powder variations mid 1700s

[buckskinner]

for woodsmen shooting a rifle/musket back in this time period, what powder was available to them to use?
i for some reason always assumed there was cannon powder and rifle powder, and hence the riflemen would use the powder as main charge as well as pan primer.
can anyone give further insight?
just wondering if its more period correct to prime one's flint with the same powder stuffed down the bore.
thanks

 

[Zonie]

I believe most of the powder in the Colonies came from England while the French imported much of it to Canada (until they lost the French/Indian War).
DuPont didn't bring the French technology to the U.S. until 1802 so much of the powder that was produced in the Colonies was rather crude and the English weren't fond of us producing our own powder.

I believe you are correct about the powder granulations. There was the course cannon powder and musket powder that could also be used in rifles.

I have never read that anyone produced or ground up musket powder to prime with and small 'priming horns' that are proven to have been used for priming powder are few and far between.

I've read that most of the very small horns were actually used for salt.

 

[ohio ramrod]

If my memory is correct the british often issued small priming horns to their troops for use with the brown bess when using paper cartridges. Since most of the coloniols used technology from the British It would not be surprising that some used a priming horn, but it most likely held the same powder as the larger horn, just easier to prime with with out spilling valuable powder. But then that is just my memerory and I cann't cite where I read it.

 

[pargent]

a little off the subject,does anyone like me think it would have possible to seperate off or collect the finds in the bottom of a powder keg and use these for priming ? it does seem like alogical thing to have taken place when the opportunity arrose. :idunno:

 

[buckskinner]

so the question is, for the period of mid 1700, to be period correct, what is the main charge/ primer.
im trying to dial in period correct but havent got much info thus far....

comments welcome....
buck

 

[pargent]

ok from what i can find on the subject, the most commonly available powders avialable would have been eq. to 1f &2f. this is for pre 1800.you could use finds or 2f for priming .

 

[Zonie]

I'll admit I haven't heard about the British soldiers using a small priming horn when loading a Brown Bess.

I've only heard of them setting the cock at half-cock, opening the frizzen, taking the paper cartridge and tearing the paper on the powder end of it, pouring some of the powder into the flash pan and closing the frizzen, pouring the rest of the cartridge powder down the bore and then ramming the ball, with paper still attached, down the bore on top of the powder charge.
The lock was then brought from half-cock to full cock making the gun ready to fire.**

** For the newcomers to Flintlocks:
This was a Military method used for rapid fire where a few 'field injuries' from accidental discharges were accepted as just a part of war. It is highly unsafe to prime the pan and close the frizzen before loading the barrel on a Flintlock.
Modern Flintlock shooters generally agree that the hammer (cock) should be in the fired position with the frizzen open while charging the barrel.

 

[Elnathan]

so the question is, for the period of mid 1700, to be period correct, what is the main charge/ primer.
im trying to dial in period correct but havent got much info thus far....

comments welcome....
buck

The general consensus of the reenacting community is yes, they primed from the main horn. I don't believe that there are any records of priming powder being sold in the colonies.
There is some very limited evidence for priming horns in Europe, but nothing in an American context.