Today's Black Powder

[A.Merrill]

    What brand of BP made today is the equivalent to the old DuPont's BP?
    Or is the BP made today better than DuPont?    AL   

[northmn]

GOEX or Graf's may be equivalent.  I really doubt if it matters as to quality over Duponts.  Some used to swear by the old Curis and Harvey but today most like the Swiss as the top powder for match shooting etc. if you want to pay for it.  A lot of very good scores have been turned in by GOEX.

DP

[The other DWS]

Any powder can have batch to batch variations. any batch can be better or worse that another, even from the same company--depending on what qualities and priorities you are using for evaluation.  All the major large industrial produces have this. some Like many whisky makers blend their product to try to even things out.   According to Mad Monk there is a learning curve to making high quality rifle grade powder and most companies with new plants and/or new workforce take a few years to get the quality up.

The attraction of Swiss seems to be that due to their smaller scale and 'artisan" style production methods they have built a reputation for very very little batch to batch variations.  It may be a bit faster, or cleaner burning as well but consistency seems to be why shooters choose it

[hanshi]

Having burned untold pounds of Dupont and Goex, among others, I fully agree Goex is virtually the same as the Dupont.  I even still have a pound of Dupont 4F.  Didn't burn up my last Dupont 3F until several years ago; kinda hung onto it.

[Dphariss]

    What brand of BP made today is the equivalent to the old DuPont's BP?
    Or is the BP made today better than DuPont?    AL   

Almost anything. Well not the Chinese stuff.
But Goex is pretty close, the Moosic made GOI/Goex was identical to 1960s Dupont. I am not sure Dupont ever made a powder as good as Swiss is today or the various high end "sporting powder" of the last 1/2 of the 19th century.
Schuetzen is better I think and I know without doubt Swiss is probably better than anything Dupont ever made. Its in the ingredients and the care in making the powder. Nothing has changed in powder making since 1880-1890 maybe even before that.
Few serious shooters used Dupont after the Civil War and likely earlier than that. Dead Shot, Kentucky Rifle, Orange Extra, Curtis and Harvey Diamond Grain (if not the best it was a tie) were thought to be very good.
See Ned Roberts "The ML Caplock Rifle"
Dan

[Dphariss]

GOEX or Graf's may be equivalent.  I really doubt if it matters as to quality over Duponts.  Some used to swear by the old Curis and Harvey but today most like the Swiss as the top powder for match shooting etc. if you want to pay for it.  A lot of very good scores have been turned in by GOEX.

DP

Curtis and Harvey stopped making Diamond Grain quite some time ago and the stuff imported in the 1970s was little better than blasting powder, it was made in a blasting powder plant. It was not really a propellant grade powder and required huge charge increases to match the GOI/Goex of the time.
The C&H Diamond grain went out of production when the supply of wood for making the charcoal disappeared. It was imported from Spain.
Without the right charcoal they could not make the powder.
The charcoal quality is one reason why Swiss is so good
Dan