58 Boomer: Swiss powder do burn faster than our Goex brand. And, the numbers don't correspond to our system of identification. Swiss 1 1/2 is the equivalent to our Goex FFg powder. Swiss #2 powder is the equivalent of our FFFg powder. So be careful in choosing powders, changing them, and using anything near a maximum charge. Since you don't tell us which Swiss powder you bought, I recommend that you reduce the charge by 15 % at minimum, and work up from there to find an equivalent load to what your gun is sighted in to shoot. Use a Chronograph to do this, or you won't learn much before you have shot half your new powder supply! If you don't own one, borrow one, or buy one. The Chrony costs less than $100. In most cases you can find an accurate load using only about 60 grains of Goex FFg in a .50 cal., and 70 grains using a .54 cal. gun. Shooting a steady diet of 80 and 90 grains of powder is hard on the gunstock, and sometimes on the shooter. Shooting maximum charges of 120 grains of powder is almost silly. Most of the barrels on these guns are too short to burn all the powder, unless you are shooting TC's maxiballs. For a reference, remember that most of the buffalo that were shot were killed with guns like the .45-70, or .50-70. The largest cartridge made for the Sharps rifle, was the .50-140- 550. Don't try to make a long range buffalo gun out of your TC hawken.
I once was spending part of a lunch hour in the local sporting goods store when a huge man walked and asked the owner if he knew where he could find someone to " build him a Left Handed Hawken " rifle. He went on to say that he was shooting a friends .50 cal. Hawken and it kicked the snot out of him. The owner didn't know anything about Black powder rifles, so he told the man to talk to me. I asked him what load he was shooting and he said,
" 150 grains ". I asked him what powder? " He said, " 3F". I asked him what projectile? He said, " the Maxiball ". I put my hand out and offered to shake his hand. He hesitated and asked me why? I told him I wanted to shake that hand because it was still attached to his body, and it was a credit to the competence of Thompson Center, that they could build a gun that would take that kind of punishment without coming apart.! He told me some clerk in another store gave him that load when he and his buddy bought the gun. This guy was f'5" tall, and weighed over 300 lbs. He had hands that were huge! But he was putting that hooked buttplate into his shoulder, rather on his arm( they were too big around to fit, he said, and I believed him) so he got hurt shooting it. I told him to reduce that load to 60 grains, using FFg powder, and a Patch round ball and the gun would last longer, and he would enjoy shooting it. I did give him information about contacting the NMLRA so he could get Muzzle Blasts and find a gun maker in the classified ads.
