mixed 3f & 2f

[FRJ]

I just accidentally mixed some 3f & 2f in one of my horns and need advice on what to do. Should I throw it all away,or is it alright to shoot it as long as I use 3f powder charge data to keep pressure down? All suggestions gratefully accepted. FRJ

 

[roundball]

I just accidentally mixed some 3f & 2f in one of my horns and need advice on what to do. Should I throw it all away,or is it alright to shoot it as long as I use 3f powder charge data to keep pressure down? All suggestions gratefully accepted. FRJ

IMO, it should be perfectly fine, especially using 3F load data.
Truth be known, even in cans of 2F from shipping and handling, there is surely a small % of the kernels that get reduced to typical 3F size, even to the size of 4F as 'fines' anyway.

 

[George]

It isn't a problem. I doubt if you will be able to tell any difference in shooting, and pressures will be safe.

Spence

 

[Bill Hall]

No worries, just think of it as 2-1/2f, watered down fffg, or boosted up ffg. I would make sure it's mixed well in the horn, slowly, so you don't grind up the grains. Probably not the best for super fine range work, but if you didn't know about the two grades, I'll bet you wouldn't even notice a difference. Bill

 

[tg]

I used a 50/50 mix of 3f/2f a decade ago in a couple of .62 smoothbores,and a .72. The idea is the best of both worlds it cuts down the pressure spike a bit that is caused bt 3f yet still allows the 3f advantages. I used it till I used up the two cans I had mixed at the time. I was also cleaning the powder with pieces of old cotton socks in a Quaker oats container to remove the graphite, this really helped cut down fouling at the time. This mix will not seperate when in motion, the Mad Monk did some testing on this and found the granular size count to be the nearly same after considerable movement of the mixed powder, quite a few were playing with it at the time but it kind of fizzled out I think as one heard less and less about it, I do not think the advantage was great enough to justify the time to mix it myself, plus a lot of unsupport theories of blown up guns and a complete breakdown of granule sizes which had been proven not to be the case, but there was a lot of negative press with no substance behind it (sound familiar?}. I would not hesitate to use it again in a larger bore gun like .72 and up, I do not personaly see it needed in anything smaller.I used 3f up to .72 and only went with 2f or the mix because this gun had a very thin barel wall at the breech, it was a home made job from a modern shotgun barrel.If you want to try some I recomment mixing it in a large Quaker oats cardboard container and really shake /rattle and roll it to get a good blend.

 

[David W.]

I just accidentally mixed some 3f & 2f in one of my horns and need advice on what to do. Should I throw it all away,or is it alright to shoot it as long as I use 3f powder charge data to keep pressure down? All suggestions gratefully accepted. FRJ

Use 10% less than you would using FFg.

 

[ohio ramrod]

My oldest boy did this several times and we had no problems shooting trap or off hand rifle shooting. A bench shooter would probably dump the powder but most people would not notice the difference as long as you keep the loads on the light side. Remember when powder is put in a horn and carried around the finer grains settle to the bottom any how. FF and FFF are really just a "range" to bigin with. :idunno:

 

[FRJ]

I want to thank all of you for the prompt replys.
I'll be using it tomorrow and will feel a lot safer after these replys!!!!! FRJ

 

[Stumpkiller]

I did the same thing. Just moved it over to my shotgun flask as I figured that was less sensitive. Worked fine. :hatsoff:

 

[FRJ]

OK I just got back from the range and was shooting the powder mixed with 2 and 3f powder. Its a 45 cal flintlock and I was shooting 60 and then 50 gr of the mixed powder. It worked great with 60gr and 4f priming and then I went to 50gr and it still worked great and was very accurate.This is the first time I have actually got to practice shooting a flintlock offhand and I was flinching from the flash in the pan for about 5 shots then I got used to it and was very happy with the results. Shot the center out of the target at 35yards and now I will continue this offhand practice till I can do it at 75yrds or more. FRJ

 

[Rifleman1776]

I'll just add to what others have said, it will be fine.
I used to put the last few grains or ounce of powder from a can into one common can labeled as a 2Fg/3Fg mix and use it for hunting.
There is a brand of powder being sold at very reasonable prices that is, literally, floor sweepings from the powder factory. It is a mix of granulations and works fine. It may not find perzactly the center of the 'X's on serious target shooting, but, what the hey, it will find minute of deer and is cheaper for fun shooting.

 

Back in the late 50s and early 60s if you looked at the size of the grains with good glasses you could see a difference in the size of them. Through the years we were shooting a lot of $$$ matches and really paid attention to what our powder grain size was (that was a common practice with 10X shooters around the country in the late 60s into the 70s). Anyway as time has moved on the process has really improved seen by what is recommended today - cal./grain combinations, from what we shot years ago. That's a good thing, everyone was "right on the money with their help" good job folks.

 

[Rifleman1776]

(that was a common practice with 10X shooters around the country in the late 60s into the 70s).

Correct. I started this game in 1970. For the serious X matches we often even used powder only from one lot as much as possible. My 'mix' came from the last remaining in a lot. It did just fine for casual shooting and hunting.

 

Many of you know or have heard of Ron Long (one of the better shots at Friendship for muzzleloading, won the Montana Sharps Championships more times than anyone and so on.

I was president of the Colorado State Muzzleloading Assn. for several years, we help the State Championships and NMLRA Reginoal Championships at Leadville CO each year. Old "Camp Hale" where the mountain troops trained during WWII.

We usually had in or close to 500 registered shooters from across the US and Canada. All the best shooter (like you say "10x" folks). I would pull up a bench and study what they did in loading, breathe control and firing line stuff. Pretty high tech for muzzle loading.

Long would load the same everytime (like a machine), stand and look at the target and get his breathing corrected. Then step to the firing line, do the breathing thing again, raise the gun to his shoulder and fire. Seemed to be pretty standard setup. On one match the range was shut down for a small problem just as Ron was about to shoot.

This is what I learned, he did not get out of routine. When the range opened, he held the gun to his shoulder said "BANG". Removed the cap, went back to his loading bench and did the whole routine (pretending to load a loaded gun), did the breathing and setup to the line and made the shot.
THAT'S WHY HE WAS NUMBER ONE FOR SO MANY YEARS. NEVER GOT OUT OF THE ROUTINE. I started practicing the same exact way and it helped with tighter groups with having a routine, lesson learned. :thumbsup: