Musket Powder?

[Smokey Plainsman]

Hey guys!

I’ve got a pretty little M1842 musket here and am curious. According to ordnance documents from the Civil War, .69 round ball cartridges meant for the percussion muskets were to be charged with 110 grains of “musket powder.”

My question is, I have access to Graf and Sons and Goex 2Fg powders. How much of these modern 2Fg powders would equal the 110 grains of period musket powder?

Would my powder be “hotter” and should be charged with less?

Thanks all!!!!

 

[Yewbender]

Can’t help with your question but if you shoot alot you will burn through powder using 110gr. Heck in my .62 Fowler I only shoot 50-60gr 2F.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Modern sporting black powder is stronger than old time musket grade powder, I would use less but I can’t say by how much. Back then powder was offered in different grades as well as different granules.

 

[Sylvester Pattie]

Musket powder was approximately equal to 1fg modern powders in granulation. By 1840 military powders were pretty good. The British were very good by then so if you were shooting a new 1842 musket you could use a full charge of 1fg modern powder in it. Two things to remember though
1) if you have an original 1842, it is not new and I would not shoot full charges
2). The 1842 was originally a smooth bore but most were rifled before the Civil War so the barrel walls of the rifle are thinner than the unrifled smoothbores. They were all proof tested with round ball paper cartridges not with any type of conical.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hey guys!

I’ve got a pretty little M1842 musket here and am curious. According to ordnance documents from the Civil War, .69 round ball cartridges meant for the percussion muskets were to be charged with 110 grains of “musket powder.”

My question is, I have access to Graf and Sons and Goex 2Fg powders. How much of these modern 2Fg powders would equal the 110 grains of period musket powder?

Would my powder be “hotter” and should be charged with less?

Thanks all!!!!

SO the very old "rule-of-thumb" was to start off a rifle with a powder load equal to the caliber, (rounded up or down to the nearest five, iirc) SO you should start off with 70 grains of 2Fg and a patched, round ball and see how she shoots.



LD

 

[MAPMFF]

SO the very old "rule-of-thumb" was to start off a rifle with a powder load equal to the caliber, (rounded up or down to the nearest five, iirc) SO you should start off with 70 grains of 2Fg and a patched, round ball and see how she shoots.



LD

I'm far from a precision shooter. Happy to hit paper at 50 yards and make some smoke and noise and that method has served me well over the years.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

SO the very old "rule-of-thumb" was to start off a rifle with a powder load equal to the caliber, (rounded up or down to the nearest five, iirc) SO you should start off with 70 grains of 2Fg and a patched, round ball and see how she shoots.



LD

I’m looking to make paper cartridges that replicate original performance.

 

[Clark Badgett]

Musket powder was approximately equal to 1fg modern powders in granulation. By 1840 military powders were pretty good. The British were very good by then so if you were shooting a new 1842 musket you could use a full charge of 1fg modern powder in it. Two things to remember though
1) if you have an original 1842, it is not new and I would not shoot full charges
2). The 1842 was originally a smooth bore but most were rifled before the Civil War so the barrel walls of the rifle are thinner than the unrifled smoothbores. They were all proof tested with round ball paper cartridges not with any type of conical.

Your second point is incorrect. Most 1842 muskets remained smoothbore. A few were made with rifling. And .69 conicals were the order for rifled 1842 muskets.

 

[Kevin in NC]

Hey guys!

I’ve got a pretty little M1842 musket here and am curious. According to ordnance documents from the Civil War, .69 round ball cartridges meant for the percussion muskets were to be charged with 110 grains of “musket powder.”

My question is, I have access to Graf and Sons and Goex 2Fg powders. How much of these modern 2Fg powders would equal the 110 grains of period musket powder?

Would my powder be “hotter” and should be charged with less?

Thanks all!!!!

I have a smoothbore repro '42 that I've shot with 75 gr Goex 2F. I made paper cartridges with .667" round balls and no lube. They were fairly tight going down the bore. I think the original load used a .65 ball. Why did I use a .667" ball? I made my own mold using a ball bearing that I ground into a cutter and that's what I ended up with.
Kevin in NC