2f vs 3f

[Salty]

Howdy ML shooters, for the same weight of 2f and 3f powder with PLRBs, which burns faster, has more muzzle velocity and flatter trajectory?

[Ohio Joe]

Salty,

3fg burns faster because of the smaller grains. As far as trajectory, much depends on the powder charge used,,, and as usual other things come into play - such elevation and humidity of where you are shooting.   

[Bigsmoke]

Hi Salty,
Good question.  As Joe said, for a given powder charge, Fffg gives you more bang for the buck, due to the smaller grain size.
With all that said, I recall back in the days when I started shooting these things.  I got started on Fffg as that was what was available at the time.  Then one of the top shooters in the club told me that for a .54, I really should be shooting Ffg, as it was a slower burning powder and it would give me better accuracy and it would not stress the gun so much.  I took his advice and over the years, I did become a pretty accurate shooter.
However, some pretty good shooters that I have known have shot exclusively Fffg powder and did well.  I don't know, it is probably a case of YMMV and is a Ford better than a Chevy and what do you think works best for you?
In later years, what I found worked best for me was GOEX cartridge grade powder.  It seems to burn a bit cleaner than Ffg.
John (Bigsmoke)

[Winter Hawk]

What has been said.  Under .50 caliber, the standard thinking is to use FFFg, while .50 and over use FFg.

Having said that, my first muzzleloader was a Colt 1851 replica I bought in 1968, and the guy I got it from included a tin of caps and a can of FFg DuPont.  I didn't learn until later that that was not the proper powder, but hey, it made a mighty flash, a cloud of smoke and the ball actually flew out to hit a target.  I was hooked!  And it's been downhill ever since....

~Kees~

[Ohio Joe]

Years ago I did some testing with Goex 2fg in my; .40 caliber percussion rifle & .45 flintlock rifles (which I also primed with 2fg), and I was surprised how well it worked.

The above testing lead me to trying some old Meter 1fg black powder (I had picked up years ago at our ML State Shoot) - along with 4fg Prime - and surprisingly, it also worked very well... (I was shooting lite charges) since I figured the fouling would be awful, and the lite charges worked very well in the .40 & .45 calibers, and really didn't require anymore swabbing (after every third shot). I was pleasantry surprised! Now with the above said, I do live in a low "humidity" area, so fouling is not as serious as if I lived in a "humid" area.