Powder Granulation for percussion target accuracy

[M. De Land]

I am currently going through Ned Roberts book of percussion rifles again and noticed in one of the sections he says that among the major competitors of the period it was felt that for best accuracy 1F powder granulation should be used down through .38 cal and then 2F for anything smaller. 3F was used mostly for hand gun shooting apparently.
That bit of information made me blink once or twice !

 

[M. De Land]

I am currently going through Ned Roberts book of percussion rifles again and noticed in one of the sections he says that among the major competitors of the period it was felt that for best accuracy 1F powder granulation should be used down through .38 cal and then 2F for anything smaller. 3F was used mostly for hand gun shooting apparently.
That bit of information made me blink once or twice !

Another bit of Trivia Ned brought up was the necessity to always center the ball in the patch or the shot would print out of the group. I had always though it only necessary for some portion of the patch to cover over the ball enough to seal the bore against escaping gas but he insists it must be centered over the ball with the sprue always on top. This would seem to favor cutting patches at the muzzle to insure centering rather than using precut round patches as I have been doing for years.
Another thing he says causes fliers is inconsistent ball seating pressure and to never bounce the loading rod off the ball once seated which I see some folks to regularly. I would expect this true of conical bullet use but apparently this includes ball shooting as well.
I have noticed fliers occasionally that do not seem to print where the shot broke but explained it away as poor shooting on my part.
One more thing he stresses is using a consistent hold pressure into the shoulder/ upper arm each time which I have not given much if any thought to. Looks like I need to tighten up my loading and shooting educate some and pay more attention to details.

 

[HSmithTX]

If you have a CO2 unloader or an air compressor load and then unload a couple balls into a box full of towels, if you don't want to waste powder load them on a wad of tissue and use the same compression you would on powder. I did this and found out I was being really really hard on the ball during loading. It also reinforced the need to mark the ramrod for me, that way I am sure the ball is seated without putting unneeded pressure on it. I was shocked how easily the ball is damaged during loading and seating.

 

[Dude]

Isn't there some indication granulation sizes were different 150 years ago?

 

[M. De Land]

Isn't there some indication granulation sizes were different 150 years ago?

I believe it has remained pretty much standardized since colonial times at least but I could be wrong. If so I have never read of or heard that granulation size has ever changed.

 

[wdtiffin]

How do you think it was purchased? "I'll take pound of rifle powder" or " I'll take a pound of 3f powder"?
David

 

[appalichian hunter]

Do yourself a favor get a pound of 3-f and go shooting. I use 3-f in everything from small bore to the big bores flinters and percussions, pistols. It's not rocket science. And they all shoot well.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Isn't there some indication granulation sizes were different 150 years ago?

Powder was usually milled a good bit finer than it is today.

 

[45man]

Pyrodex is very touchy to seat pressure so I made a tool with a large spring in it for the final seat so all are the same tension. I just set it on the rod when the ball is down and compress the spring.

 

[hanshi]

I've never seen a good reason to use 2F in anything .58 and above.