Settleling powder

[crossfireoops]

Complicate everything to the max

....that's the ticket,.....

"a lot of testing time to find the right load for your gun."

yawn,.....fart. ...belch,....dismiss,

lotta' time,.....that sounds like waiting in line,

Good Lord.

GTC

[jodoak]

So what is your answer???

[TNsailorman]

First of all, I do not consider myself an expert on the subject. Consider the following the rambling of an old man enjoying the memories of the past and still looking to learn from those who pass my way, encluding this forum. I tried a wide variety of little "tricks" in the mid to late 60's with black powder. I was loading for a .43 Spanish RB at the time as well as a handmade Hawken. Compressing loads, settling the charge by vibration, and using duplex loading with a 5 grain charge of smokeless over the primer hole. I even went so far as to screen my black with fine mesh wire screen of several sizes. I saved the powder by the mesh count to correspond with the accepted standard for the granulations of black for the day; Fg, FFG, FFFG, and FFFFg and "fines" beyond the FFFFG size. I came to several conclusions. The screening of the into different FG counts would show up in slightly improved accuracy on the target and more consistant velocities. And it did not matter whether you were screening FG or or FFFG, you would get some slightly larger or smaller granulations in a one pound can. I also found out that the "fines" made great priming powder for the flintlocks, if you got any kind of spark at all the charge went boom. It also seemed to ignite the main charge a little faster than the regular priming mixture of FFFFG used in the day. But that could have been more perception than actual fact. I didn't have a calibrated or precise enough timer to really establish whether this was true or not. The bottom line was that unless you were going to shoot competition and needed that little extra edge, it was not really worth the extra trouble. I went back to the regular ways of a small charge of 5 grains smokeless over the flash hole follow by the regular charge of black reduced by 7 grains. That is what I am still doing today. This is the experiences and memory of a fat ol man of more than 40+ years ago. Unfortunately I cleaned out a file cabinet several years ago and in the process destroyed a lot of data that I had collected over a long period of time, including a lot of correspondance with some of the ol time experts who were a lot older and wiser than I. A lot of that info would be priceless today as the people it came from bridged the time and distance of the late 1880's to the 1970's. They saw it all, from the blackpowder only era to the modern magnum craze. It's been a good ride and I enjoyed the time. Still do. James

[ben1025]

For quite a while I thought drop tubes were not very useful. So I thought I would do some testing. I do use a 24 inch drop tube. It settles the goex ffg .125. (45/70). I added 20 inch to the 24 and was some what surprised to still get .125. The goex ffg I'm using has very little fine. I should of weighted it but there wasn't much to weight. fffg has much more. I do use a compression tool. In all fairness I should say I don't dripple slowly. Maybe a second. I think I'll try my engraver. It vibrates fairly well. The vibration is adjustable.