Will patch lube "weaken" powder charge?

[roundball]

"...a lot of people will say 4F in the pan will turn to slop in humid conditions..."

I've use Goex 4F prime exclusively for 10 years and my experience is consistent as follows:

When hunting in damp / high humidity conditions, my 4F in the pan begins to 'cake up'...get a skin on the top of the prime similar to the skin on top of a cake out of the oven...in as little as 20-30 minutes depending on the degree of humidity, and I refresh it as soon as it no longer slides freely back and forth across the pan;

When shooting at the range in damp / high humidity conditions, my 4F fouling in the pan becomes glistening wet, turning to soup (slop) in just the minute it takes for me to reload and get ready to reprime the lock.

For my range trips here during the humid spring and summer months an old washcloth is as important as powder & ball, so I can routinely wipe the pan clean and dry after every shot to avoid fouling the next load of prime.

People who live and shoot in dry climate / low humidity conditions wouldn't have that problem.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have seen the powder residue in a pan turn to soup! In really humid conditions, it can take as little as 10-15 minutes.Not, dry powder, that is coated in Graphite to prevent this happening- but POWDER RESIDUE!

Wipe your pan after any firing thoroughly with a patch with alcohol on it, to clean and DRY the pan. Only then do you want to recharge the pan with fresh powder. And, consider using whatever powder goes down your barrel for priming the gun in those conditions. The larger granule size will stay dry much better, and ignites fast enough that you won't hear the difference from the speed of igniting 4Fg priming powder.

Also, dry the underside and top of the flint and **** jaws, and also both the face of the frizzen and the underside of the frizzen with alcohol to dry them as well.

 

[Vaino]

I've once had 4f turn to "soup" when the pan wasn't cleaned from the previous shot and the humidity was very high. Again I mention that even if the powder in contact w/ a lubed patch is "wetted", I don't think that it would affect the POI if the charge was from a volume measure. Has anybody ever weighed the charges from a volume measure? I have and the variance can be more than the powder that's possibly lost because of lube wetting the powder adjacent to the patch. Again, from a practical standpoint, it doesn't amount to a hill of beans...Fred

 

[Semisane]

Roundball: When shooting at the range in damp / high humidity conditions, my 4F fouling in the pan becomes glistening wet, turning to soup (slop) in just the minute it takes for me to reload and get ready to reprime the lock.

.

Paul: I have seen the powder residue in a pan turn to soup! In really humid conditions, it can take as little as 10-15 minutes.

Down here in Southeastern Louisiana my experience is like Roundball's - pan fouling is black soup before you're finished loading the next round. Wiping the pan and flint is standard procedure for each shot. The only time I can go 10-15 minutes as Paul states is from October through March. During the Spring and Summer, I need a washcloth on the bench to wipe the pan and a towel on my shoulder to wipe my bald head, ear muffs and eyes between each shot. It's not so humid that you need a snorkel though. :haha:

 

[jtmattison]

When shooting at the range in damp / high humidity conditions, my 4F fouling in the pan becomes glistening wet, turning to soup (slop) in just the minute it takes for me to reload and get ready to reprime the lock.

I have definitely seen that. BP residue/fouling is hygroscopic. However, I have not ever seen Goex 4F react to humidity in the absence of residue/fouling. Maybe I just haven't left it sitting long enough.

HD

 

[ohio ramrod]

I was skimming through a 1981 copy of 'Muzzle Blasts' magazine just now. An article therein alluded to the possibility of a roundball's patch lube
weakening the powder it sits on. I have only skimmed the article to this point. I have wondered in the past if Bore Butter or other lubes would in fact leach into the powder charge and thus weaken it (to whatever degree). Would a rifle loaded with prb's for a few day's, or less (as on a hunt) have it's charge deadened a bit from the lube "leaching" into the powder. What say you? All opinions and commentary appreciated as always!!!!

Skychief.

This is exactly why I started putting a dry patch between the powder and the lubed patch and ball many years ago. I started doing this when I started shooting lubed mini's for deer hunting and I have found that it helps with prb as well.This is especially true if you use a low powder charge as I do for targets, with a heavily lubed patch.

 

[hanshi]

I've left them (guns) loaded for weeks with a grease patch and they fired just fine. With water based lubes they're fired in a short period of time. I use over powder wads as a precaution most of the time.

BP residue is hygroscopic but bp itself isn't, at least to any real degree. If your gun's been fired and it's humid it's the bp residue that attracts the moisture. Also steel will condense moisture regardless whether or not powder is in the pan.

 

[Dphar]

I have seen posts where the shooter evidently believes that since BP is highly Hydroscopic (the right word? ) that powder left loaded in the gun will result in corrosion. However, unburned powder does not present that problem.

It's actually hygroscopic. You are correct. Unburnt powder normally doesn't present the problem. However, a lot of people will say 4F in the pan will turn to slop in humid conditions. I've never seen it happen.

HD

If made with pure potassium nitrate the powder will pick up little moisture from humidity and when the humidity drops the powder will air dry.
Think of powder stored below the water line in a ship at sea. Then ask how a ship keep its guns workable for months or more at a time if the powder sucked up moisture from the air.
Powder made with CONTAMINATED potassium nitrate, expecially with traces of SODIUM NITRATE is another matter.
Until not too long ago a major maker was being sold a lower grade of PN under the guise of pure PN.
If HUMIDITY is turning powder to goop then something is going on. If it turned to goo in the pan it would do the same thing in the powder horn/flask eventually.

Dan