Swiss Powder??

[Zonie]

During the Western Nationals held here in Arizona I bought a container of Swiss FFFg Powder.
If you knew me, you would understand the visible tremble that went thru my body when I peeled off $15 for a pound of it.

I had read all of the comments made on this forum about Swiss Powders high quality and this is what drove me to pay twice the price of Elephant powder.
When I got it home, I was somewhat dismayed to find it had clumped up in the container and had to be broken up before loading it into my powder horn.

Today, I decided to load up my .45 caliber Lancaster and see this wonder powder in action. This gun has a Siler flintlock on it.

Now I have been shooting flintlocks for about 30 years, and I have used old Dupont, new GOEX and new Elephant powder with fair success during these years but I always had to wet wipe the bore after 5 to 7 shots. If I failed to do this, seating the ball became a real hassle! I think the lack of humidity here has something to do with this but I always assumed that was just a part of the game.
I also always had at least 2 (sometimes more) out of 15 shots which were flashes in the pan.

Today, I fired over 30 rounds without wiping once! There were no flashes in the pan and only one delayed (about 1/16 second) shot. The gun truly fired before I could see the pan flash!
The pan after firing looked clean as a whistle!

The guy I bought the powder from told me I would need to reduce the load 10% but being the type of person who needs to find out for himself, I loaded the normal 50 grains. Well, I guess he was right. All shots at 50 yards with this load were about 2 inches high.

After shooting this Swiss Powder, I think I will have to force myself to use up the remaining Elephant powder I have in my .58 cal rifled Civil War style guns. Then again, I guess I will need to keep some of it for the day I run out of the Swiss. It is almost 11 months before the Nationals come back and 1 pound isn't going to last that long for sure.

 

[Ohio Joe]

"Zonie",,, What did you prime with? Did you use the "Swiss", or other? I'm always on the lookout for powder that will work in our flinter's...

 

[Zonie]

I was priming with Elephant FFFFg. I've had good success with both 3F and 4F for priming, but as I have a pound of 4F and I don't have any tiny little things which would like to burn 4F as a main charge I will continue to use it just for priming.
I know I wouldn't want to waste this Swiss on something as mundane as pan priming.

 

Zonie:
Welcome to the wonderful world of Swiss!
I split a case of this stuff last year with a friend from Southern Ohio.
I was told to reduce charge by 20% and go up one grain size. But "know it all me" went ahead and loaded 100 grains of the stuff behind a roundball in my Lyman .54 flinter, and 3fg to boot!
Bad move. I have a slight "ring" where the ball was.
It happens that I had my Oehler chrono set up that that 100 grains of 3fg propelled the .54 roundball at over 1900 fps!
it also left as much crud behind as Elephant, so if not used properly it will foul.
I doubt this really hurt anything, but learned a lesson about Swiss. It's great stuff, but you have to use it as intended.
Swiss 3fg is best used in small bores, .45 and under. It's wonderful stuff, leaves almost no fouling at all.
No I'm told my someone who really knows black powder that you are better off using the Elephant 4fg as your prime powder.
Why?
The Swiss had a heavy graphite glaze, the Elephant does not. The Elephant actually makes a BETTER prime powder due to the fact that it's NOT as heavily glazed.
I dunno, but that's what I'm told by a bonified blackpower expert. This expert is THE man responsible for getting Schuetzen made and imported, so he knows black better than anyone I know.
He tells me that Swiss is going to import a special pan powder called Null-B that will leave almost NO residue in the pan at all.
IF I use the Swiss in my Jeager .58 I will load no more than 75 grains of Swiss 1.5g, not 2fg.
It is great in my Bedford flint .45, 3fg and no more than 60 grains. No fouling and very fast ignition, great accuracy. It ought to be the cats meow in the .40 and smaller bores in 3fg.
My next pruchase of powder will be a case of Schuetzen/Swiss mixed. The Maine Powder House is one place that will mix different brands and grain sizes to make up a case.

 

[Herb]

Some of my rifles give flashes in the pan, and I really don't know why. To cure it, I poke a probe (such as a feather quill)(or "vent pick") into the flash hole. This works. Maybe it is why some of the original users of muzzleloaders had flash hole pick holders or feathers (for picks) built into their rifles. It may be that a kernel of powder blocks the flash (hard to believe) and that a hole poked into the powder gives more surface area to ignite. I use 2F, 3F or 4F for pan powder. Like large flash holes, some drilled .080 with no liner. Can even prime from the barrel with 3F. Load the powder with frizzen closed, bump the lock area with the heel of my hand, load the ball, and maybe 8 times out of 10 the rifle is self primed enough to fire. Of course, have to open the pan to be sure. Usually use about .070 flash hole. A straight drilled hole can be "coned" on the inside by use of a round file or stone in a Dremel tool, of course with breech plug removed.

 

[Zonie]

Thanks for the heads up Maxiball.
I don't shoot heavy loads in my muzzleloaders but it is good to know that the Swiss is a different sort of creature.
When I go to the range, I usually use my muzzleloaders for light loads at paper targets. I also take one of my .45-70s to give me my ration of tenderized shoulder muscles.

Herb: I usually pick the vent before shooting, just before priming the pan. I got into this habit a long time ago and you are correct. It does reduce the number of flashes in the pan. Even so, the Elephant would still have them once in a while. The Swiss, as I said worked every time.

 

[Huntinfool]

I had the same experience as Maxiball. I bought all the Swiss 3f my club had they got it for almost the same price as Goex before Mountain State ML went out of business.
I got 8 cans at $8.50 a can!

It's just a more refined powder I use 4f Goex for prime but 3f Swiss also works great! And much easier to clean than any other powder I've used!
The Mainest Thing Is..
Keep Yer Powder Dry Fellers!
Chuck ::

 

Locally GOEX, when avaiable, is $32.00 CDN per lb. Sort of makes one think about moving South. But the hunting here is soooo good.
: I'll be driving through the States of Norh Dakota, prhaps into Minn., but Montana for certain in June. I'll be in Miles City and Boseman - can I get Swiss powder or GOEX in either of thoe cities??
Daryl

 

[Herb]

Daryl- Yes, you can get it all in Miles City, home to Western Powders. E-mail <[email protected]>. See www.westernpowders.com.