Olde Eynsford 2F in my .58 flint Hawken

[Herb]

I was up at the Fort Bridger Rendezvous yesterday and got some Olde Eynsford 3F, 2F and 1 1/2F from Bear River Powder.  Today I shot the 2F in my .58 flint Hawken and in my .54 Bridger Hawken, but I can't get that photo through Photobucket right side up.  So here is the .58, 100 grains weight calibrated measures of OE 2F with .562 RB and .021 linen patching that crushes to .014.  No wiping, bore did not foul.  100 yards.  The bottom target was with lighter patching that blew to pieces for the three to the right.  The group on the paper was different patches that held, but not as good as the top patching.  Velocity of bottom five was 1707 fps, bottom two shots would have been in the top group of 1, 2 and 5.

[moleeyes36]

What powder were you shooting before and how do the results you got with the Olde Eynsford compare?

[Herb]

100 grains weight/volume of each:  Goex 3F gave 1650 fps, Goex 2F gave 1630 fps, Swiss 3F gave 1725, Swiss 2F gave 1756, Swiss 1 1/2F gave 1429, 100 grains Goex 2F VOLUME of Triple 7 2F gave 1862, 100 grains weight/volume of Olde E 3F was 1605, Olde E 2F was 1703 and Olde E 1 1/2F was 1608.  All of these are at least five shot averages, and some are up to five of them (25 shots).  Accuracy can be very good with any of the powders.  These tests were mainly for velocity, though each group was also shot for accuracy.

[moleeyes36]

Did you notice if O.E. was any cleaner burning than GOEX?

Don Richards

[Herb]

I was able to shoot six or eight shots of each of the grades in .54 and .58 without wiping the bore.  The 3F had the hardest fouling near the breech when I cleaned the bores afterwards.  2F and 1 1/2F the fouling was not hard.  All powders had dirty bores, the patches really came out black.  I think the powder has less fouling than Goex, maybe more than Swiss.  Just impressions, don't quote me.

[moleeyes36]

Yes, that's my impression of GOEX compared to Swiss for clean burning characteristics.  I have a case of O.E. 3f that I haven't tried yet, I'm still shooting up my last case of GOEX, so I can't say anything about O.E. yet.  I used Swiss for years and prefer it, but it's gotten too pricey for me.  At over $22 per can (case price delivered) I can't convince myself I like it enough to pay the approximately $7.50 per can premium over GOEX and about $6.40 per can premium over O.E.  I've seen no difference in accuracy between GOEX and Swiss.  Swiss is just a little hotter and a little cleaner, but not enough to convince me to spend that much more money for it.  GOEX or O.E. will float my boat just fine.

Don Richards

[Herb]

I again shot 100 grains of OE 2F, but this time I had 1 3/8" round patches, which frayed at the edge and barely covered the ball, rather than the 1 1/2" square patches of the previous group.  This is the only reason I can think of for the poorer accuracy and slightly lower velocity- except for wiping the bore as I seated the ball.  All conditions were the same and my holding was also good.  I had a damp cleaning patch on the seating jag and cleaned after each group.  (You can enlarge the picture by holding Control and hit the plus sign.)

The middle target was with different patch material but with 100 grains of OE 1 1/2F.  The first two blew, so I changed to a third, .020/.013 red cotton duck from WalMart.  They worked good.

The third target was the same, but with 100 grains of OE 3F.  Four of the six red duck patches blew, one was good and I couldn't find the sixth one.  This shows the 3F is "hotter", I guess, harder on patches.  Yet notice that it gave the same velocity as 100 grains of 1 1/2F.  This is the second trial to show this.

I cannot get a vertical picture through PhotoBucket, so have to show these targets in a landscape format. (The red linen patches I dyed with Rit dye to make them easier to find.)

[Herb]

Here is my Bridger Hawken .54.  Top target at 100 yards is .530 Hornady balls with .018/.008 linen patching (that's right, it crushes that much) and 100 grains of OE 2F.  All patches were good, but it did not group well, averaged 1794 fps, 28 spread.  So far, 10 shots of 100 grains of OE 2F averaged 1810 fps.  18 shots of 100 grains of OE 3F averaged 1858 fps.  The bottom target is 100 grains of OE 1 1/2F, same ball and .008 patch.  The first one blew but the rest were good.  So far, 21 shots of OE 1 1/2F averaged 1761 fps.  I had a damp cleaning patch on the seating jag to wipe the bore as I seated the ball, and cleaned the bore between groups.  Soft fouling but I thought a lot of it.