Loading a 1858 with 1-2F powder?

[Crypt0manic]

Hey my friends. i want to hear pros and cons of loading a cal .44 remington 1858 with 1F or 2F powder!

Got some powder here that's about 1-2F.
I know i should shoot 3F in it.

I guess it might burn slower and leave more fouling? By how much would the velocity drop? Thank you.

 

[wiscoaster]

Interesting question. More variables involved than just grain size, though, aren't there? I've no answers, so just watching your thread to learn what those who know can teach me.

 

[64Springer]

Set up a chronograph and start testing.

 

[Campbell]

2F will work fine.
I imagine 1F will too, though I’ve never used it in revolvers.

 

[tenngun]

You might have a drop in velocity. After f designation became a thing powder was sold all over like that.
But
Supply chain was long and tedious. Even in major cities like Saint Louis or Chicago might not have it when you need it.
I’m sure a lot of old timers burned what they could get
And if called on for self defense I’m sure no bad guy at twenty feet looked at the hole in his belly and said ‘ha that was just two f, now it’s my turn’

 

[Crypt0manic]

You might have a drop in velocity. After f designation became a thing powder was sold all over like that.
But
Supply chain was long and tedious. Even in major cities like Saint Louis or Chicago might not have it when you need it.
I’m sure a lot of old timers burned what they could get
And if called on for self defense I’m sure no bad guy at twenty feet looked at the hole in his belly and said ‘ha that was just two f, now it’s my turn’

I like that answer thanks i will measure with a chronograph!

 

[Crypt0manic]

Set up a chronograph and start testing.

I will thanks

 

[leadhoarder]

I seen a YouTube video where someone did this. 2f worked fine but velocity was lower as expected. 1f fired hit velocity was really low and fouling was bad.

 

[Old Grunt]

3 or 4 years ago I spent couple days playing with different brands of powders,I had just a little swiss 3 f,geox,shutzen, Graf's,and old ensford, pyrodex p,pyrodex rs,tripple 7 2f,and 3f, I was shooting a ruger old army,a Remington navy, a colt 61 navy, a colt 62 police with 5.5" barrel a colt Army with 5.5" barrel,a Remington army with 5.5" barrel,plus I used .375 & .380 balls in navys,in armys i tried .451 and .454 balls,ruger i stuck with .457 balls.

I have everything wrote down somewhere but after being bachelor for 12 years my new loving bride hid every dang thing ( she said cleaning and organizing ).
Anyway the pyrodex,swiss 3 f,grafs 3f,and 777 3 f gave best velocities,and more recoil,geox and old ensford was down on velocity,2 f in real and fake powder was down on velocity but real consistent over Chrono, the holey black all in gave more consistent velocity then either 777 or pyrodex, a bit slower but spread of shots was way better.
What made biggest velocity changes was ball,my memory says neighborhood of 75-100 fps in all colts and Remington's when going from .375 to 380,and going from .451-.454

The tripple 7 was consistent for reasonable loads but more powder used more inconsistent it got. I suspect it is way more particular on compression,I got some great velocities out of it in ruger but every cylinder I'd have one or two around 150 fps slower then fastest ball.

If I ever find my notes I'll take a pic and post,it was a lot of fun and interesting.

I know one thing that surprised me a lot,in the .36 caliber the velocity difference between 5.5 barrel 62 police and full length barrels on 61 colt and 58 Remington was only average of around 30 fps I expected closer to 75 fps.

 

[SDSmlf]

Hey my friends. i want to hear pros and cons of loading a cal .44 remington 1858 with 1F or 2F powder!

Got some powder here that's about 1-2F.
I know i should shoot 3F in it.

I guess it might burn slower and leave more fouling? By how much would the velocity drop? Thank you.

You are thinking too much. Load up what you have and you’ll be fine for anything but maybe serious target work. I have tried a few different brands and granulations from 1F to 4F (believe I went to the range with a dozen cylinders each preloaded with a different powder that day) and at 25 yards every cylinder would have scared the daylights out of a paper dinner plate, some performing better than others. Was not a serious test, just a fun test.

 

[Crow Choker]

Interesting post Old Grunt. Have always heard that Swiss and Shutzen gave higher velocities than Goex. Long range rifle boys say they like better. Graf's is Shutzen in a Graf bottle. I played around once shooting 2F and 3F in a Walker, 2nd Mod Dragoon and 1860 Army (all 44's of course) using .454" balls. Didn't notice much difference recoil between or accuracy between 2 or 3F. I do like the use of .454 balls vs .451's in 44's and .380's vs .375's in 36 caliber cappers, just better lead shaving and tighter fit. I've used mostly Goex since '72 when I started with cappers and MZ rifles, but have shot some Schutzen off and on. Have been going to run a test (still in wanna do stage) of using some of the various nipples (Slix, Tracks, and Treso's available for replacement of factory using CCI #11's, Remington #10's, and RWS 1075's percussion caps to see what works best, comparing with factory nipples. I like Rem 10's the best over the years.

Sometime back a no longer posting member here was advocating using 1F in 44's, using max loads in Walker/Dragoons. I pointed out that alot of unburned powder was probably spiting out the end of his barrels (waste of powder) and that I in 50 some years of shooting cap and ball had never heard/read of the advocated use of 1F in revolvers. Advised it may confuse new shooters. He advocated it showed a picture of a 100 yard paper target with other holes he claimed were unburned powder punctures. Unburned 1F powder traveling 100 yards and puncturing paper!!! IMO so much for his knowledge and expertise in the loading and shooting black powder revolvers.

I do use 3F Goex probably in the high 90% of the time but will sometimes use 2F in my Walker. Some years back, a member on the CAS Forum advised that he had better luck using 2F vs 3F in the metal containers used for holding powder and then seating a lead bullet into the metal container when shooting black in an unmentionable firearm. He advised that 2F has a lower pressure curve than 3F. ie not as sharp of a spike, which resulted in better accuracy and not as a sharp of a recoil. This may equate to your mention of 2F being " but real consistent over Chrono" vs 3F. I use 2F the majority if not all anymore in the loading of my unmentionable's that have a round metal container used to propel a lead bullet. I don't like and have only used several times the fake black powders, besides don't care for the smell of their smoke.

 

[CaptainVane]

I have everything wrote down somewhere but after being bachelor for 12 years my new loving bride hid every dang thing ( she said cleaning and organizing ).