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Who made this powder

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I have a can of the CIL similar to the can on the left in the OP. It's FG and I haven't tried it in my rifles but will give it a shot in my 20 gauge. The date marked on the can is '74. It has a store label from Hougans which I know is in Whitehorse, Yukon. I also have a can of the meteor 3F. It's about 100 fps slower than some's 70's vintage Goex.
 
Had a gentleman stop by my house today with a few pounds of old powder that was cleaned out of his grandfathers garage.Mostly Goex but there was this one can labeled Hodgdon 3F made in Scotland.Does anyone know who made this powder? I am in good shape on powder so took the cans of Goex and gave them to the Other two black powder shooters that I know in the area. Kept this one since it was a Can that I have never seen
Meteor?
 
Well I got out and shot a few rounds of this powder today. Used 18 grains in a 32 Cherokee and seemed a little less energetic than 3F Goex. I have shot old Goex given to me from the early 60s up to new stuff recently purchased and always seemed pretty consistent as far as power and fouling. But this mystery powder made in Scotland was the absolute dirtiest powder I have ever shot. Lots of thick fouling after every shot and cleaning showed a lot of build up in the breech. Fired about twenty rounds wiping between shots which required a couple patches each time and got decent accuracy. Will put it on the shelf as a novelty (wish the can was in better condition) unless someone close to North Central Indiana wants to pick it up or meet close by and can have it for free. Was fun to try it though.
 
Seems you may need an eprouvette.
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Just to be clear I donā€™t plan on using 4f for anything other than the pan for priming

I have ran a small ā€œkickerā€ of 4F under a main charge of Pyrodex in my flint guns to good effect. Exactly what I would continue to do if I had four pounds of 4F and real Black Powder was in short supply.
 
I remember reading a few years ago about a civil war colt found in a dry attic in good condition and fully loaded. The finder decided whether wisely or not, you decide, to fire it recapped it, and set it off. Apparently it performed faultlessly. If it isnā€™t an urban legend then it says that very old powder will still detonate
 
As has been discussed on the Forum many times before, the old pistol cartridges (.45 Colt, .44WCF etc.) were loaded with a powder finer than our 4F.

I started experimenting with 2F and 3F, of GOEX, (and some 4F powder given me by a friend who quit shooting flintlock, which I assume is also GOEX) in my Uberti 1858 Remington. Got up to 35 grains of 4F when I realized my chronograph readings were off, due to muzzle blast tripping the "start" screen. Unfortunately, I had to quit then, and haven't been able to get back out. ( Life gets in the way, and I had a lot more time before I retired!)
However, the 4F didn't blow up my gun, and I prefer 2F or 3F for priming my flintlock, so the fine stuff will get used as main charge for my revolvers.

I will post figures when I get back out with the chrono.

Apologies to the OP for running astray of the thread...but I was addressing another poster's question.

Richard/Grumpa
 
3F seems to be the all round powder. I originally purchased it for my 1851 Colt revolver. I still used it into my Flintlock Rifles but have since graduated to 2 mainly 50 caliber and above. I I have 1F and 1.5 . I reloaded 45 Colt for my Ubertie 1873 lever rifle with both 3F and grits as a filler and then 2F with a fiber wad or two. I read some where that 2 is what they used back in the day in cartridges. Fun stuff. I was wondering what people thought of using a little filler in a flintlock like a Brown Bess though I think probably not a good idea because of the difference in ignition primers vs touch holes. Would mixing say 20 grains of grits with 60 grains of 3F work. Does anyone blend there bp for low power charges? I mostly plink alot and with the brown Bess go through 1F and 1.5 like crazy in paper cartridges. I used to use 120 grains I sometimes prime from cartridges. I have 5 bottles of 4 F which is useless sorry I bought so much of it. You can get about 70 paper cartridges at 70 grains but the cartridges are chinsy in size id like to mix it with 30 or 40 in those. Again mixed not bp followed by grits like in a cap and ball revolver.

