Primer powder, how common?

[Scout]

Did the frontiersman use priming powder back in the days of the flintlock or did more often than not the rifleman just used his loading powder to prime the pan?

[greybeard]

I really can't imagine the oldtimers using special priming powder. Just something more to fumble with. A few years  back I made a light halfstock with an L&R Bailes lock . It seemed that when I used 4 F powder to prime I would get a hang fire. . When I used GOI 2F it seemed just as fast as a percussed gun. Just my own experience though. 20 years ago those L & R locks were great with lots of sparks.. Last Bailes lock I bought 5 months ago I had to bake the frizzen at 425 degrees in a can of sand for an hour before it would spark O K.
OOPS sorry. I kinda got off the subject.    Bob

[ken]

In looking at old bag and horn sets seldom do you find a primer horn in one or attached. This seems to be a more moldern thing to do.Not commen on the early frontier

[Dphariss]

Did the frontiersman use priming powder back in the days of the flintlock or did more often than not the rifleman just used his loading powder to prime the pan?

Its easier to prime with a priming horn.
Granulation would depend on the shooter and the powder supply.
Flintlocks depend on heat generated by the priming to fire the gun.
FFFF will put more weight of powder in the pan, it is easier to light and it will be consumed significantly faster.
More heat faster. Pretty simple.
One must also understand that the powder used in 1770 America is likely significantly different than the powder we have today.
Dan

[Candle Snuffer]

I would have my doubts that the frontiersmen used a seperate priming powder of a finer grade.  I to think it's a more modern application - except where Dueling Pistols may have been used way back when.  But these weren't frontier firearms.

If one looks at how a Brown Bess was loaded.  Tear open cartridge with teeth and prime the pan - then load...  So, I would believe you primed from one horn - your powder horn regardless of what granulation you were carrying in it.

Just my two cents worth.

[Dphariss]

I would have my doubts that the frontiersmen used a seperate priming powder of a finer grade.  I to think it's a more modern application - except where Dueling Pistols may have been used way back when.  But these weren't frontier firearms.

If one looks at how a Brown Bess was loaded.  Tear open cartridge with teeth and prime the pan - then load...  So, I would believe you primed from one horn - your powder horn regardless of what granulation you were carrying in it.

Just my two cents worth.

Its just that I find it clumsy to prime with the main horn and there are surviving priming horns.
Its likely one of those "your mileage may vary things".
Granulation will be determined by what was available. Though rifle powder was finer than musket powder. Described as "FF" circa the American Revolution but this is meaningless unless FF is defined by a screen size

Dan

[Daryl]

Did the back-woods farmer prime with a fine grained priming powder from a nicely made priming horn (at any time)? - probably not, but I'll bet the English, French or German gentleman did in the early 1800's after powder was made with more highly refined tenchniques.

[halfstock]

It's like anything else, you have to look at a lot more than just a horn, a lot of the early settlers had a stone or hard clay pestel and bowl and it probably was not for making their own pharmacy powders.

[greybeard]

We must remember that a morter & pestel were a medeval form of blender. Not saying they didn't grind black powder in it but it's burpose goes far beyond just makeing priming powder.
Those folks didn't
' have a corner store as we do so had to grind a lot of dried spices & herbs . Grinding powder was probabley a secondary use.

[T*O*F]

Priming powder has been used since the earliest times and has jumped in and out of disfavor over the centuries, according to technology of the time.  Matchlocks used serpentine powder for the main charge and a separate priming flask of fine powder was used to prime the gun.

[Daryl]

there ya go

[Scout]

Thanks everyone, I am now a ler-ned man !

[Tizzy]

I have always primed with FFFFG, just always excepted it as the way it is supposed to be done,   never put much thought into it. However, this topic sparked my curiosity and while shooting today I primed the pan with FFG. I was fully expecting a slower ignition time, but it seemed just as fast. I'm sure that special equipment could measure the ignition time difference, but I couldn't. Maybee an experiment is in order to see which granulation provides the most reliable ignition during different weather conditions.

[Dphariss]

I use ffff for three reasons. It easier to light, it builds heat faster and its a simple task to trickle through a vent.

Dan

[Tizzy]

I had to trickle a little FFFFG into the vent today after a missfire. $#@*, Dphariss you had to remind me of that. I was trying to justify in my head carying only one powder grannulation. Point well made.I still wonder if FFG or even FFFG would be more water resistant and provide more reliable ignition on rainy days though.   

[Scout]

I had to trickle a little FFFFG into the vent today after a missfire. $#@*, Dphariss you had to remind me of that. I was trying to justify in my head carying only one powder grannulation. Point well made.I still wonder if FFG or even FFFG would be more water resistant and provide more reliable ignition on rainy days though.   

I would think the smaller size would absorb water faster.

[Daryl]

I use 4F regardless of the weather - and I'm sure I get faster ignition - it just 'seems' faster- to me, and the guys who shoot flint with us.  If I run out of 4F, and I did a while back before getting another can of it, I use 3F - it ignited the charge just fine when I had to use it.