Traditional Muzzleloading on the Cheap

General Information => General Muzzleloading => Topic started by: Cherrybow1 on March 21, 2022, 08:35:35 PM

Title: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on March 21, 2022, 08:35:35 PM
I went out to break in my Nachez Poor Boy on Sunday. First shot from the bench was a bullseye! I thought i was good to go and proceeded to try off hand shooting with it, which turned out terrible pnic. Anyway, after 4 rounds through it I ran a spit patch down it and there was some heavy granular substance like sand on the patch. I also shot the same powder out of a Jukar Kentucky rifle and my 1858 revolver with the same results. The grains were red in color. Have any of you experience this in the past? It is a pretty old can of powder that i picked up at a gun show. I didn't think to take any pictures of the patches.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: beowulf on March 22, 2022, 01:05:05 AM
sounds like rust !
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: flintboomer on March 22, 2022, 10:22:07 PM
I have used old 3f powder in the past and never had a problem except that it gave me a little more velocity than I was used to and printed a little higher. Sometimes there was a little clumping of the powder but as long as the clumps were soft enough to break up easily it shot just fine.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Watauga on March 22, 2022, 10:49:24 PM
Cherrybow1,   [hmm] So does it look like normal Black-powder in the measure? Or is rust flaking off the inside of the can and getting in the powder?  pnic pnic
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Hanshi on March 23, 2022, 05:27:32 PM
The color suggests sulfur.   :mini-devil-28492:
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on March 23, 2022, 10:52:47 PM
Quote from: Watauga on March 22, 2022, 10:49:24 PM
Cherrybow1,   [hmm] So does it look like normal Black-powder in the measure? Or is rust flaking off the inside of the can and getting in the powder?  pnic pnic
That is a good thought. It looked normal, but then again, I wasn't looking at it that hard. I may try burning some on a clean metal surface and see what kind of residue is left behind.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on March 25, 2022, 12:43:18 AM
I did a little burn comparison with the powder in question. It didn't show the residue that I found in the barrel but it did burn noticeably slower than the other 2 samples of fffg powder. Which is an old can of GOEX and a bottle of KIK. The KIK was obviously faster and easier to light so it went into the horn for the next round of shooting.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on March 31, 2022, 04:23:21 PM
Maybe this is just normal residue...here is patches with the same thing described but different powder.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: beowulf on March 31, 2022, 05:24:06 PM
interesting , I`ve seen rust on patches , but it looked nothing like that .
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Patocazador on March 31, 2022, 05:50:54 PM
Green color usually has something to do with copper. Are you using a bronze bristle brush to clean?
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: beowulf on March 31, 2022, 06:31:42 PM
Quote from: Patocazador on March 31, 2022, 05:50:54 PM
Green color usually has something to do with copper. Are you using a bronze bristle brush to clean?
I was thinking something similar , the new copper balls that are required in some areas now ! if it`s a used gun , it could be built up residue !
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on April 01, 2022, 12:29:46 AM
Brand new Colerain barrel. I haven't used anything but water and cotton patches when cleaning then a barricade moistened patch.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Cherrybow1 on April 01, 2022, 12:32:28 AM
Shooting hornady lead balls
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: beowulf on April 01, 2022, 09:11:11 AM
" and so the plot thickens ! "
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Hanshi on April 03, 2022, 09:18:50 PM
Indeed it does thicken... [hmm]

(https://i.ibb.co/p306ghn/hand-holding-homemade-toy-called-600w-1044966544.webp)
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: flintboomer on November 27, 2022, 10:42:21 PM
I don't know if you ever came up with an answer for this, but someone at a match recently said that with the old powders if you had the load "just right" there would be a few little red dots in the fowling when you cleaned. That sounds a lot like what you had but I have no idea whether that theory is true since I never heard of it before and I don't remember seeing it myself.
Title: Re: Strange residue after shooting old hodgen fffg
Post by: Hanshi on November 28, 2022, 08:08:06 PM
I will not swear this is fact but the red dots are probably sulfur