Don't mix the powder and filler, keep them separate. You shouldn't have any problem using a filler in a Bess as it should be on top of the powder but I don't see any need for it. I used to shoot my Pedersoli Bess in a competition where we had to load from prepared paper cartridges and fillers or wads were not allowed. After a lot of experimenting I found the most accurate load was 85 grains of 2f including priming as we had to prime from that same cartridge (loading was done strictly by the appropriate manual for the time). Naked .735" ball. I actually shot 120 grains of 2f and a patched ball the first time I ever shot the Bess on paper. I got a 2nd. place and had the range all to myself when I stepped up with it loaded. I never repeated that experience. šŸ˜² There isn't any reason to blend powder, just use less but I did find accuracy fell off rapidly below a certain point which I don't remember. What did seem to hurt more than the powder was the amount of lead it took, 12 (or 13?) balls per pound.
 
All good Grumpa. That Eprouvette is really neat seen photos of a couple but have not actually handled one.
does any one know where I can find a video of one in use / being used, fired?
 
As has been discussed on the Forum many times before, the old pistol cartridges (.45 Colt, .44WCF etc.) were loaded with a powder finer than our 4F.

I started experimenting with 2F and 3F, of GOEX, (and some 4F powder given me by a friend who quit shooting flintlock, which I assume is also GOEX) in my Uberti 1858 Remington. Got up to 35 grains of 4F when I realized my chronograph readings were off, due to muzzle blast tripping the "start" screen. Unfortunately, I had to quit then, and haven't been able to get back out. ( Life gets in the way, and I had a lot more time before I retired!)
However, the 4F didn't blow up my gun, and I prefer 2F or 3F for priming my flintlock, so the fine stuff will get used as main charge for my revolvers.

I will post figures when I get back out with the chrono.

Apologies to the OP for running astray of the thread...but I was addressing another poster's question.

Richard/Grumpa
Thanks Iā€™ll go search the previous discussion on that ! Thatā€™s good news Iā€™m low on 45 Colt!
 
I thought it was a no no. But as a later post mentioned there a prior post discussing using it in 45 LC which if true works for me
It's ok, I always ask why someone doesn't use it for anything other than pan powder and I get a similar response. Basically, someone said it is dangerous when in fact there is no data to confirm the mythical belief.

I've been using the finest powder I can get for years now in anything from 45 to 10g. I can also use less per shot.
 
As has been discussed on the Forum many times before, the old pistol cartridges (.45 Colt, .44WCF etc.) were loaded with a powder finer than our 4F.

I started experimenting with 2F and 3F, of GOEX, (and some 4F powder given me by a friend who quit shooting flintlock, which I assume is also GOEX) in my Uberti 1858 Remington. Got up to 35 grains of 4F when I realized my chronograph readings were off, due to muzzle blast tripping the "start" screen. Unfortunately, I had to quit then, and haven't been able to get back out. ( Life gets in the way, and I had a lot more time before I retired!)
However, the 4F didn't blow up my gun, and I prefer 2F or 3F for priming my flintlock, so the fine stuff will get used as main charge for my revolvers.

I will post figures when I get back out with the chrono.

Apologies to the OP for running astray of the thread...but I was addressing another poster's question.

Richard/Grumpa
Thanks Iā€™ll go search the previous discussion on that
 
After all my complaints about having 5 pounds of 4F. Iā€™ve been hearing about null B this powder finer than 4F! So I forget the site they were out of everything but they had Swiss Null B. Since this is a mystery to me I figured what the heck and ordered 3 bottles. It arrived today. Low and behold they are 8 ounce bottles. I canā€™t say I read the fine print but who would think every other grade is 16 ounces why would these be 8 oz and being itā€™s Swiss I thought i was getting a good deal šŸ˜‚ at $23 a bottle. Oh well Iā€™m going to fill my primer and see what all the smoke is about this weekend if the weather is good! I it not powder as I heard some say it is very fine ball powder cool šŸ˜Ž stuff!
 
After all my complaints about having 5 pounds of 4F. Iā€™ve been hearing about null B this powder finer than 4F! So I forget the site they were out of everything but they had Swiss Null B. Since this is a mystery to me I figured what the heck and ordered 3 bottles. It arrived today. Low and behold they are 8 ounce bottles. I canā€™t say I read the fine print but who would think every other grade is 16 ounces why would these be 8 oz and being itā€™s Swiss I thought i was getting a good deal šŸ˜‚ at $23 a bottle. Oh well Iā€™m going to fill my primer and see what all the smoke is about this weekend if the weather is good! I it not powder as I heard some say it is very fine ball powder cool šŸ˜Ž stuff!
Iā€™m a spaz can someone tell me how to delete this duplicate post? Sorry
 
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