going to try swiss 2f powder in y 54 cal/1-66 barrel

[sonny]

say...anybody using swiss 2f powder in there 54's?more accurate/faster then goex??................thanks.sonny

[Larry Pletcher]

say...anybody using swiss 2f powder in there 54's?more accurate/faster then goex??................thanks.sonny

Tomorrow I'm taking the Walnut Lancaster from Chambers out to shoot.  It's not done, but I'll try it anyway.  I have only Swiss with me - 3fg, 2fg. and 1.5 fg.  I may not get them all tried.  Rice 44", 1 turn in 66, round bottom rifling.

Steve Chapman is going with me.  We may not get too serious.  I'd like to get windage right at least.  I have some Goex that I can do comparisons with, but probably not tomorrow.

Regards,
Pletch

[T*O*F]

I have only Swiss with me - 3fg, 2fg. and 1.5 fg.

Swiss 1.5fg is what I was using in my smoothbore last year during the woodswalk, when I had all the problems.  Switching to Swiss 3fg resulted in nary a klatch.

As far as accuracy and velocity, I am convinced that you can come up with an accurate load in any roundball gun using any powder, and if you are killing targets, velocity isn't paramount.

[Daryl]

I have only Swiss with me - 3fg, 2fg. and 1.5 fg.

Swiss 1.5fg is what I was using in my smoothbore last year during the woodswalk, when I had all the problems.  Switching to Swiss 3fg resulted in nary a klatch.

As far as accuracy and velocity, I am convinced that you can come up with an accurate load in any roundball gun using any powder, and if you are killing targets, velocity isn't paramount.

I agree wholeheartedly, TOF - I generally work up accuracy loads for both 3F and 2F for every gun I have that will shoot 3F.  When I find them, I also find they shoot the same point of impact.as the normal powder for that gun.  This way, no matter waht powder I can get my hands on, I can shoot accurately - or as accurately as I am able to shoot .

[chapmans]

  I have used Swiss ffg in everything for the last 3 or 4 years and have had no ignition problems from a .40 cal flint to a .58, I wouldn't use ffg goex in my .40 flinter unless I opened up the liner, it's only about .062" right now. The granulation of ffg Swiss appears smaller to me than ffg Goex, I haven't tried 1 1/2 Swiss although I do have about a 1/2 a pound of it.
   Steve C.

[Daryl]

There isn't anyone up here who doesn't shoot 2FGOEX in their .54's. Most use 2F GOEX as well in their .50's and I use it, GOEX 2F in both .40 and .45 as well.
With 2F - you need more to get the same velocity - yet with 75gr. 2F in my .58's 24" barrel, I get 1,300fps average - considerably higher than given for GOX in the old Lyman book - equivalent to 115gr. of their powder. I also use it in the .69 - no mystery there.

What I find with 2f in the smaller bores - identical accuracy and no more fouling as my rifles' don't build up fouling at all - that is the product of the ball and patch combinations I use - and perhaps, the amount of lube has an effect here as well.

[sonny]

daryl...........yes but do you shoot 2f swiss?is it noticable quicker then 2f goex or same speed of ignition?.sonny

[Daryl]

2F being slower than 3F - no matter the make. If one shoots 3f, 2F will also work, right down to a .36.

[T*O*F]

2F being slower than 3F - no matter the make.

Slower burning, but not necessarily slower velocity.  In some guns 2f will have a higher velocity than 3f.

[Daryl]

TOF - you may have a point about some barrels, the slower powder giving higher speeds - Forsyth thought so as well, but of course, he was talking about large bores as well as the Minnie-firing rifles of the day. 

In my own 14 bore, 3 drams of 3f gives higher speed than does 3 drams of 2f and equal to 4 drams of the slower stuff, however I cannot increase the 3f very much more before gas  leaking problems surface, however with 2f, no such sealing problems 'ever' happen - to the limit of this human's recoil endurance.  That part I find interesting.

The old rules of thumb still preside, I think - the longer the barrel, the slower the powder - yet the Musketoon does very well at 1,300fps with a mere 2 3/4 drams(75gr.) 2F in it's stubby 24" bl.  Today, GOEX appears, in this gun at least, to give 200fps higher velocity than the GOX of Lyman's book time and is way ahead of the C&H we used back in the 70's.