Nothing stirs up a good debate like asking which powder is the best. To simplify I'll start with "real" black powder and then talk about substitutes.
Real Blackpowder:
Basically all blackpowder is the same stuff, its mostly charcoal with potassium nitrate and sulfur. It explodes rather than burning like smokeless powder does but produces relatively low pressure. The 4 cans on the left side of the picture all contain real black powder. The differences in black powder mostly come down to the size of the grains.
1F or 1FG is the most coarse granulation, its used mostly for cannons or sometimes for very large bore guns.
2F or 2FG, sometimes expressed as FFG is finer than 1F and is usually used in guns of 50 caliber or larger. I prefer 2F for shotguns. The larger grains will, in aggregate, contain a little less energy than 3F because of the extra air space between the grains.
3F or 3FG, sometimes expressed as FFFG is even finer than 2F. Conventional wisdom suggests that it should be used in guns smaller than 50 caliber. It would still work in larger guns but caution should be used because of the extra energy vs 2F. 3F can also be used as priming powder for a flintlock although some suggest that it will result in slower ignition.
4F or 4FG, sometimes expressed as FFFFG. This is the finest particle size, its mostly dust and is only used as priming powder for flintlock guns. Some folks suggest that 4F would be dangerous to load into a gun because it will contain much more energy.
Different brands of powder each behave differently but all of them have the same basic grain sizes. I prefer Swiss powder (front row, second from the left) as I think its a little cleaner and has a slightly more consistent grain size. If it were a lot more expensive than the more common Goex powder I probably wouldn't bother but its usually only a little more expensive and when I buy it from the Maine Powder House its the same price as Goex is at my local gun shop.
Black Powder Substitutes:
Blackpowder is an explosive and carries some fairly strict rules for transport and storage. Because of that its sometimes difficult to get. I'm lucky that my parents live near the Maine Powder House so its pretty easy for me to keep a good supply of real black powder. For others a substitute powder might be a good solution.
Warning: Blackpowder substitutes are only to be used as volumetric replacements for blackpowder. Loading substitutes by weight can lead to a dangerous overcharge. Read the safety warnings for all powders and don't blow yourself up.
Pyrodex: This is the original black powder substitute, significantly lighter than blackpowder it touts "More shots per pound than blackpowder".
There are 3 basic formulations of Pyrodex:
RS: "Rifle and Shotgun" the coarse granulation, equivalent to FFG.
P: "Pistol", the fine granulation, equivalent to FFFG
Select: Similar to RS, Select is equivalent to FFG. Apparently its more accurately screened and should, in theory produce more consistent results.
I have 2 cans of RS and one of Select that I received as a gift from a cousin who has gotten out of blackpowder shooting. I've shot a bunch of the RS in my 11ga side by side shotgun and while it seems to shoot fine it leaves the gun filthy, much worse clean up than regular Blackpowder
777: A more recent formulation, 777 is cleaner and less smokey than real blackpowder. It carries about 15% more energy by volume than blackpowder and again is lighter. Loading 777 by weight can be downright dangerous, don't do it. I've only ever shot 777 in an inline gun. Some people complain that it leaves grey ash deposits that can be difficult to remove. I wonder if those people leave the deposits in place for a long time or don't clean with soapy water first.
777 and Pyrodex are substantially more difficult to ignite than blackpowder and as such are about useless in flintlock guns. TC and Traditions have both made flintlock guns that were "intended" for use with pelletized substitutes but reports from the field are less than stellar.
Pelletized Powder:
Pyrodex, 777 and other blackpowder substitutes can be had as pellets. These are really common for in-line guns. Generally you can get either 30 or 50 grain pellets. While pellets can be convenient they do limit your ability to tune the charge in your gun. I've used them before in a CVA buckhorn and while the gun shot adequately with 2x 50 grain pellets it shoots much better with 80 grains of loose powder. If you're using speed loaders its no great issue to pre-measure your powder in advance so I really don't see the utility of the pellets.
Anyway I hope you find these "basics" posts useful. I've got a couple more in the pipeline, stay tuned.
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