Priming Powder

[Bill Bryan]

I've drilled out the vent to 5/64's on my flintlock and it is almost self priming with 3f. I add a touch of 4f at the firing line. When I've run out of 4f in the past the 3f I use for the charge works fine.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

I shoot a lot I reckon, every chance I get unless it is over 100 degrees! I use about a pound of 4F a year in all of my shooting. I have several large muskets and rifles that have large pans to fill. I could load a squirrel gun with the powder it takes to prime my 1st Model Bess, Dreadnought.
You ought to see how much 4F it takes to prime Ole Dreadnought on a 20 shot trail walk! :wink:

 

[roundball]

I shoot a lot I reckon, every chance I get unless it is over 100 degrees! I use about a pound of 4F a year in all of my shooting. I have several large muskets and rifles that have large pans to fill. I could load a squirrel gun with the powder it takes to prime my 1st Model Bess, Dreadnought.
You ought to see how much 4F it takes to prime Ole Dreadnought on a 20 shot trail walk! :wink:

I use a can of 4F about every 15-16 months...pan primer with a plunger tip dispenses 3grns of 4F every time...when I order a case of Goex I've been getting 1 can of 4F and 24 cans of 3F...works out pretty close

 

[bart_anastasi]

I always use a TC priming tool with 4f powder which measures around 2.5 gr.

Different guns are going to like diferent charges I expect.

If you fill the pan to much you spark has to burn down to flash hole slowing down you ignition.

I also try to stay away from anything but 4F powder for a couple of reasons.

1. Most important.
4f powder is made with three(3) ingredints carbon, sulfur, saltpeter
2F & 3F have a fourth(4) powdered Graphate which is added to help the powder pour better.

Powdered Graphite is the most effective mineral lube in nature and is used reduce friction in locks for example.

2. When you use 2F or 3F and shoot a lot the graphite will start to coat the flint and the frizzen on your rifle. If you shoot white agate flints like I do you can see the flint after a few shots looks like it has been sprayed with glossy black paint.

I just do not think vaporized hot graphite on the lock and flint is to cool a idea.

3. 4F burns hotter and faster which should speed up your ignition. You could expect a 1 second added delay to shooting 2F and a half second additional delay to shooting 3F over what you can get with 4f. (more or less.

4. 4F is cheap when you think about it. If there are 7000 grains of powder in a pound can and you prime with 2 grains that is over 3,000 shots. per pound.

5. 4F will lite off strongly even if you get a weak spark on ocassion. The stuff just begs to burn.

6. Most priming tools are I think designed to measure 4F powder. When I tried 3F in the tool things just seemed to jam up a bit as to a regular charge.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

**SNIP***

3. 4F burns hotter and faster which should speed up your ignition. You could expect a 1 second added delay to shooting 2F and a half second additional delay to shooting 3F over what you can get with 4f. (more or less.

***SNIP***

Hi Bart,

You make lots of good points, but what were you thinking when you wrote #3??? :bull:

1/2 a second for 3 f??? a full second for 2f?? Obviously you haven't a clue about using either to prime. I use 3f for main charge AND as the prime in my two 50 cal longrifles, and have done so for the last 4 years. Personal experience for me is that a properly loaded (below the flash hole and to the outside of the pan) 3f prime is virtually instantaneous. There is no perceived delay. Yes, the actual delay can be measured and tests have been run to do so, but the difference is about .02 of a second. I'd like to see anybody discern a .02 of a second difference without scientific measuring equipment.

A Rev War reenactment unit I field with uses Reenactor powder from Schuetzen for reenactments. This stuff has a wide variety or granule sizes in it and according to Schuetzen is equivalent to aobut 1f (granule size 1.6mm). The stuff fouls like crazy, but there is no problem igniting it and no perceptual delay in using it UNLESS you overload the pan, (covering the flash hole) which will give you a fuse effect delay with any powder.

One disadvantage of using 4f is that it turns into soup pretty quickly in humid or wet conditions. It absorbs water pretty quickly. The dreaded graphite your refer that is used in 2f and 3f helps prevent that absorption, which is why it's not so apparent with either of them. Humidity may not be a consideration where you are, but in Virginia, the Carolinas, and throughout most of the south, humidity is a fact of life during the summer and can be a real problem for us.

So, I for one am not interested in using 4f as a prime. I just don't see the need for it. 3f works great for me and my two rifles, and I certainly don't need to carry any more gear around.

If you like to use 4f as prime, knock yourself out - to each his own. Half of the fun of this BP stuff is figuring out what works best for your rifle and what YOU enjoy doing. But please stay away from crazy statements about using powders you obviously have no experience using. All it does is cause confusion for people just starting out.

Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:

 

[shmrck1]

Chris,
I only own one F/L,a Lyman.50cal GPR. Although
I have used 4ffff Goex as prime, in order to
keep everything simple and down to one powder.
I currently use nothing but 3fff goex as a prime
and charge and never had a problem.I am thinking
of opening up the sleve by 1/64,but not till
I experience an ignition problem.I don't shoot
F/L a lot, maybe 50/60 times a year.So my prime
thoughts might not be a typical. :hmm:
snake-eyes