I'm gonna get blasted for this. Especially because I have never tried anything other than 4F for priming. I can see where one powder for both is convenient, and I believe those testament about it working, and I'm all for it in an emergency, but WHY NOT USE WHAT IS BEST? Why not prime with 4F? If 4F might make for faster ignition, why not use it? It certainly cannot be slower.
Okay, don't get upset, but I say further that NOT using 4F in the pan actually does slow ignition, even if not perceptible to the shooter.
"Whatever works" is a lazy man's mindset, which makes little sense because flint shooters are anything but lazy. The care they take with loading and firing is more involved than any other kind of shooting perfectionist. That care is further filtered and fueled by historical accuracy, their best and improving techniques, justification for the right and privilege of carrying and using those guns that flicker in and out of our fantasies of being born too late, the recognition of American freedom and its costs, and the gorgeous rifles of that era lost to humanity if not for us, and the thousand other facts of being "alive" in otherwise lost ages.
So, I prime with ffff. I don't reckon my 18th century persona is all that accurate. But every year I improve something toward that goal. 4F is just one of those steps toward shooting as well as possible, but still knowing those hunting our nation then probably primed with less precise granulations.
