Can you grind single F or double F powder into triple F powder? I have a bunch of single F powder that a friend of mine gave me and I have no real use for it. I used triple F in my flintlock rifle. Any ideas on what to do with this stuff?
Powder dilemma
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It can be crushed, but then you end up with something like 5F powder. You break the glazing which helps a bit against moisture.
It has been thought that original powder would, over time..., jostling in a horn..., break down from 2F to smaller granules. It was also thought that such would give you a so called "duplex" load, a mixture of 2F, 3F, and 4F. Some fellows tried to make 2F ignite more "reliably" by mixing in a little 3F, following that theory. Well it turns out when you take two sized granulated powders, the smaller stuff when jostled about in a horn, move toward the bottom of the powder in that horn. So you end up with a layer of 2F, then a thin mixed layer, followed by a thinner layer of 3F..., so it doesn't work as planned. OH and they also found that the 2F wasn't more "unrealiable" than 3F or 4F..., when the frizzen is delivering a shower of sparks, it works pretty darn well.
You might see if anybody will trade for the 2F powder, or just use it, or save it for a blanket prize that you donate to a blanket shoot.
LD
It has been thought that original powder would, over time..., jostling in a horn..., break down from 2F to smaller granules. It was also thought that such would give you a so called "duplex" load, a mixture of 2F, 3F, and 4F. Some fellows tried to make 2F ignite more "reliably" by mixing in a little 3F, following that theory. Well it turns out when you take two sized granulated powders, the smaller stuff when jostled about in a horn, move toward the bottom of the powder in that horn. So you end up with a layer of 2F, then a thin mixed layer, followed by a thinner layer of 3F..., so it doesn't work as planned. OH and they also found that the 2F wasn't more "unrealiable" than 3F or 4F..., when the frizzen is delivering a shower of sparks, it works pretty darn well.
You might see if anybody will trade for the 2F powder, or just use it, or save it for a blanket prize that you donate to a blanket shoot.
LD
rafterob
62 Cal.
Shoot it up. You will find little difference unless you are the anal hit the 10X target guy. A compromise would be to mix it with your 3f. I shot a whole session with 1 f in my horn left from a shotgunning outing. Did not affect my offhand accuracy any (which is not in the 10x category). The only reason I noticed is One of the last loads I had to dump because I got to talking and couldn't remember if I put powder in or not.
BP grain size is determined during the wet stage of manufacture. When wet it is forced through screens of size desired. Doing what you are asking will only result in crushed mess. Use as is or trade off.
Use it as is. You may be surprised at how good it can perform. Sometimes the softer push aids in follow through. You may need to increase the powder charge to get the muzzle velocity you have with 3fg. There may be more fouling, but these are not insurmountable issues.
I should have mentioned that based on what you paid for the powder, the fact that you may need up to 20% more 1f than your 3f load, you shouldn't be concerned that you are not getting as many shots from a pound of powder.
FREE POWDER? !!! I'd grin with every shot.
hanshi
Cannon
When you crush powder you end up with, well, crushed powder. Powder is made with particular size grains for uniform performance. Grinding will just create a mess.
Looks like a great excuse too buy a smoothbore!
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Same here BB.
How much do you have? With a 100 grain load you will get about 70 shots to a pound. Enjoy using it up.
If you have a shoygun feed it to the shot gun. BB has told of excellent results for this use.
I got about 4 pounds.
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I agree with the shooting it up. Use it for plinking or informal shooting. With a 70 grain charge you’ll have 400 shots of fun with 4 pounds. Playing with the charge you may find a real accurate low power load.
You will probably need about 85 grains of 1f to have the performance of a 70 grain 3f load. But still you will get 329 shots out of your 4 pounds. Shoot it up!
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