Olde Eynsford 1F

[Herb]

I got out to test Olde Eynsford 1F powder in my second Bridger Hawken copy I made. Shot from bench at 50 yards. Bottom target was with 80 grains of OE 1F and a .530 Hornady ball. Velocity averaged 1410 fps with 48 fps spread. Compared to Goex 2F with 80 grains (weight-corrected measures for all), five different rifles for 29 shots averaged 1544 fps. Top left target was with 100 grains of OE 1F, but I didn't get any more velocities. Right target was with 100 grains of OE 1 1/2F. 40 shots of OE 1 1/2F in 7 groups averaged 1759 in previous testing. In comparison, 40 shots of Goex 2F averaged 1730 fps in 9 tests.

I thought these groups were large until I took a closer look. The sun was on the right, and I didn't have sight shaders. There was some right wind. Four of the OE 1F went into a 2.2 inch spread, and four of the OE 1 1/2F went into a 2.5 inch spread. Still, half of the shots, 7 of14, would have cut a string at 50 yards. I'll repeat this test to get velocities.

In this month's Muzzle Blast Magazine ( September 2022), the Bevel Brothers wrote an article "FG Ballistics". They used an adjustable measure set at the same charge for all powders. In a .50 caliber, 80 grains of Goex 1F gave 1487 fps, and 80 grains of Goex 2F gave 1702 fps. In .45 caliber, 80 grains of Goex 1F gave 1590 fps and 80 grains of Goex 2F gave 1861 fps. In .32 caliber, 30 grains of Goex 1F gave 1328 fps and 30 grains of Goex 2F gave 1676 fps. In a .36 caliber Remington1858 revolver, 22 grains of Goex 1F gave 825 fps and 22 grains of Goex 2F gave 978 fps. They also had an article about Goex 1F powder in the August 2005 copy of MuzzleBlasts Magazine.

Olde Eynsford 1F has very large Kernels, but it is not bulky. It measures very close to OE 1 1/2F, within a grain or two. You can trust your adjustable measure with it.

[Herb]

I shot 100 grains of Olde Eynsford 1F in my first copy of the Bridger Hawken. .530 balls were too hard to load, so I used .520 Hornady balls, which gave velocities close to .530 balls in past tests. Even then, I had to use .015 linen that crushed to .010. I had not fired this rifle since January and didn't fire a cap to see if the nipple was clear. The first shot didn't fire so I pulled the nipple, cleaned the hole and put in 9 grains of 4F from my valve dispenser. That may be why the first shot was higher in velocity. The patch blew on the first shot. So I used wool over-powder wads for the next five shots and all patches were good. The light was good, and I knew my fifth shot was going where it did. The group measured 1.35 inches extreme spread. The chronograph worked perfectly with a new battery. I have no explanation for the low velocities. I'll do more testing eventually.  (Left click twice should enlarge the pictures).

[Herb]

I sent these posts to Craig Kirkland at Bear River Powder in Evanston, WY (307-679-0886) and got this reply:

Hi Herb,

Thank you for your email.   Interesting data, this is very similar to the reports we have received.   

We have several cases of 1FG Olde Enysford and 2FG Olde Enysford.   In addition we also have several cases of GOEX regular 1FG.

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Regards,
Craig

( Note by Herb:  OE 2F is a very good powder.  I have posts about it on here, a search should find target and velocity tests if you are interested.  And that OE 1F seemed to want to shoot them all into one hole).

[smylee grouch]

Hi Herb, thanks for posting your results. Interesting data and a little surprising too. I run my 62 (610 ball, 31" barrel ) over the chronograph with 110 gr. of Swiss 1 & 1/2 and was getting 1784 fps. I know that the Swiss is a compressed more dense powder so we are comparing " apples to oranges " so to speak but I just didn't think there would be that much difference. I used a volume measure set at 110.

[Herb]

Smylee- here are some powder comparisons I made.  In that 36" .58 flintlock, 100 grains by weight of OE 1 1/2F was 164 fps faster than 100 grains-weight of Swiss 1 1/2F.  OE 2f was 200 fps faster.


Here is how OE 2F compares to OE 1 1/2F: (I did some string cutting at 100 yards from bench with my first copy of the Bridger Hawken).  (Two left clicks should enlarge the pictures).

[smylee grouch]

Interesting numbers Herb and thanks for the comparison rundown.

[HighUintas]

I'm really glad to see you shooting again Herb! I hope you're able to work on your muzzleloaders again sometime soon, but at least you're able to shoot. That's fantastic. I'll give you a call to chat again before I head out on my elk hunt at the end of the week :-)

And looking at your oe versus goex 1f comparison, are you finding that goex1f was faster than oe1f? That certainly is odd.

Hopefully, I'll have my rifle done soon and I can bring it over so you can teach me how to cut some strings with it

[Herb]

I have never used Goex 1F.  Neil Fields, who worked for GRRW and has built over 400 muzzleloaders, once had built a rifle that he could not get to group with anything he tried.  Then he tried Goex 1 F, and it grouped well.  I don't remember what caliber it was.  I'd like to do some more testing with OE 1F, but its a lot of work....  I look forward to hearing from you.

[Daryl]

Taylor got to use GOEX 1F in His .40 Kuntz rifle once, on a trail walk at Hefley. He grabbed the wrong horn. Even I beat him. He should have used about 50% more powder
than he was as his normal load then was 47gr. 3F GOEX, seems to me.

[Herb]

Larry and I tested OE 1F some more.  He used a .58 fullstock flint Hawken I built.  We used his Pact chronograph.  He shot at a gong (hit it, too), so we have no accuracy data.  He used .570 balls and .015 CVA pre-lubed patches with a split 20-gauge wad as an over-powder wad.  He used his adjustable powder measure for 100 grains of Goex 2F.  All good patches.  Five shots averaged 1536 fps with 93 fps spread.  We next used my weight-corrected measure for 100 grains of OE 1 F.  Five shots averaged 1394 fps with 70 spread.  Next, 100 grains of OE 1 1/2F averaged 1595 fps with 44 spread.  All good patches.

I shot a Carson copy Hawken with a Hopkins and Hobbs .54 barrel with 100 grains of OE 1F.

Tried the .015 CVA patch, which blew.  Went to a heavier patch which also blew.  Added a wool over-powder wad and all went well.  The bottom two velocities are what it actually went.   Then on Target 2, I tried  a 10-grain booster of Goex 2F, but that made no difference in velocity. I have no explanation why this rifle produced higher velocities than my Bridger one, above.  It might be my chronograph-   I wore it out and sent it back to Oehler five times over the years.  This OE 1F wants to shoot them all into one fat hole.