curtis and harvey's blackpowder

[beartrap]

I was wondering if anyone out there is familiar with Curtis's and Harvey's blackpowder from scotland and how it compares to Goex powder. I just aqquired a few pounds of it and the 1FG is about the same texture as GOEX FFG. I have not had a chance to try it yet it is too damn cold up here. Also if anyone has ever tried Meteor FFG.

 

[robinghewitt]

I tried some and it worked okay, only had a few shots so I can't really say more than that. I have an unopened tin of C & H Canister No.20 which I am keeping for a rainy day, I'd love to hear how you get on with it :thumbsup:

 

[beartrap]

an oldtimer here gave me quite a bit,some of the cans look about100 years old. i hope it is not as messy as goex1FG because it looks like goex 2f or 3f.the cans are very oldand they are 1FG curtis and harvey's. I will keep you informed, but it may be a while before this storm quits and then i can go try it.

 

[horkeye]

The first pound of powder I purchased (10 years ago) was C&H; never seen it since, I assumed production stopped back then sometime. Sorry, have not heard of Meteor.

:thumbsup:

Lehigh County, propa longarms.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

What C&H were renowned for was a fast, moist- buring "sporting" grade of powder very comparable to the current "Swiss" powder. For comparison, GOEX is the next-slower type called "rifle" powder, then there is the slower-still "musket" grade. This is a separate dimension from granulation - there can be various granulations in each of these grades. One of the things that's critical to both the fouling and the burning rate of a powder is the charcoal. The very best is debarked, properly charred (specially undercooked for making gunpowder) buckthorn alder, which is what C&H used. Unfortunately, they lost their charcoal source, and in their last couple of years of production (approx. 1971-73) they went from a sporting to a musket grade of powder. I have some of the late-production powder marked Fg (as in 1F), and it really is, even though it looks almost like 3F - it burns distinctly slower than GOEX 2F.

Bill Knight has written a fair bit about Curtis & Harvey powder in discussing the characteristics of black powder in general. Much of it is/was archived on the[url] Schutzen.net[/url] website, but that is down at the moment. I copied some of it and can quote this much:

> This spruce/pine sawmill waste charcoal is nothing new. Back in 1971 the ICI bp plant in Scotland (C&H) ran out of buckthorn alder wood that they used for charcoal in all of their faster burning type of bp. They had imported this wood from Spain but that source dried up. While it is a common wood in what were then Eastern European Warsaw Pact countries they would not do business with those countries. So the ICI bp plant (C&H) was forced to use a mixture of pine and spruce commercial charcoal. They had used this charcoal for years for their slower burning powders. They found that they could not make acceptable "fast" powders with it. This became a factor in their exit from the bp manufacturing business in early 1973. <

I hope this is useful.

Joel