I have sifted FFg powder to remove " fines " and then sifted the fines to remove FFFg powder from what is left. The residue becomes priming powder for my flintlocks. Sifting the powder produces more uniform granules, and I found a noticable difference in the amount of residue remaining in the barrel. The FFg seems to burn more uniformly, giving a lower SDV, and is as easly to clean from the barrel as FFFg powder is. I was not expecting the latter, and was truly surprised. Surprised enough to clean the gun and then shoot a series of shots using FFFg powder again, to make sure m memory was not playing tricks on me.
Recently, my brother an I screened a new can of GOEX powder and found almost no fines at all. We were very impressed. I think the new GOEX plant in La. is doing a better job of screening powders, probably because the company is now offering Cartridge Grade powder for the very discerning BP cartridge Silhouette Shooting crowd. When you are a small company, and you decide to introduce better quality control to reach a niche market, it just doesn't make sense to do it for one small line of powder, and not for all the powders.
I could be wrong about this, but compared to some of the older GOEX powder we have screened, the new stuff is very good right out of the can. Pete screen his first pound of Swiss powder, and found it to be very uniform. We have no experience yet with Wano, or other black powders.
