Elephant Powder

tenngun said:

I have several cans, bought cheap. I mix 1/4 cup with 3/4 cup GOex and it works well

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I mix 50/50 with water and put on wife's garden.

52Bore said:

After Goex blew up in PA and while it was relocating to LA (Swiss was not yet being imported), sadly Elephant was the best and really only powder we had for a few years around 2000.
Still use it for shotgunning.

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ACTUALLY, back in '97 Goex started importing Swiss and packaged it in Goex cans with paper labels taped on. I have some...KIK was imported from Slovenia around 2000, but Goex was back into production early in '98

Elephant was "improved" after consultation by the "Mad Monk" to remove the bark from the wood before making their charcoal. The 25/99 lot was the first of the "improved" Elephant, and was much better than the earlier stuff. Sometie in the early 2000s, the Elephant factory wass flooded, so ended its production. Sometime after, the plant was purchased and relocated and produced Diamndback. I don't know if its still in production, but hasn't been imported for about 10 years.

mtsage said:

I "inherited" about 4lbs of Elephant Black Powder in 2F. Date code on bottom of 1lb cans is most 22/00 to 004/01 timeline. Am shooting it in a TC Hawken 50 percussion. Anyway, in the shooting of some of the bp recently I had quite afew misfires. I.E. , snapped cap but no explosion of bp in breech. Had to clean out the nipple and drum on the occasions. I did some research, i.e. , googling, on this powder and lots of diff comments. At one point in this powders history it was a good powder and at some point comments mentioned the quality deteriorated. So when cleaning out the drum and nipple there was some fouling chunks and almost a wall of thin powder where hole goes into the breech. So the question is, is there a solution to this issue of "fouling". Would switching to a Spitfire nipple help? Or maybe just drilling hole larger in nipple? Shooting CCI #11 primers. Any past experiences or resolves or thoughts would be appreciated. Hate to just stop using this powder as it is a few lbs. Thanks.

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I believe most nipple sizes are designed for black powder which ignites easier than most of the smokeless ones that are used for muzzleloader shooting. I've measured several of the hole in the New nipples and the average size was a .0281. Being I shoot 777 in my percussions because of the availability, I enlarged the holes to a .031. I first tried a.030, but I did experience a couple of misfires so I went up to the next size wire bit and that seems to work satisfactory. I noticed several people in our club had trouble with factory nipples on misfires even with holy black, and I encouraged one older fellow (86) to try and he said that it worked better. The one secondhand percussion I have, a 45 caliber. had a tendency to set the hammer back to safety cock, So I measured the original nipple and it measured .040 which is on the excessive side. What I can gather from other discussions, anything above .035 is questionable but I want you to know it takes quite a few shots to do that to a nipple. No doubt hammer setback depends upon the size of the charge and I don't load heavy being that 777 is hotter in quicker than black. I've never had a misfire since I opened up the nipple size, sometimes you just do what seems to work.
Squint

There was one bad lot of Elephant. I contacted the company, and they sent me another case of a different lot.

I had several cans of it years ago. Other than the cans being a somewhat "collectable curiosity," the contents were quite miserable. I ended up gifting the rest of it to a local "self-professed" witch who allegedly used it in ceremony whilst dancing naked around the "campfire."

I used a fair amount of Elephant back in the early 2000s when it was all I could get my hands on. I never tested it but killed deer with it and shot plinking targets. I didn't notice it being any dirtier than Goex (there ain't NO clean BP) and was pretty much satisfied. For me if it's BP and the only thing available I'd still be happy. At least it goes bang and scats a ball out of the muzzle.

Meggadeath said:

I had several cans of it years ago. Other than the cans being a somewhat "collectable curiosity," the contents were quite miserable. I ended up gifting the rest of it to a local "self-professed" witch who allegedly used it in ceremony whilst dancing naked around the "campfire."

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Pics, or it didn’t happen.

For any folks who haven't seen a can of Elephant Powder here you go. Can on the left is a plastic container. Somebody in a previous post was wondering if the powder was shiny or flat black. All shiny in these 2 cans.

dave951 said:

Try Swiss and you won't shoot Goex.

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You won't shoot Goex anyway unless you have old stock.

I'd use it up, 4lbs isn't a lot.

I'd burn that up in a week with my .69 Smoothbore if I really applied myself.

Just use it for range blasting, and swab every couple shots. 4lbs will go quick.

I've used it in my TC before with no problem but I clean between shots. It does seem dirtier than others but it works OK in the bigger bores. I'll use it but wouldn't go out of my way to get any more.

Shoot it. It is fine as long as it was sealed. Better than paying 30 bucks for a pound.
Ohio Rusty ><>

With the first batch of Elephant we used to take the lid off and stand the can of in the sun for 2-3 hours , it used to loose about 1-1½ ounce of water in that time . We then poured ½ pound into a cotton ( NOT synthetic) sport sock and shook it about then poured the dried shaken Elephant into a clean new container , a lot of fines used to come out in the sock/sieve . The sock was washed , dried and used again .
This socking and drying the powder made a considerable difference to the consistency of burn and cleanliness of the powder .,
The next batch , after the Mad Monk gave them some advise , didn't need any help at all and was a very good powder
My mate put a match to a dirty sock and lost his eyebrows .

Rifleman1776 said:

No. It would be better if it were.

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ROGER THAT! I concur!.

Ohio Rusty said:

Shoot it. It is fine as long as it was sealed. Better than paying 30 bucks for a pound.
Ohio Rusty ><>

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you have a valid point! don't look a gift horse in the face!

Rifleman1776 said:

I mix 50/50 with water and put on wife's garden.

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some use it straight up, and let nature do the rest!

mtsage said:

For any folks who haven't seen a can of Elephant Powder here you go. Can on the left is a plastic container. Somebody in a previous post was wondering if the powder was shiny or flat black. All shiny in these 2 cans.

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I did not know that they went to plastic cane before the end? thanks for posting them.

The trick to success with Elephant powder was the type of hammer used on the rifle.

I also purchased the stuff when GOEX was nonexistent, and I found that it had less energy than GOEX and was dirtier than GOEX. With that said I would increase my charge and swab my barrel more. I have two cans of 2F that I only use in my SXS 12 gauge it works OK for that.

Loyalist Dave said:

Beat me to it. Mix Elephant with another 2Fg powder, up to 50/50.
Diamondback was the same stuff, but with a different label. It was coming out of South America and apparently pretty bad charcoal.

LD

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Actually, Diamondback was not the same stuff. It was made in the same plant as Elephant , but was formulated differently and was much cleaner burning. I went through a case of it (DB) not long ago and would gladly use it again if I could get it.