Powder Fouling???

[Oscarflytyer]

Powder Fouling... Shooting Elephant FFg in my 58 cal ML. Fouling (after 3 shots) seems 'bad.' However, I am a complete neewb to BP. Is old Elephant worse in the fouling department?

I have Goex in FFFg for the revolver, and as I recall, fouling is not so bad(again, based on maybe <50 rds fired)

I also have/recently purchased/not opened/shot - Schuetzen FFg (new purchase) for the 58. Is it cleaner/mpre user friendly?

Thanx

 

[SDSmlf]

Powder Fouling... Shooting Elephant FFg in my 58 cal ML. Fouling (after 3 shots) seems 'bad.' However, I am a complete neewb to BP. Is old Elephant worse in the fouling department?

I have Goex in FFFg for the revolver, and as I recall, fouling is not so bad(again, based on maybe <50 rds fired)

I also have/recently purchased/not opened/shot - Schuetzen FFg (new purchase) for the 58. Is it cleaner/mpre user friendly?

Thanx

Personally found Elephant to be one of the dirtier powders I ever used in a muzzleloader. Story from a few sources was that they left the bark on the wood when they made their charcoal resulting in the residue remaining in your bore. Don’t know, wasn’t there.

If you have a supply Elephant powder, may as well use it and deal with the mess, unless you want to save some for comparison to other powders at some point in the future.

 

[IanH]

Worst powder ever commercially made, at least in my lifetime. Weak and filthy. It does make smoke and propel lead just fine, though, so burn it up and then treat yourself to some Swiss black powder.

 

[Brokennock]

Even taking the brand of powder out of the equation, you will find the finer powder granulation to have less (or maybe it is just finer) fouling. Try the 3f in your .58, maybe dropping the load by 10 or 15 grains to start,,, you will probably be pleasantly surprised.

I notice a huge difference in ease of loading a second or third shot between 2f and 3f with my .62 smoothbore, especially when developing shot loads. 3f is far easier to load shots 2 and 3. With 2f shot #2 feels rough and gritty as the wads go down the barrel, shot #3 feels rough amd far tighter,,,, shot #4 is probably not going to happen. It is better with roundball, just rough, not impossible to load.

 

[Tumbledown]

What are you using for patch lube? Anything with petroleum or mineral spirits will react with the powder and leave a hard crust.

 

[kyron4]

Even taking the brand of powder out of the equation, you will find the finer powder granulation to have less (or maybe it is just finer) fouling. Try the 3f in your .58, maybe dropping the load by 10 or 15 grains to start,,, you will probably be pleasantly surprised.

I notice a huge difference in ease of loading a second or third shot between 2f and 3f with my .62 smoothbore, especially when developing shot loads. 3f is far easier to load shots 2 and 3. With 2f shot #2 feels rough and gritty as the wads go down the barrel, shot #3 feels rough amd far tighter,,,, shot #4 is probably not going to happen. It is better with roundball, just rough, not impossible to load.

This has been my experience too , now I run 3F in all my rifles.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Elephant is nasty dirty powder. It was cheap back in the 90s at 4 bucks a pound. I used it in my skeet guns, but it just doesn't work well in rifles. I probably have a few pounds stashed somewhere.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Anybody ever consider "grinding" the Elephant powder a little finer? Might burn easier and maybe a little cleaner?

 

[Grenadier1758]

Elephant was (and if you have a can left, still is) a dirty powder. At the time though, GOEX was unavailable due to a plant explosion and Elephant powder kept us shooting. It's great for making blanks as it produces great clouds of smoke and due to the lack of pressure of a blank charge, there is a lot of fouling anyway. On the positive side, we now have a new generation of GOEX powder available and Elephant powder is not in production.

 

[leadhoarder]

I always wanted a pound of elephant just for the can. Those cans always looked nice to me.

 

[tenngun]

I do mix my left over elephant 1/4 pound to 3/4 pound go and works well

 

[Edm]

When I built my first flintlock, the guy at the local shop sold me elephant. Said it was top of the line. I shot 2 or 3 rounds and it fouled so bad I stuck a ball halfway down the barrel and broke my ramrod. I still have some elephant and now only fire it in my mortar. It is trash in a rifle in my experience. Hard to foul artillery.

 

[TDM]

Powder Fouling... Shooting Elephant FFg in my 58 cal ML. Fouling (after 3 shots) seems 'bad.' However, I am a complete neewb to BP. Is old Elephant worse in the fouling department?

I have Goex in FFFg for the revolver, and as I recall, fouling is not so bad(again, based on maybe <50 rds fired)

I also have/recently purchased/not opened/shot - Schuetzen FFg (new purchase) for the 58. Is it cleaner/mpre user friendly?

Thanx

As said, save the Elephant for a very rainy day. Use your Goex 3F or your Schuetzen 2F for better results. When your able to, buy some Swiss.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Gonna have to find me some of that pachyderm powder.
If its that nasty, Ill see if my cleaning, seasoning, and loading method for all other powders doe not make it workable.

 

[tenngun]

I think they are long since out of business

 

[Sun City]

Elephant was abandoned eons ago by shooters on the Shiloh Shooters Forum! Dirty Dirty Dirty!!

 

[SDSmlf]

Gonna have to find me some of that pachyderm powder.
If its that nasty, Ill see if my cleaning, seasoning, and loading method for all other powders doe not make it workable.

I haven’t seen it for sale since the early 2000s. Though extremely dirty, it was ‘workable’ if that was all one had.

 

[TrapperDude]

This thread makes that Elephant stuff sound worse than what many think of Pyrodex.

 

[Grenadier1758]

No, @TrapperDude, that nasty, dirty Elephant powder will work in a flint lock. Pyrodex won't work in a flint lock.

 

[Mad L]

I got a pound of Elephant at a gun show, only use it in the blunderbuss. Blunderbuss is easy to clean out.