4f or 3f for priming powder?

[jtwodogs]

4f or 3f for priming powder?
thanks

[Gambia]

I know this will sound stupid, But for the last 2 years I have been using 2FFG yep, thats what I said 2-FFG I can see no difference while shooting woods walks, seems as fast as the 4FFFFG I used to use and I can load and prime from the same horn.... But thats just me.

[Kermit]

4f, because I have yet to use up the can I bought a long time ago. When it's gone, I plan to use what's in the horn--either 3f or 2f--and see how that works.

[woodman]

I use what I have in the horn 2f  or 3f . Can't tell any difference myslf.
Woodman

[Uncle Russ]

4f, because I have yet to use up the can I bought a long time ago. When it's gone, I plan to use what's in the horn--either 3f or 2f--and see how that works.

Same story here...4Fg is definitely the Bryle Cream of gun powder.... "A little dab goes a long long way".

It takes forever to use a pound of 4Fg and a couple of years back I ended up with five pounds. Traded some off for2F & 3F, Loaned one, which is to be repaid in 3F, I have just about used one up and it looks like I still have a full pound left....so I'm in really good shape for prime.  

I have often primed straight from the horn, which contributes greatly to the extended life of my 4F priming powder, and has pretty much convinced me that 3Fg does just about as good a job a 4F...I don't think it's better, but it certainly does the job just about as well.

With me, the good thing is I can get rid of the 4F Primer charger.....
which seems to have no real good place to be when I'm shooting....
I don't like it around my neck and / or under my outer shirt.
I don't like it in my bag.
I don't like it in my pocket.
And, I don't like it on my bag strap.
I guess I should say I don't care for "stuff" hanging all off me while I'm shooting.

A bag and a horn is actually one item too many but, like many others, I make do. and actually manage them fairly well.
 
In fact, I've been thinking about no longer using the charger at all and no longer using a horn, just a bag on the left side (with a powder dispenser inside the bag) and my rifle on the right side.,,,currently that's somewhat reversed in the sense my bag is on the right, my horn is on the left, and I carry my gun right handed, while my "primer" is around my beck in front of me...

You would think somebody that has been doing this as long as I have would all those little details worked out by now....and I have worked them out, several times over in fact.
It's just that my thoughts and ideas change over the years, your's will too, in time......

Uncle Russ...

[biliff]

Most of the time I use 4F because I have it and it works for me.

However, if I don't have any for some reason (like forgetting to fill the priming flask) the 3F seems to work just as well.

[david32cal]

4f and will probably be using it for the rest of my days,seein' as i have five pounds of it.

[pathfinder]

I use 4f at shoots and 3f when hunting. 2+3f have a graphite coating which helps the hydroscopic nature of black powder,or so I'm told. See no difference between any of them from a practicule sense

[Loyalist Dave]

3Fg, 70 grains with a .530 round ball, and prime with the same.  One horn works best for me.  I did at one time try the 4Fg gig with a second horn, then switched to a little, spring loaded, brass dispenser..., well I was always messing about with the two horns, and the 4Fg would, on damp days (we got lots of fog where I used to hunt, on the Potomac River) it would turn to damp goo in the pan.  Might've been a poorly fitted frizzen, but switching to only 3Fg did fix the problem.  Have a newer rifle now..., haven't tried 4Fg since, so can't give you a better evaluation.  

 4Fg Makes good firecrackers though.  Also good in little single shot pistols, in say .31 caliber.  

LD

[jbullard1]

4f only because I have it
I am working on loading and priming from the same horn

[Trois Castors]

I use 4f hunting and target-shooting.
I use 3f in battle reenactments because that's
what's in the rolled paper cartridges.

[Roaddog]

I use 4F most of the time and like others here I have a lot of it. If it's damp and rainy I prime from the horn.

[Caddo]

Used 2f for years with no problems, now I have a 45 cal rifle and use 3f for everything.

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Like Russ , I don"t want anymore gadgets hanging loose then can be helped . I"ve never used 4ffff as a prime , the speed of the 3fff suits me fine, if there was a faster prime I don"t think I could tell the difference ? I"ve worked up 3fff loads for all my guns from .32 to .54 that kills paper very well and anything I hunt up to and including deer . I do use 2ff if thats what I have , but my nomel choice is 3fff . Both flinters light off with no big difference in speed then with the 3fff . My THs are on the large side and that may be why the 2ff sets off the main charge so fast ?

[Pete_Sheeran]

I seem to go through about 1/2 lb. of 4Fg per year.  Most the shooting I do is competition.  Only a couple of shots a year for hunting, one for deer and may be two for turkey.  I do check and re-fresh my prime while hunting as many as 5 times a day.  

I played around with lots of different priming, from 1Fg to 6Fg.  Yes, I got some 6 Fg at the Winter Nationals from the guy there that brings in a U-Haul of powder.  I did not find that it was any faster ignition.  It seemed to actually be a bit slower unless you mixed it 3Fg or 4Fg.  That got me to wondering why?  I suspect that the supper fine 6Fg had a higher component of graphite, which is what the "g" in Fg stands for.  I had also used 3Fg with very good results.  And 2Fg and even 1Fg will work (and quite well) if you over fill your pan and crush it with the frizzen/pancover!  I have found that when you do that in a damp environment, your pan is more prone to "goo" up.  The main reason for tumbling the powder in the manufacture with graphite, is to make it less hydroscopic, or less prone to "goo".

Don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself.    Pete

P.S. Why didn't I try 5Fg?  They didn't have any.