2F In A Flintlock Smoothbore

I have some 2F black powder on order, which is all they had. Can I use 2F as priming powder in an Indian Trade gun? Secondly, can I use pyrodex as charging powder in a flintlock? Thanks

Yes, it can be done. Depending on how large the lock is, you may not even notice much difference in ignition time.

2F as priming yes.

Pyro as priming, not advised.

Pyro and flintlocks don't go together. FF will work as a priming powder but will be about two thousands of a second slower than FFF and about three thousands slower than FFFF

Walkabout said:

I have some 2F black powder on order, which is all they had. Can I use 2F as priming powder in an Indian Trade gun? Secondly, can I use pyrodex as charging powder in a flintlock? Thanks

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I don't use FFFFg for priming, I prime with whatever my main charge is (whether it be FFFg or FFg). There isn't really a noticeable delay as opposed to FFFFg. Priming with Pyrodex is not advisable because of it's much higher flash point compared to real black powder. That's why pyrodex is mostly used in percussion guns as opposed to flintlocks.

Pyrodex is best relegated to percussion ignition guns. 2F will work just fine as both primer and main charge.

As has been said, here and elsewhere,,,, yes, yes you can use 2f real black powder as both prime and charge. No, you can't use Pyrodex as prime, and generally it should be avoided as a main charge for flintlock.
Some have claimed differently with Pyrodex, saying it works just fine, but I wonder what their standards for calling it a success are.
Yes, you could put a few grains of real black down 1st, then the rest of your main charge as Pyrodex,,,, but what a pain in the neck.

I have the small 2 ox flask, with a 10 grain spout. That down the bore and then p on top, works fine.
Yes it’s a pia but….. so is ml in general

So you are pouring powder down the bore directly from the flask?

tenngun said:

Yes it’s a pia but….. so is ml in general

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(Emphisis added)

So why make it more so?

I meant can I use Pyrodex down the bore.

Walkabout said:

I meant can I use Pyrodex down the bore.

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Pyrodex in the bore of a flintlock can be troublesome to ignite. Anything other than real black powder needs a hotter ignition to touch off.

Some guys do a partial load of BP topped with a substitute, and some say substitute works just as well. My experience is the substitutes just don't work reliably enough in a flint ignition...but work fine with percussion.

And a trade gun is typically a larger caliber smoothbore and 2F is the right granulation.

Walkabout said:

I meant can I use Pyrodex down the bore.

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Pyrodex has a higher flashing point. The heat from the pan is just not enough to ignite the Pyrodex reliably. Some people do a duplex load of 5 grains real black powder and the rest of the main charge Pyrodex and the real BP acts as a "starter" for the main charge of Pyrodex. I don't recommend doing this however.

granth said:

Pyrodex has a higher flashing point. The heat from the pan is just not enough to ignite the Pyrodex reliably. Some people do a duplex load of 5 grains real black powder and the rest of the main charge Pyrodex and the real BP acts as a "starter" for the main charge of Pyrodex. I don't recommend doing this however.

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Why?
Not being argumentative or ‘smart’, asked seriously as to what your thinking is.
I prefer the real thing, but for a bit it was difficult to get BP at all and I loaded up on p. Still have a lot left.

Brokennock said:

(Emphisis added)

So why make it more so?

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It’s not as much trouble as loading a shot load.
But
I don’t think ‘priming horns’ were a thing in the old days, so it does ‘Erik’ me to have a ‘priming horn/ flask’ in my kit.

tenngun said:

Why?
Not being argumentative or ‘smart’, asked seriously as to what your thinking is.
I prefer the real thing, but for a bit it was difficult to get BP at all and I loaded up on p. Still have a lot left.

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I always prefer the real thing (don't we all?). From what I've heard, duplex loads have a tendency to hangfire and flash in the pan. I would personally only load like this if my powder was running low. But hey, if it works for others it works , just not my cup of tea.

I understand.
I tried just five grains but wasn’t enough. One needs ten or fifteen to fill the breach area and give reliable ignition
And even then it still ‘taint real’ black powder

I guess if I was determined to use a duplex load I would make up paper cartridges with a little black and the rest peerodex. Just have to mark which is the BP end.

Question, any harm or danger of grinding 2f in a non metallic or non sparking pestal and mortar for my priming flask?