One powder

[stacks]

Kinda new with the flinter. Seems like the most common recipe is 3f for the charge, and 4f for the priming charge. What experiences have you had with using one powder for both?

 

[torn moc]

3F for both is OK...
Never...never...never use 4 F for main charge!!!

 

[Grenadier1758]

3fg for use in all guns is far too simple an answer. Tell us more about your gun and we will be able to give you a more thought out answer to your question.

 

[rabjr]

I've always used 3F for prime. Either 2F or 3F for main charge.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Stacks: We use both FFg and FFFg powders in rifles and smoothbores for the main charge. We try them both because some rifles perform better with one over the other. Use a chrongraph so that you are at least firing both powder charges at the same muzzle velocity and see what affect this has on improving accuracy.

Never use FFFFg for anything other than priming powder. I use it on the range, if its not raining. When raining, or when in the field, hunting, I use FFFg powder for priming. The larger grains are less susceptible to taking on water than the finer grained, FFFFg powder. I have even used FFg powder as a priming powder, and, while I know there is a slight delay measured in miliseconds using it for priming powder, I could not hear, or see the difference when firing the gun. When in the field, I am not shooting for the bullseye, or for groups size, as I am at the range. I don't need the same instant ignition I would get using FFFFg powder to prime the gun in the field, as I do when shooting at the range.

I have, and YOU Can, use FFFFg powder in the field, but watch the prime by checking it ever 15 minutes to see if there is any " clumping " of the powder. If so, its taking on moisture and may not ignite. Clean it out, and replace it with new powder. Dry and clean out the pan before putting the new priming powder charge in the pan, of course. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

I use Goex 4F prime because it's faster thanh the other granulations and I want every millisecond of speed possible in a flintlock.

Some folks claim you can't tell the difference or that it makes no difference, and so on...but the bottom line to me is that the BP industry makes it as priming powder for a reason.
And we know by BP industry granulation definitions the reason is that 4F is faster than 3f...like 3F is faster than 2F, like 2F is faster than 1F, etc...on the other hand you might find that you're totally satisfied using 3F as prime.

 

[tg]

If your gun is .58 or smaller I would try the 3f for both and see how it works, I also use 3f in my .62 but am guessing your gun is a smaller bore.Often punching out the touch hole to 5/64 makes a big difference in ignition as well, you will need to play around with it and the gun will let you know what works best, you will get a lot of advise here to sort thru, experiment, keep notes, and have fun.

 

[rmills1205]

I use 3F for my .50; and I use an old 35 mm film canaster and a .490 ball and gently crush some of the 3F into a finer priming powder. That way I don't need a whole pound of 4F.

 

[stacks]

It's my first flinter, .50 Lyman GPR. I'm still at the baby steps of this one. I cut my teeth on a .50 Cabelas Hawken percussion. After about a year of trying everything from PRB's to Sabbots and Pyrodex. I settled on good ole goex 3f and a ticked patch. I became very accurate and the misfire's became a thing of the past. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep reading the replies......

 

[Many Klatch]

Being the lazy sort I only use one powder with all my flintlocks. My .54 gets 3F as prime and main charge. My Brown Bess happily digests 2f as prime and main charge.

I figure as I get older and my reflexes start to slow that the extra 1,000th of a second Iwould save if I was using 4F won't affect my shooting one bit.

It is nice not having to mess with two powder horns when shooting.

Many Klatch

 

[Stumpkiller]

I use 3F for both in my .54

Used 2F for both in my Bess.

As Thoreau said: "Simplify, simplify."

 

[renovato]

You can prime with the same powder you charge with. I prime with FFF and with the fines I screened out of FFF. The fines are probably finer than FFFF but they both work fine and I can't see an advantage of one over the other. It's just easier not buying seperate priming powder. I think they only reason they sell priming powder, is to have a way to get rid of the finer granules created during manufacture.

 

[Parzifal]

I use ffg for everything, my Long land 77 cal, my short land 75 cal, my 1766 69 cal and my dragoon petronel in 58 cal

Rob

 

[Cutfingers]

Some guns, such as my 62 smoothbore, shoot better and more consistently with FFF. I've tried FFFF and FFF as prime and feel the FFF is far superior.

 

[Dphar]

Kinda new with the flinter. Seems like the most common recipe is 3f for the charge, and 4f for the priming charge. What experiences have you had with using one powder for both?

Except in very small bores FFFFG is too fast for a main charge. Powder granulations for main charge will start arguments in most cases. I use FFFG to about 62 caliber then FFG. I always use FFFFG for prime.
FFFG can be used as priming but electronic timing show it to be slower.

