I have so much to learn!

[jackpine54]

Lots of good advice on here. Sounds like you're on the right path now. Good luck on the powder hunt and have fun making smoke!

 

[Stone]

I found some FFFGoex and will hunt with it today.

I have the good fortune to live 10 minutes from a flintlock shop in Lodi Ohio which is very cool. A great old gentlemen spent some time with me and explained how to make my gun be totally reliable. It will require a machine shop and 30 minutes of work.

I intend to do this after this season is over.

 

[Stone]

Here is something I would like to run by you good folks.

I was told yesterday that we can expect black powder to become next to impossible to find. He said its made in only a few places in Europe and shipment to the US is very restricted. I think the rest of the world is aware just how much the USA has lost its mind recently.

He said when it becomes available again it may approach double in price.

Fact?
Fiction?
Just plain BS?

 

[FishDFly]

He said when it becomes available again it may approach double in price.

Truth, economics, supply and demand.

 

[Okie Hog]

For now I will be trying Pyrodex, the gun is made to use it and thats what I have.

You may already know this: Pyrodex pellets have a black powder ignitor on one end. Make sure the pellet is loaded with ignitor end toward the breech.

A friend has hunted with the a PA Pellet rifle for years with no problems. This fall he killed a large elk with that rifle.

 

[Brokennock]

Here is something I would like to run by you good folks.

I was told yesterday that we can expect black powder to become next to impossible to find. He said its made in only a few places in Europe and shipment to the US is very restricted. I think the rest of the world is aware just how much the USA has lost its mind recently.

He said when it becomes available again it may approach double in price.

Fact?
Fiction?
Just plain BS?

Unfortunately there is a lot of truth to this. There is currently no black powder manufacturer in the U.S. (there are a number of topic threads about this, some quite long)
There is a company, Swiss/Scheutzen, that has said they will do everything possible to support the U.S. blackpowder shooting community. But, their powder was already a bit more expensive than the Goex that was made here. It will have to become more so through both the laws of supply and demand, as well as increases in shipping costs and other costs of doing business, especially involving international trade, going higher and higher.
There is also the possibility of some lawmaker deciding that the importation of an explosive powder needs to be stopped, doesn't need to make sense, and with the stroke of a pen, it's over. This further increases demand through "hoarding," which raises the price.
Some vendors may try to keep their prices down by trying to control the demand flow and hoarding by trying to find a balance between raising the price and limiting what one customer can buy at a time.

Buy what you can, when you cab. If I were to go to my one and only local vendor that carries it and he had 10 one pound bottles, I would not buy all 10. But, where I used to buy 1 almost each time I went, now I might buy 2 or 3 if I can afford it. Besides, all 10 pounds might not even be granulations I can use.

 

[hanshi]

Remember being 18-20 and thinking that every thing worth knowing you pretty much had figured out already? Here I am in my early 70s and am now saying " Why there ain't no end to the things I don't know yet" ! Perspective changes with age to a reasonable minded person.
I'm just getting started on new things to try to learn how to do in this world.

Maybe you're kinda like me. I was a lot smarter then than I am now.

 

[M. De Land]

Maybe you're kinda like me. I was a lot smarter then than I am now.

I remember reading or hearing somewhere a story about a young man that joined the military , did his whole hitch and upon discharge and returning home quipped about how much smarter his dad had gotten in the four years of his service time. Course the truth was his dad hadn't changed a lick but it sure seemed like it to him !

Remember being 18-20 and thinking that every thing worth knowing you pretty much had figured out already? Here I am in my early 70s and am now saying " Why there ain't no end to the things I don't know yet" ! Perspective changes with age to a reasonable minded person.
I'm just getting started on new things to try to learn how to do in this world.

I took up bow making two years ago and am having a lot of fun building self bows of Hickory once I learned something of design and how to fire harden them so they resist taking a set.
As for black powder I believe some one here stateside will resume BP manufacture soon as we rid ourselves of this corruption in DC and get back on track of leading the world again. Take heart we will recover from this dark time and be better than ever before by Gods Grace.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I was planning on using Pyrodex Pellets because I have them and powder is simply not available right now.

After what I have read here, I am on a mission today to get a pound of Goex FFF, and will save the pellets for in-line hunting. My nephew gave me a couple ounces of Goex FFFF for pan priming.

Triple Seven is available but I read that this introduces yet another level of marketing double-talk.

No disrespect intended with my reply: Using Pyro in a flintlock is like putting regular gasoline in a hot dragster that normally uses nitromethane fuel. Regular gas might get the dragster to the finish line, but it will be last. Use pyro if you want, but you will have sad results.
Hope you find some real black and toss the idea of pyro in a flintlock.
Larry

 

[M. De Land]

No disrespect intended with my reply: Using Pyro in a flintlock is like putting regular gasoline in a hot dragster that normally uses nitromethane fuel. Regular gas might get the dragster to the finish line, but it will be last. Use pyro if you want, but you will have sad results.
Hope you find some real black and toss the idea of pyro in a flintlock.
Larry

My guess is we will probably see a resurgence in folks making there own Black powder if the supply dries up.

 

[mmb617]

My guess is we will probably see a resurgence in folks making there own Black powder if the supply dries up.

I might know somebody who's already decided that's the way to go.

 

[Stone]

I found a pound of FFF Goex

 

[Stone]

I suspect there is a good bit of "special interest possessiveness" in flintlocking like there is with any special interest hobby. The concept of putting pyrodex in a flintlock is unthinkable to the traditionalists.

For example, I am a cigar aficionado to a degree and within the cigar special interest community smoking anything but expensive maduro or Cuban cigars is unthinkable.

Playing golf at a public golf gourse is unthinkable to many within the country club community.

Driving a Chevy truck is unthinkable to a Ford owner.

 

[Stone]

You may already know this: Pyrodex pellets have a black powder ignitor on one end. Make sure the pellet is loaded with ignitor end toward the breech.

A friend has hunted with the a PA Pellet rifle for years with no problems. This fall he killed a large elk with that rifle.

I was aware of that. I came across a number of flintlock hunters this week who use pellets due to the convenience and have no issues. They have simply had to learn a few tricks like 4 or 5 grains of FFFF in the barrel prior to the pellets.

 

[Ames]

Powder IS available right now. You aren't trying hard enough to find more.

 

[John Turner]

Stone,
Just offering up a little advise do yourself a favor and join a muzzleloader club there is lots of good clubs in the area I also live in Ohio. There is a lot of talented people with a lot of years experience that can help you along with advise please don't get discouraged ,I too started with a rifle I could afford ,I worked on my first gun alot working through issues I won alot of shoots with that gun.But what it did do is give me the confidence to start building black powder guns ,Wich is now a passion I enjoy.Hang tough I give you a personal invite to shoot with us I belong to Seneca muzzleloaders camp name groundhog.

 

[Stone]

Sorry .... duplicate

 

[Stone]

Powder IS available right now. You aren't trying hard enough to find more.

Yeah, I found a pound of FFF Goex and will keep looking.

The decision to buy the gun was a last minute thing so we could do some more hunting.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Quite a few years back, a co-worker asked me to sight in his in-line muzzle loader. Had a nice 3-9x scope mounted.
So, he handed over the rifle and a box of Pyrodex pellets, which I was not familiar with. He told me to use 100 gr, or two pellets per round.
So, off I go to my favorite range, and get all set up. The first three shots were to adjust the windage, and I paid no attention to vertical spread. Got the scope to hit center target (L-R adjustment), then started working on the elevation.
That rifle would shoot from 4-5" low, to 4-5" high. No two the same! Gave up after about 20 rounds and went back home. At home, I dug out my powder scale and began weighing each and every pellet. They were supposed to be 50 gr each, but ranged from 46 grains to 56 grains! I got out the new, unopened box and did the same, with the same result - and that was the source causing the "laddering".
Without a consistent powder load, one is doomed to failure.
Just for kicks, I weighed out 10 rounds of FFg GOEX, and found that all ten made a pattern about 3" diameter. Told my friend to ditch the Pyrodex and buy a can or two of FFg black powder - he brought back pics of him and a nice buck. And I had venison steaks for dinner.

 

[TFoley]

Can you tell me what is meant by a patent breech?

This topic has been covered many times over by Zonie and Mr Minshall, as well as many others over the years. A use of the search function, going back to at least 2013, will show you all you ever wanted to know about the so-called 'patent breech'.