it to slow down your fellow shooters at matches) I used a bunch of it in my percussion and it was OK but like everyone else said, it's mighty dirty and it left quite a bit of fouling. A friend of mine used it in his flint gun and continued to remark how bad it was in it. I endured the rest of the stuff until we had a chance to buy some GOEX. Dang. It was like night and day! Won't ever go back, even if they get the factory opened again! It ain't worth the $'s saved.....

TexiKan
-----------------
A man cannot build a reputation on what he is going to do!

 

[Dave K]

I had heard there is a guy who is or will be looking for some. He claims to have very good luck with it and when it is no longer available he will quit shooting. I know if I was headed that way I would have given him all I had. :crackup: Want a little cheese with your wine? :crackup: :crackup: I couldn't help it, forgive me if I have sinned. :sorry:

 

[roundball]

I had heard there is a guy who is or will be looking for some. He claims to have very good luck with it and when it is no longer available he will quit shooting. I know if I was headed that way I would have given him all I had. :crackup: Want a little cheese with your wine? :crackup: :crackup: I couldn't help it, forgive me if I have sinned. :sorry:

:applause: :crackup: :applause: :crackup:

 

[Rebel]

Good one Dave. Gee, i wonder who that there person might be. :crackup: And no, no cheese, just the wine alone is all that is required. ::

 

[Rat]

Swiss rules...it's the best absolutely...IMHO.

:imo:

It's hotter, so you can use a little less, so that off sets the price a little.

:hmm:

However, that doesn't stop me from using the same charge weights whether it's Goex or Swiss...YEAH BABY!!

:youcrazy:

I need to find some more too...I'm down to 1.5 pounds of it.
Would love to buy a case of it...a little bit of fffg for the pistolas and the rest in ffg.

Rat

 

[Bob J]

Found a can of Elephant powder my Dad had bought. Can was dated 1991, the powder was dry. Decided to try it in my .58 Double. The group looked more like a pattern! :: With the same 100 grain load using Goex it had shot 1 7/8" at 50 yards. I gave the can of Elephant away.

 

[Bob J]

Hey Rat, Birddog6, and Charlie-
Is Swiss really cleaner than GOEX? Our local gunshop just started carrying it. Now, I liked Goex but tried Black Mag 3 and found it to be accurate and VERY clean (no longer necessary to slog barrels in tub, just a couple wet and dry patches then lube). But I keep hearing about SWISS, and it is REAL blackpowder. :hmm: Would you say it saves on cleaning time using Swiss -vs- Goex? What cleaning methods do you use?