Just curious as to what powder(s) you use in rifles, smoothbores and pistols. I got into the habit long, long ago of using 3f for everything. It simplified it all and worked out very well. I always tried to keep a small supply of 4F for prime and a bit of 2f for particular uses.
What about everyone else? What grades of black powder and what grades of subs are used by you all?
I use 3fff for everything 50 cal and under, and as primer. my .54 I use 2ff. Of course for Mighty Bruce (the cannon) I use a cannon grind which I guess would come out to -2ff.
Long, long ago before all the ice melted, leaving us the Great Lakes, piles of boulders and the Chalupa thingy that sucks goats; I had to buy my powder locally one can at a time. I carried home whatever he had in the vault, 2F, 3F. I used them interchangeably in my rifle and didn't know any better. I was satisfied as long as the gun went bang at the pull of the trigger.
I actually hit some of the things I aimed at. Though it was a .58 I killed squirrels with both minie and prb (my preference). I never thought to use it for deer. ucrzy
I cast ALL my ammo from scrounged lead so shooting was fairly cheap. This was good because I'm cheap, always have been. I tended to hang around weird people..........or, as I've overheard, "why do they hang around this really weird guy"? It got worse and worse so that now I have flintlocks scattered all around.
My Zuove musket prefers 2f but doesn't always get it. Everything else gets 3f no matter what the caliber is.
Do I use 3f in my 54, 58 and 62? Yes and it works fine because I'm not hunting elephants with them, just targets and deer or elk.
After a few years the Zouave got sold/lent/gifted/ it just got gone. About 20 years ago I replaced it with a US M1841 in .54; this jewel is here to stay. It's killed deer, is extremely accurate and well made. But it weighs 10.5 lbs.
(https://i.ibb.co/8Bx9KvY/DSC00377.jpg)
Note:
I don't hesitate to switch powder brands except if it is really old because some of the old stuff is either "hotter" or sometimes simply not very good quality. Last weekend another shooter was trying to use some old stuff that he had been given and it would barely work at all. I don't remember what brand it was but I didn't recognize it.
In the interest of full transparency, I don't actually use commercial powder. I'm not allowed to say how or why, but I make my own powder grinds. I have sifting screens in different sizes that give me powder that looks real close to factory powder grinds. (susp)
Well, as long as it looks like 2f, 3f or 4f it will do.
Quote from: Hanshi on April 30, 2024, 07:55:55 PM
Well, as long as it looks like 2f, 3f or 4f it will do.
And goes bang when you need it to. one of the guys at the sprng rendezvous had some that didn't. I don't know what it was except that it was in a black can and DID NOT look like
the old Elephant brand. I used Elephant brand when it was available and never had a problem with it. I did always use 3f and I was told that their 2f was a little dirtier and a tiny
bit slower than GOEX.
Back from the dead...............
I bought a lot of Goexx a number of years ago, a split between 2ff and 3ff. Use the 3ff in pistol and anything under 45.