Same powder for barrel and pan?

[Voltigeur_de_la_Garde]

Is it necessary to use a finer powder for priming the pan or can I use the same powder I put in the bore?

 

[FlinterNick]

Is it necessary to use a finer powder for priming the pan or can I use the same powder I put in the bore?

Nope

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

Technically, a finer powder will be faster burning. However, without sophisticated measuring devices, most shooters could not tell the difference. Many load and prime with the same horn and have no issues.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[Duk]

I prime with the same powder that I'm shooting i only have to carry one powder horn

 

[sixpak1]

I've used 3F for years in the bore and pan in my rifle and smoothbore with great results

 

[tenngun]

Military procedure was to have the ball and powder in a paper tube. Tear off bottom with your teeth, prim the pan and pour cartridge down the bore and ram ball home
Seventeenth century matchlock shooters often had a priming flask, but we know of no documentation of a separate priming horn of flask used in general after the flintlock age.
Shoot what’s in your horn, you won’t be disappointed

 

[kyron4]

I use 4F for just casual shooting, but use 3F when hunting due to the fact 4F is unglazed and finer and turns to soup in wet humid conditions. 3f seems to hold up better in those conditions.

 

[Banjoman]

I use 2f for main charge and prime. Only have to carry one horn.

 

[Clark Badgett]

Military procedure was to have the ball and powder in a paper tube. Tear off bottom with your teeth, prim the pan and pour cartridge down the bore and ram ball home
Seventeenth century matchlock shooters often had a priming flask, but we know of no documentation of a separate priming horn of flask used in general after the flintlock age.
Shoot what’s in your horn, you won’t be disappointed

DeWitt Bailey documents some military usage of horns for priming. Mainly the more specialized troops.

 

[tenngun]

DeWitt Bailey documents some military usage of horns for priming. Mainly the more specialized troops.

Were those not cannon priming horns?

 

[Clark Badgett]

Were those not cannon priming horns?

It seems that in at least one reference the writer, a Ranger company captain, actually calls it a priming-horn filled with pistol powder to reduce miss fires in action. Another simply states the horns held about a pound of powder. Bailey states and documents that light infantry at least some of the time used powder horns.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I use 3f in the pan as well as the main charge in my .32 caliber rifle.. In my large caliber guns and my smooth bore, I use 2f as the charge and 4f in the pan. In my experiences, I've not had good luck using 2fg as a priming charge. I guess I could use 3f in the pan of my larger bore guns, but I've got half a can of 4f, so I'm going to keep using until it's gone.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

1 horn and 1 powder.

 

[Rob M.]

Main charge and prime are both 2F ...

 

[WALT53]

Main charge and prime are both 2F ...

Proofs in the pudding .

 

[hanshi]

I use 4f when I have it and 3F the rest of the time.

 

[springfield art]

Is it necessary to use a finer powder for priming the pan or can I use the same powder I put in the bore?

No. The old timers didn't have the luxury of stocking grades of powder, and the time of ignition is imperceptible to the human eye/brain.