Dan

 

[roundball]

I think they only reason they sell priming powder, is to have a way to get rid of the finer granules created during manufacture.

Yeah...it's a scam all BP companies have signed up for since time began :grin:...I guess the super fine 7F that is was screened out for use as instantaneous flash powder in the beginning days of photography was just a way to get rid of that granulation too :grin:

 

[paulvallandigham]

There are finer grades of powder sold, and the finer sizes are probably the left overs from making the larger ones. The 6F and 7F are used today in the firecracker industry, I am told. If there is a 5F powder, I have not heard of its use.

As you can see from the responses, most people tend to use what they first learned to use as Priming powder years ago, and continue to use it out of habit. There is a small difference in burn rates between 3F and 4F powders. However, the coarser grade( including 2F) tend to absorb moisture more slowly, and make a good choice for use while hunting.



BP is coated in graphite( hence the "g" on the end of the F Grade) to slow absorption, to prevent clumping, and to improve flow through the manufacturing process. The added benefit of coating the granules in graphite is that it gives a substance that allows static electricity to pass quickly through and around the outer surface of the granules, so you don't build up enough heat to ignite the powder with static electricity. That makes Black Powder much safer during transportation.

Try both FFFg and FFFFg powders for priming, and see if you can notice any difference in ignition times. The machines say there is a difference, but most people can't see or hear it. More important, you won't move your front sight off the target in the slight delay it takes to ignite the FFFg powder, compared to the FFFFg powder.

The first couple of times I went deer hunting with my flintlock, I carried both horns with me into the field. The large horn has FFg and the small one has FFFFg priming powder. That got very old, after several days. I have since made up individual powder tubes, and no longer take my priming horn out with me at all. I use FFg or FFFg powder to prime, depending on what powder is going down the barrel.

The large horn only goes with me these days when I am using my shotgun to shoot birds, where I may have to take 4-6 shots before returning to my car. But these decisions, like those of other members who have given their opinions and experience here, is based more on what I consider my personal CONVENIENCE, than anything else.

There is nothing wrong with modifying what you do on the range, for your own convenience in the field. Just understand the reason WHY we use ONE powder in the field, and some of us still use 2 powders at the range. Oh, If I am dressing up for a public parade, or demonstration, I wear and use the two horns, along with all my other gear. Those are the only times I carry my throwing knife, AND my throwing Tomahawk, for instance. The tourists and kids like all the stuff. I even break out a hand made Bowie Knife to carry on those occasions. Without suspenders, my pants would be down around my ankles, of course! :nono: :blah: :rotf: :hatsoff:

 

[jbwilliams3]

I’m a relative newbie, but I have found that 3f is more than sufficient to prime with. An experienced friend of mine used a mortar and pestle to crush some of my 3f into something like 5f. I shot that for about a year until I realized it was a dumb idea and now just charge from my horn with 3f. Every now and then I’ll experiment with variations of the super fine mixed in with 3f/2f, but it gets pretty volatile in humid weather.

 

[Larry Pletcher]

I wrote an article in the April 05 MuzzleBlasts About an experiment where I timed Goex ffg, fffg, ffffg (two samples), and Swiss ffffg and Swiss Null B as priming powder. The lock was a large Siler. The following were the averages of 20 trials of each:

Goex ffg ----> .06978 sec.
Goex fffg ---> .05951
Goex ffffg --> .04860*
Goex ffffg --> .04739**
----------------------
Swiss ffffg -> .04127
Swiss NullB -> .03931

*produced before PA plant closed
**produced after plant relocated

The fastest ffg or fffg time was slower than the slowest Swiss NullB time.

With the numbers out of the way, human perception, as Paul says, isn't good enough to tell the difference. I think the speed and consistency can help shooting. The variation in the priming grades was quite a bit better than in ffg and fffg powders. And I do think consistency is a good thing in shooting -- probably more than raw speed.

I personally like ffffg, especially Swiss NullB. All recent timing that I have done is with NullB. However, in high humidity hunting situations a person may do better with a larger grade. I have no high stakes in this. I figure a person should use what they like.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[renovato]

I think they only reason they sell priming powder, is to have a way to get rid of the finer granules created during manufacture.

Yeah...it's a scam all BP companies have signed up for since time began :grin:...I guess the super fine 7F that is was screened out for use as instantaneous flash powder in the beginning days of photography was just a way to get rid of that granulation too :grin:

Ok, maybe I had it backwards. Maybe 4F isn't screened out of 2F and 3F. It's probably the "chunks" screened out of flash powder. :blah: