Recently, Musketman sent me some screens to experiment with sifting powder. I gave it a try and thought I'd post some initial impressions. I took 4 guns out to test with. A T/C Patriot pistol in .45 percussion, a T/C Seneca in .45 percussion, an Austin & Halleck Mountain Rifle in flint, and the same gun in percussion.
I sifted 3F Goex to remove fines and larger grains. I used the fines as priming powder. As expected, I noticed no difference in priming performance between the fines and regular 3F.
Using the sifted 3F, I tried some of the same charge weights that I had used before. I didn't have time to work up new loads, so all I could do was compare groups to known loads.
I'm still getting used to shooting a flintlock, so the groups still aren't as tight as I'd like, and I noticed no improvement using the sifted powder.
I did notice somewhat smaller groups using the percussion A/H. When a shot strayed from the group, it wasn't as far as before. It could be that I'm getting more used to the rifle, or it could be that there is more consistency in velocity.
Unfortunately, my chrono was still out on loan so I didn't get to test velocities, but that'll be next. This was just a plinking session to see if there were noticeable differences.
As for the Thompsons, I didn't notice any accuracy difference with the Seneca. The gun is more accurate than I am, so if there was an improvement, my skills didn't allow me to take advantage of it.
Where the difference was most noticeable was in the Patriot. Even off the bench, I would always get some vertical stringing in the group at 25 yards. It's an accurate gun and the groups are tight, but always larger in the vertical. The groups shot with sifted 3F are round. No vertical stringing. While the actual group size is about the same, probably limited by the shooter rather than the gun, the overall size of the group shrunk due to the reduction in vertical stringing.
When I get my chrono back and have more time, I'm going to try and do some more formal testing for standard of deviation, group size of sifted vs. unsifted side by side, etc. The results look promising, but mostly it's just a heckuva lotta fun to do.
I sifted 3F Goex to remove fines and larger grains. I used the fines as priming powder. As expected, I noticed no difference in priming performance between the fines and regular 3F.
Using the sifted 3F, I tried some of the same charge weights that I had used before. I didn't have time to work up new loads, so all I could do was compare groups to known loads.
I'm still getting used to shooting a flintlock, so the groups still aren't as tight as I'd like, and I noticed no improvement using the sifted powder.
I did notice somewhat smaller groups using the percussion A/H. When a shot strayed from the group, it wasn't as far as before. It could be that I'm getting more used to the rifle, or it could be that there is more consistency in velocity.
Unfortunately, my chrono was still out on loan so I didn't get to test velocities, but that'll be next. This was just a plinking session to see if there were noticeable differences.
As for the Thompsons, I didn't notice any accuracy difference with the Seneca. The gun is more accurate than I am, so if there was an improvement, my skills didn't allow me to take advantage of it.
Where the difference was most noticeable was in the Patriot. Even off the bench, I would always get some vertical stringing in the group at 25 yards. It's an accurate gun and the groups are tight, but always larger in the vertical. The groups shot with sifted 3F are round. No vertical stringing. While the actual group size is about the same, probably limited by the shooter rather than the gun, the overall size of the group shrunk due to the reduction in vertical stringing.
When I get my chrono back and have more time, I'm going to try and do some more formal testing for standard of deviation, group size of sifted vs. unsifted side by side, etc. The results look promising, but mostly it's just a heckuva lotta fun to do.
