I bought a pan primer, it doesn’t work very well with 3f so I use a small flask used for pistols filled with 3f
Can you us 3f certainly, even 2f will work. At the last world championships (factory teams) Flinters were priming with 6f. Personally myself and others use a marble mortor and pistol available at a kitchen supply ($15) to grind 4f to about 5f or so. Yes it is only minutely faster detectable in slow mo, but in heavy humidity will gum up. Is it historically correct absolutely no. So it depends on how serious a person is hitting a target or a bird If using a shotgun. So there’s a pro and con. Doc,
You mean what do we use to dispense 3f powder into the pan? My small priming horn with a stoppered mouth will do it. My large Horn will do it, too, but it pours too much powder too fast and care is needed to avoid dumping powder all over the place. Those plunger primers which dispense a set amount of powder are made for 4f and, like short starters, I doubt they were common equipment, if they even existed back in the day! I have been considering the purchase of a small mortar and pestle to turn my 3f into finer powder. for match shooting. But 3f works fine for everything else.
I use one of those spring loaded chargers too - mostly for serious target work! I have noticed that they tend to clog easily, especially on humid days! Never had that happen with my stoppered horn and 3f powder.
I suspect that as long as you get good hot sparks, and plenty of them, the only way to tell any difference between powders would be with a chronograph! But, as you say, "at the bench is another story!" There you want every advantage - real or perceived!
Just use the 3Fg powder for both. Yes 4Fg is finer and burns very slightly faster, but you have to have scientific instruments on hand to detect the difference in speed. Another problem with 4Fg is that it absorbs moisture and turns into goo in the pan more quickly than 3f. So humidity and of course rain are harder to deal with.
For almost 20-years now I have only used 3F powder to charge the pan and as the main charge for both of my .50 caliber longrifles.
Sure, you can do it. Some shooters on the forum use 3fg to prime often. I've done it on occasion myself when I've left my priming horn at home. So it works.
I've used 1fg in the pan of my King's Musket. Worked great. But then the Brown Bess was designed to work with all grades of powder. I don't recommend such coarse powder for all flintlocks. Since @oncewas was asking about powder dispensers, discussion about powder grades is way off topic. I'll stand by my earlier posts.
