Muzzleloading Basics: Powder

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:

Pelletized powders, on the left 777, on the right Cleanshot. I've never used Cleanshot, I got these pellets for free along with a few pounds of Pyrodex from my cousin.

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.

Caplock Muzzle loading basics - Equipment

A recent question on Reddit made me think about the minimum gear required to get into muzzle loading. For the sake of this article I'm talking about traditional muzzleloaders shooting roundball in a caplock gun. Flintlock is nearly the same, and I'll cover that in the future.
Inline guns will be similar in most cases but with some significant differences.

This post will be broken into two parts:
Pretty much mandatory. These are the things I won't do without, they're required for shooting.
Nice to have. Things that are handy to have but you could get away without having, at least at first.


Pretty much mandatory:

#1. A copy of "The Black Powder Handbook" by Sam Fadala and read it.  This is the most important piece of advice I can give. The most important piece of equipment you have sits between your ears and you need to fill it with good information. I don't 100% agree with everything Sam says in the book but he's safe and thats the most important thing.

#2. Roundball: Generally speaking you'll buy roundball that is 0.010 undersized from the bore which would mean .440 for .45 cal, .490 for a .50 cal and .530 for .54 cal. There are exceptions, my .45 flintlock is too tight for .440 so I use .437 which allows for a thicker patch. You'll need to experiment a little to find out what works best in your gun.

#3. Shooting Patches: Cloth patches take up the space between the round ball and the rifling allowing the ball to engage the rifling and spin. 0.015" patching is probably the best starter size. As with roundball this will vary, you might end up with 0.010" or 0.018" for best accuracy in your gun.

I use mostly precut patches because I'm lazy, sheets of patch material are also available. My dad prefers to use uncut patches and cut as he loads.

#4. Patch lube: Bore Butter is easily available and works pretty well. Its not a replacement for gun oil, it doesn't prevent rust particularly well, its a patch lube, not metal protectant although the tube might claim otherwise.

#5. Caps: #10 or #11 percussion caps. Which you prefer will depend on the size of the nipple, this will vary by brand too. I find Remington #11 the ones I like best, Remington #10 are too tall for my capping tool.

#6. Powder: While sidelock guns will shoot the replacements like Pyrodex, it'll be happier with real black powder. Goexpowder.com lists suppliers.

Swiss commonly regarded as is the best powder you can get, I find it fouls less and some folks say it gives better power. I got mine from the Maine Powder House for the same price I was getting Goex at a gun shop. I bought the Triple 7 when I was shooting the inline gun. I've never tried it in a sidelock.

#7. Powder measure: I like the type with the funnel built in. It'll be graduated in 10 grain units which is plenty fine for most shooting.

The smaller one didn't have volume markings when I first got it, I had to check it against the other measure and mark them myself.

#8. Powder flask: There are a couple choices, I've written about this before: http://curtsotherblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/powder-flasks.html
Short answer, I like the CVA the best. It dispenses powder better than the Traditions. I haven't tried any of the more expensive replica ones yet. You don't need a flask, you could pour directly from the powder can into your measure but the flask makes life a whole lot easier.

Remember DON'T EVER pour directly from the flask into the barrel. If there were a hot ember in the barrel that made the powder ignite you'd have a big charge of power right in the danger zone. Always dispense from the flask into the powder measure and then pour into the barrel from the measure.

#9. Ball puller: This is like a screw that threads onto the end of your ramrod to remove a ball or bullet when you've forgotten to load powder or if the powder got wet. You WILL forget to load powder, don't go to the range without this. In accompaniment, if your ramrod is threaded at both ends TC sells a T-handle you can thread into one end, when pulling a ball the t-handle really helps. Otherwise you want a brass or aluminum range rod with a t-handle. Trust me on this one, I've been there...

The ball puller is also useful if you're worried that your powder might have gotten wet. If you look back at yesterday's story of hunting with my Renegade .54 I pulled the charge on the second to last day of the season and I'm glad I did, there was significant water in the barrel.
Once in awhile you'll get a patch stuck down the barrel, the threaded screw can grab that patch out too.

Nice to have:

#10. Capping tool: The capping tool helps putting caps on, especially if you've got big fingers. I consider this a requirement while hunting.

#11. Short starter: I don't carry one while hunting but they're handy on the range. Pretty much a requirement for target shooting where sometimes a mallet is required to start a tight bullet.

I have several sizes, the one on the left is .45/.50, the center is .54 and the right one is small and the rod is brass. I got it in a box of stuff I bought from a picker.

#12. TC #13 cleaner: Theres a lot of tribalism around cleaning, I generally start with hot soapy water and move on to a patch soaked in #13.

#13. Cleaning Jag: Swabbing is aided by having a brass jag in the appropriate size.

Usually the ramrod end will be flared enough that you don't really need a jag but that is not always true. I have a variety of sizes but I always find myself grabbing and not finding the right one. I buy more every year.

#14. Nipple Wrench: You don't need a nipple wrench per-say, I've removed many with just a small open ended wrench but they're handy, especially in the field. This one is a TC model. The topside has a threaded insert with a pin for cleaning nipples should you need to.

This tube type will rip right apart if you use it on a seriously stuck nipple. So if you're going to be working on old guns I'd suggest the short revolver type from vendors like Track of the Wolf.

I hope this list helps those of you just getting started. I'm thinking that this should be the first of a series of muzzle loading basics video. Drop a note and let me know what you'd like to read more about.