Caplock

[Uncle Russ]

Storm, Thank you for the good advice. I have decided to go ahead and order some black powder online. Has anyone used the powder from Graf and Sons?

We do have a member here (ShadowHawk) that has recently bought some powder from Graf & Sons, but I can't recall if his last order was for Goex or their "Store Brand". Maybe he will see this post and chime in.

I have read, and heard others say, that Goex may be a little better, but even that would be splitting some pretty fine hairs, according to what I hear....I have no personal experience with their store brand, but I have shot-up several hundred pounds of Goex since they moved to La and I can assure you that Goex is good.

I have 2# of Swiss FFFg sitting over in Olympia, if I can ever get over the mountain to get it. But.....I was saying that same thing about this time last year and I still haven't picked it up.
Actually, I have been 'bitting-at-the-bit' to shoot some Swiss Powder, but from what I just told you, you'd never believe it.

All the fella's posting have given you some good advice about using real black powder instead of the substitutes.
The fact of the matter is, you can spend a ton of money playing around with all the faux powders and never get much farther than 2nd., or maybe 3rd. base.
To know what your Muzzleloader will really do, you simply gotta have real black powder, and short of ordering it, it is getting more scarce than Hen's Teeth to find.


Uncle Russ...

[snake eyes]

To know what your Muzzle loader will really do, you simply gotta have real black powder, and short of ordering it, it is getting more scarce than Hen's Teeth to find.

       UncleRuss,
                       Hen's teeth,really!!!!Had a great dinner the other night at a high end
joint and that was on the menu.Also had deep fried chicken feet.Now there is a real good snack!
John

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Snake Eyes , if you go back to that joint again , get some of those "hens teeth" in a doggie bag and sen them to me .Been looking for some to finish up a necklace . :hey-hey

[snake eyes]

BTW,
       I have used Grafs powder with no complaints...I did find it a bit dirtier
than Goex,but cleanup is about the same. I tried it a couple of years ago.I
believe it is made for Grafs by Wano the German powder Co.
      I returned to GOEX just because. Sometimes Grafs has some good
buys on their house brand though.
John

[Carolina Joe]

Yes, I noticed that they do have a good deal on their brand of powder. Maybe I'll try it.

[Gordon H.Kemp]

OOOOPPS    

[Carolina Joe]

Fellas, I have been out shooting the rifle with Pyrodex and it shot pretty good at 50 yards. I will be getting some real black powder for her real soon. My question is that some guys use FFG and some guys use FFFG. Is there that much of a difference between the two grades?

[greyhunter]

Most will say ffg  for 50 cal and above. I have found fffg to foul less, and on the plus side can be used in the pan of a flinter as well as the main charge. As I use a 54 and a 62 mostly for deer I use ffg more than fffg. Mark your horns/flasks well as to what is in them. BTW some may say it is sacrilege to use other than real bp, but the pyrodex and 777 will usually fire reliably in a caplock, and if that's all ya got, that's all ya got, don't sweat it. Use them measured by volume just as black powder and clean them before you put them or yerself to bed. I prefer the real stuff, but when a local wally world put their pyrodex on close out for 2 bucks a pound, I scooped the shelf clean and didn't shed a tear. Nothing like emergency reserves and I have rifles that aint particular. Have fun, shoot often, and enjoy your smoke pole! Regards GH.

[Sir Michael]

I shoot fffg in my .62 cal (20 bore) Rifle.  I shoot ffg in my 20 bore (.62 cal) trade gun and 12 bore shotgun.  fffg is a bit hotter than ffg consensus is about 10%.  I don't see what charge you ended up with after working up your load.  It will be different with black powder.  The previous advice by several here should be used with the black powder as well.  Don't start with the old load, the powders are too different.

An interesting bit of historical information if you're interested, traditionally 1/3 the weight of the ball being shot was the recommended load of powder.  For a .490 ball that weighs about 180 gr that would be 60 gr of powder.  

Today we demand much greater and consistent performance that what was traditionally required by the average shooter.

[Carolina Joe]

Sir Michael, and Greyhunter thank you for the advice. Here in El Paso there is no one who stocks Black Powder. I will have to order some online. I do have a stock pile back in North Carolina. But being in the military its hard to get back home. Maybe in the fall when I take some leave I will get my black powder and will surely buy a lot more so I do have this problem for a long time to come. Thank again.

[TallTexan]

There can be a big difference as far as accuracy goes, all depending on the rifle in question.  It may or may not make a difference in yours and that's the fun of shooting muzzle loaders, you just have to see for yourself what each one does it's best with.  I have a .54 rifle and it just has poor accuracy if I use 3f of any brand in it but 2f gives me great groups.  For a 50 caliber I would start with 3f though, working up in 5 grain increments until your groups get nice and tight.

[Carolina Joe]

Thanks TT, I'll have to see load the rifle prefers.

[Captchee]

Im sure if you get with one of the local BP clubs , they will have someone who sells BP  somewhere near you .
ridjrunr is down that way and im thinking he  uses true Black . Maybe he will chime in here  or you could send him a PM .

As to what others have said .
 Yes you can shoot pyro and t7 in your cap lock . It can some times be finicky to ignite but  it will work .
 I would also agree with  Bp being better .

As to comical. The idea that a conical must have a fast twist to stabilize is pretty much a  generalization based on modern center fire  bullet designs  combined with extreme accuracy at  distances .
 If a person spends alittle time  working up a load and finding the correct conical that your rifle likes , it will shoot them just fine and give accuracy needed for hunting .
 Many  of the original muskets  that were designed to shoot the Minie  bullet had very slow twists  in the 1 in 100+ range .  Those like the Enfield and Springfield rifles  that later had improved twists  applied to their rifling , still did not  in most cases go past a 1 in 62 or 1 in 72 .
 The key is finding a  properly designed conical  for your application

[Carolina Joe]

You guys can see my rifle under the post Pics of Lulu.