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4f priming powder...

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I've heard it too many times. "I can detect no difference in 3F and 4F in the pan. Maybe not, but detectable is not reality. 3F does NOT ignite the main charge as quickly as 4F. Detectable or not. Me, I want my lock to perform as well as possible even if I can't tell it. The difference can mean the absolute center of your aiming spot and a shot that hits very nearly dead center. Not much difference but some. That difference can mean only a little bit, but I want my rifle load to be as well done as possible. One pound of 4F priming can carry you through know, and I think you do know priming powder should be 4F... arms on years of shooting. One small priming flask Like cleaning between every shot, or not. It is trouble to clean beteeen shots, but why not? Why not take every precaution to send your ball to the small, specific place you want it to go if you can do so by very careful loading I won't believe skipping an important step to load or reload can have a better affect on target. As muzzleloaders we KNOW our loading procedures make us much slower than a modern smokeless powder shooter. If we know going in we are slower and because we love muzzleloaders, why NOT take time to make every shot the best it can be. Don't skip the little things just to prove your methods work. ALWAYS make your load the best it can perform, regardless of who will never know the small advantage you took with an extra step. Just do it the best way you know and I think you do know 4F is bettrr/faster than 3 F. "Works just fine" is not a testament of expertise. It is a shortcut to, but not reaching, toward perfection.
 
Ask competitors who win on national and international levels what priming powder they use...
99.9% of people are not competitive shooters.
Most punch holes in paper or hunt.
I’ve shot competition for 30 years and hunted for way longer.
I don’t load the the same way for both activities.
 
Well I'm just getting started in all of this and I have a crappy CVA 32 caliber squirrel gun and it will hardly fire at all with BP substitutes. Barley fires 3 out of 10 tries with BP 3f and 3f in the pan. 4f BP in the pan fires every time. With my limited experience it looks like the gun has a lot to do with what powder works or dosen't.
drill the touch hole a bit bigger and problems may go away.
 
I made my own BP but I haven’t pressed or granulated my product so it’s still in a rough granulated form most in a very fine powder, I’m guessing like 4f. One of our members said that to avoid misfires with my percussion, I should drop 10 grains into my barrel before I drop my 80 gns of triple 7 ffg. This works flawlessly and I get ignition every time.
 
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Lots of people say this: "3F works just fine.". I don't like " just fine" because that's a notch below what's best. Whether you can discern it or not, 3F is slower. Now consider the extra step 3F primers tells us about. When you load from flask or horn or whatever, you have to turn loose of that item to seat your patch & ball. Then you have to reach for it again to prime. How is priming with 3F from your horn, etc, eliminating a step? How is it slower to reach for your priming device? Your priming device holding 4F attached or within easy reach is NOT an extra step. Just saying "just fine" or "good enough" is not good enough for me.
 

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