October Country Sporting rifles

[457121]

Got some mean deer up there?   

Sounds fun actually.

It's fun for sure. I'm in the STL area so we are shooting the same deer.

[457121]

Dphariss,
In my October Country .69 velocity topped out at around 1460-1500 with 170gr. Goex 2Fg with fine accuracy. More Goex powder just made more noise. Now 1.5F Swiss or OE kept gaining velocity up to 190gr. when I stopped (rifle's max load rated at 210gr.). The 160gr. load of OE is way cleaner and faster than the Goex 170gr. load and accuracy is equal.

[Daryl]

I've been using nothing but GOEX 2F. When I tested 3F a couple summers ago, I found 2F to give slightly higher speeds and less pressure, of course.
I guess I need to do some  chronographing & accuracy testing with 1 1/2F Swiss and maybe some OE 2F if I can get it at the local show, next month.

[Dphariss]

I've been using nothing but GOEX 3F. When I tested 3F a couple summers ago, I found 2F to give slightly higher speeds and less pressure, of course.
I guess I need to do some  chronographing & accuracy testing with 1 1/2F Swiss and maybe some OE 2F if I can get it at the local show, next month.

I suspect that Forsythe's "Halls #2" is about the same as FFF. But I also expect it was better powder than Goex.  I wonder if OE smells the same as other black powder does.
If I use  powder that produces flakes of fouling in the bore the Nock breech in my 16 bore will not work. A flake of fouling will fall over the passage to the antechamber and priming had to be worked through the vent to fire the rifle. I have only tried Swiss and Schuetzen in the rifle and only Swiss is reliable never producing any problems. The Schuetzen would only shoot 2-4 shots before the breech was blocked and the rifle would miss fire.

This link might be of interest when comparing Europeans and American granulations.
http://www.blackpowder.ch/powder/shooting-powder
In the old days, I have read, the "F"s  indicated the granule size and the "G" indicated "graphite" or "black lead"  as it was called. The British military for example would not accept powder coated with "black lead".

Note the recommendation of the use of very fine grained powder in pistols. Back in the day this was common in both percussion revolvers and I believe in brass suppository cartridges for small caliber handguns loaded with BP. The granulation for percussion revolvers was "Revolver" and was about like FFFF. But when used with cartridges for percussion revolvers  these had light charges since the paper or other cartridge material reduced the powder capacity. They also used elongated bullets much like the pointed "Picket" bullet used with a cloth patch in ML rifles. This also reduced the powder capacity since they were long for their weight.
I have also read accounts of shooters using very fine grained powder in rifles later in the ML era. IIRC "5F" was mentioned. But would have to dig to find the citation. Dillon, Cline or Roberts? Just don't recall.  But I suspect these were 28-36 caliber "squirrel rifles".

Dan

[Dphariss]

Thank you Daryl, That clarifies it for me .  Bore and Gauge are really different terms for the same thing. At any rate a 12 pound gun is way too heavy. One question why do you use bore for some guns and caliber for others? I don't believe I've ever seen you call a .50 cal rifle a 35 bore.

Back in the day a rifle "carrying 32 to the pound" would be a 54 in today's vernacular.
John Joseph Henry in describing the rifle he purchased to replace one lost in a river crossing enroute to Quebec states; "The the gun was short, and carried about 45 balls to the pound". We have to remember that precision measuring was unknown. If parts were made to a size they were compared to a gage or a master part.
Describing firearms in balls to the pound was common until the late 1840s at least. The use of heavy for the bore size elongated bullets in the early BLs made this method obsolete.
Shotguns are generally described in gauge/balls to the pound to this day. The exception being the 410 and 9mm shot shell.
Dan