What kind of BP?

I was wondering if anyone could help me. Ive shot percussion rifles and cap and ball pistols for years, but never a flintlock. I just purchased a cabela's (made by pedersoli) .50 kentucky flintlock rifle. Ive heard many mixed things about what type of BP to use. Ive heard that I should use ffg in the barrell and ffffg in the pan. Ive also heard that I should use fffg in the barrell and pan. Can anyone give me any insight on what would be best, work best, etc.?

Thanks,
Sincewrely
John

If the lock takes a 7/8" wide or larger flint you can get away with priming (and shooting) with FFg. Makes life simpler as you need only carry one horn. FFFFg is the priming powder of choice for smaller locks. If you are going to carry a seperate priming horn or flask you might as well use FFFFg for priming. The main charge would normally be FFg for a .50, but FFFg will work. For a given volume it has more powder and less airspace than FFg so you should drop down a bit (5 or 10%), especially if you are shooting heavy loads.

thanks much appreciated!!! What is a good BP to use? Ive heard some suggest goex, but someone told me goex is a BP substitute, is this so?

Thanks,
John

Hey. I occasionally shoot my Pedersoli Kentucky which is a .50 flinter. I use 3f in both the barrel and pan. Works fine for me. Mine is a very accurate rifle but don't load it up too much as that Roman Nose stock will get ye right under the cheek. You have to watch the cheek to stock alignment and not get too far over the top.
Good luck,
John in Coos Bay

Nope. Goex is the real deal. That's what I use.

Thanks everyone much appreciated!!!

I believe at one time, GOEX sold a BP sustitute. Currently, anything marked GOEX 1F, 2F, 3F or 4F(priming powder)is real BP.
: I have heard that Swiss BP is better than GOEX with less fouling, softer, moister fouling as in pre 1900 BP, so it is defintiely worth a try. It is especially good in BP ctgs. guns for regulating doubles and singles to shoot to the sights. Apparently, it gives higher velocities than GOEX as well and is also a true BP.

The down side is that Swiss costs about twice as much as Goex

Take the price of the Goex & add 20% price to it & then figure the price difference. You will use 20% less powder to get the same velocity with Swiss is considerably cleaner burning & works wonderfully in a small bore such as 45 cal & smalle, it is really awesome. Just depends on whether you want to pay 2-3 pennys a shot more for the less fouling...... Or at least that is how it figured out the last time I figured it for a .40 cal rifle.

What "F" powder size would be good for a nominally .64 smoothbore flintlock pistol? Could I use the same size powder for both loading and priming?

Capt. William

What "F" powder size would be good for a nominally .64 smoothbore flintlock pistol? Could I use the same size powder for both loading and priming?

Click to expand...

Double F (FFg) for .58 and larger is a good rule of thumb...

And yes, you can prime with the same powder as the main charge, makes life more simple, many shooters here do this very thing... (myself included)

Is this an original pistol?? If so, is the barrel swamped? If swamped, how thick is it at the swamp?
: Regardless, I'd use 2F & a normal charge would be around 20gr. If thin at the swamp, I'd use no more than that charge.
; The dueling charge for an English pistol I checked, was only 15gr. The charger was on the end of the loading rod. It was filled, then the pistol lowered onto the rod, THEN tipped so the butt was down for loading the ball.
: Possibly the low charge was meant for satisfying a man's honour, not necessarily for killing his opponent.
: I heard of one duel where the Seconds loaded corks, unknown by the opponents as they were good friends and the Seconds wanted no one killed by the heat of an argument.