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The g in ffg

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I know this has been asked a number of times before. What does the g stand for in black powder labels such as ffg? Do the factories coat powder with an anti-static coating and coat them to resist moisture?
BTW, the Bevel Brothers published a study and tests in Muzzle Blasts magazine that proves that Static Electricity does NOT ignite black powder. It's all explained in the tests results; something about the properties of static elec. and ignition temps, etc.
 
BTW, the Bevel Brothers published a study and tests in Muzzle Blasts magazine that proves that Static Electricity does NOT ignite black powder. It's all explained in the tests results; something about the properties of static elec. and ignition temps, etc.
The Bevel brothers only proved that static ignition is extremely difficult to achieve under controlled laboratory conditions. The real world can be much less forgiving.
 
G=graphite glazed, which helps it stay dry.

When I lived in Vermont, we used to buy canon powder by the 25-lb bag and then split it up between all the members. It was the same size as the 3Fg but wasn't glazed with the graphite. It worked fine for reenactments but if you kept the powder in the pan for a while on a humid day, like you might do when hunting, it would turn to soup much more quickly than the glazed Sporting Powders.
 
From the Encyclopedia Britannica.



"After glazing, the powder is graded by sieves into different sizes and packaged, usually in kegs.


Because the burning of black powder is a surface phenomenon, a fine granulation burns faster than a coarse one. Grain sizes are designated as F, 2F, etc., up to 7F, which is the finest, and from C up as the grains become larger. For the A powder the letter indicating the fineness becomes 3FA, etc., and if the powder is glazed, this is followed by the letter g—e.g., 3FAg."
 
I like firkin😉
Hm, a firkin is about a fourth of a hogshead which is a large cask.

Lets stay with rifle or fowling gun barrels which can be measured by balls per pound, diameter (land or groove diameter(?)), gauge, millimeters or inches? I suspect when we see bbl or brl in a post on this Forum, we can safely speculate that we are talking about barrels.
 
Glazed with graphite makes g the appropriate notation. Why is this so difficult to understand? :doh:
 

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