Priming with main charge powder

[Black Hand]

Larger granulations appear less susceptible to moisture.

 

[Gene L]

OK, that makes sense, I guess. Around GA, it rains averages from a high of 80" in Pine Mountain to an average of about 60.2" most other places. So rain's not a problem, although this isn't the desert.

 

[Zonie]

No. I guess Georgia isn't a desert.

Phoenix, located in the Sonora desert gets about 8 inches of rain per year !

 

[BrownBear]

No. I guess Georgia isn't a desert.

Phoenix, located in the Sonora desert gets about 8 inches of rain per year !

Ah man, that sounds good about now. We got 39" between January 1 and May 1, and I don't know how much since. We're never happy, are we? :wink:

Our biggest day in recent times was 9" in one afternoon/evening, so that's the official count. But since storms can't read clocks, this one just kept on going, dumping 4" more between midnight and the next noon for a total of 13" from that one storm measured from one noon to the next. Yeah, houses were sliding off mountains and mountains were sliding onto road by that time.

In all my field time in the rain, fog and high humidity, the biggest challenge with prime comes in hunts with lots of shooting. One-shot hunts for deer are no big deal- easy as pie in comparison. But try to string together 20 or 30 shots in a morning or afternoon of small game hunting, and you'll learn more about prime, fouling and coal soup than you ever wanted to know.

 

[Heelerau]

I only prime with my main charge, fffg, in my long rifles but my mate primes with ffg in his old Brown Bess, and that works fine.

 

[SgtErv]

My rifle does better with 3F than 4F as far as ignition consistency goes. I'm experimenting with 2F tomorrow in the main charge and have gotten used to priming with my main horn. (Sorta. Some primes are bigger than others lol).

Deluxe Siler lock is pretty forgiving, of course. WV stays at around 50% humidity in summer. Hoping 2F does well

 

[reddfreeman]

Here's the links to Larry Pletcher's published work on flintlock timing.
http://www.blackpowdermag.com/flintlock-timing-muzzleblast-january-1990/
http://www.blackpowdermag.com/flintlock-timing-part-2-muzzleblast-1992/
http://www.blackpowdermag.com/flintlock-timing-part-3-muzzleblast-1992/

 

[reddfreeman]

And here's the one dealing specifically with priming powder.
http://www.blackpowdermag.com/priming-powder-timing/

 

[Gene L]

Interesting. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Commodore Swab]

A few pictures . . .

The first FFFF, the second FF with flashguard (NPS rules), and the third cannon with flashguard. There was noticeable difference between the cannon and FF, and the flashguard resulted in more debris on my face.

 

[MSW]

this guy is having way more fun than the law allows!

 

[mparker762]

I have primed with 2f and 3f and it works ok, but I prefer to make my priming powder by lightly grinding (small) amounts of 2f or 3f in a wooden mortar, the result is a mix of granulations ranging from fine dust up to 2f(3f). This lights off in the pan with more authority than 4f, and seems to be as humidity resistant as the original powder. My suspicion is the first property is because the milling creates extremely fine granules that aren't coated in graphite, and the second property is because there are still some intact large granules to resist the humidity.

 

[kopfjaeger]

I don't use 2F, but I do use 3F for both.

 

[Tom Compton]

I don't use the same powder to prime with as what's in the main charge because I don't use 4F or 7F for the main charge.

 

[Gene Perryman]

Shot my Rebuilt-JB today. When I started shooting the flint had already been shot 25 times and I shot 10 more times. I used 2F in the gun and pan. All 10 shots were fast, but #2 was so fast it completely caught me off guard !!
I very rarely use 4F anymore. I only carry the small priming flask incase I dry ball one of my rifles.....

 

[Ohio Joe]

I've tried both 2f and 3f as priming powder in different flintlocks of mine with 2f and 3f loads and find they both work just fine.

However, since I have two plus pounds of 4f for priming I doubt I'll be changing to just one horn anytime soon.

I'll also add that the idea of just one horn is very appealing and someday perhaps I'll get there. :hatsoff:

 

[bangfxr]

My flinter musket, rifle and pistol use .54 cal RB and 75 gr of 2F powder. I follow Gen'l Scott's manual of arms and step 4 is prime from cartridge. When I close the pan I automaticaly put on the stall before loading. AS F&IW to early ACW horns and flasks are NOT allowed on the field for safety concerns. Gen'l Scott based his drills on utilitarian use and threw out all the unnessary steps that where adheared to by European armies of the time.