Use 2F in Piettas?

[garandman]

This is real BP - Goex. Can ya use 2F in a handgun? Pros / Cons?

Thx.

 

[Poor Private]

Yep you can. I very frequently use my .58 caliber cartridges for my civilwar rifle in my pistols. It's 2ffg. I have no problems using it.

 

[Zonie]

The 2Fg powder might cause a little more fouling and the velocity might be slightly less but other than that, 2Fg powder will work very nicely in any pistol.

 

[Robert Egler]

I usually use 2f in my Pietta Remington New Army.

 

[rodwha]

Isn't it also apt to have some unburnt powder expelled from the barrel? More so than it could have with 3F?

I intend on buying a .50 cal rifle and stocking 3F for the both of them as it should have higher velocities, less fouling, possibly reduced volume for rifle, and burn more efficiently from what I understand. Am I wrong?

 

[Coot]

Since I keep both 2f and 3f on hand, I use whichever powder the gun that I am shooting at the time happens to prefer. There are those that think of a .50 as the break point between using 2f vs 3f but many people use 3f for everything - rifle, pistol & prime. If I was to have to pick only one powder, it would be 3f.

 

[gordy]

No problem , I usually use 3fff in all my pistols and revolvers and most rifles I have/had, I,ve found unless your teying to squeeze the last bit of MV/FPE froma a BP gun , the 3fff works fine across the board. Smoothbores with longer barrels may work a little better with 2ff or even 1f.
I,m certain there will be some here that will argue the fact , This is just my opinion and works for me.
:thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[cynthialee]

I just started loading 3f into my rifle and I am sold. I get to use a smaller powder charge and only need 1 type of powder for my pistol and rifle.
I do have some pyrodex 2f but I have a hard time forcing myself to use it as I can not stomach the smell of burnt pyrodex mixed with soapy water come clean up time.

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

Garandman, I only use 2Fg in my revolvers. I use my Piettas for Cowboy Action Shooting and after much testing I have come to the following conclusions:

1. I can use more 2Fg to fill the chamber which brings the ball/bullet closer to the forcing cone in the barrel
2. 2Fg recoils softer the 3Fg so I can recover faster and shoot quicker
3. When compressed well 2Fg does not foul any worse the 3Fg.
4. My Piettas shoot much tighter groups with 2Fg

The last point, of course, is the most important. If your Piettas don’t group well with 2Fg than don’t use it. I also use Cream of Wheat over the powder as filler so that the ball/bullet is seated just below the chamber mouth as close to the barrel as possible.

With my 5 1/2 inch barreled Pietta New Model Army revolvers and 35 grains of 2Fg and 15 grains of Cream of Wheat and a .451 round ball I average 1 5/8 inch groups at 25 yards from a rest. Which is far more accuracy than I need for CAS.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Once screwed up and grabbed a can of fg by accident (which I use in my cannons) and ended up at the range with a 36 cal remmie repro and only fg powder.

If actually worked fair. just alot more fouling.

 

[cynthialee]

In the case when you get caught with the wrong grade of powder, so long as you have powder that is too large, lightly milling it in a mortar and pestle would make for a smaller granulation. Just be sure not to grind it too much or you would likely end up with 4F equivilant. Granted if you did it like that you would end with a less uniform product....

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

I’ve wondered about grinding a course grade of powder into a finer grade. Wouldn’t grinding 1Fg powder compromise the graphite coding on the powder kernels and thus making it susceptible to static electricity?

 

[cynthialee]

I’ve wondered about grinding a course grade of powder into a finer grade. Wouldn’t grinding 1Fg powder compromise the graphite coding on the powder kernels and thus making it susceptible to static electricity?

bet it would

 

[gordy]

Over the years , there have been several experiments with static electricity to determine if in fact it would ignite black powder NO!\ when you crush the ball into the cylinder chamber , your doing the same thing. If your chamber mout and forcing cone are propperly aligned what little "jump" there is shouldn,t make a dectable difference in accuracy , FPS or MV.
:thumbsup:

 

[Coot]

The graphite coating on BP is an anti-clumping measure - not a protection for static electricity. Read the locked threads at the beginning of this subforum re BP & static electricity for detailed info. re static electricity. The Laflinandrand website has a great deal of good info re BP history, standards, production methods, etc. that also covers graphite and glazing on BP.

 

[nilo52]

Thanks Coot :hatsoff:

Nilo52

 

[aeatwood]

According to Keith, although 3f will work ok, the ORIGINALS were generally shot w/ 2F, unless .31 or smaller. I usually get better accuracy w/ 2F than I do 3F, and I don't have to mess with a filler. And the guns that like it, REALLY like it. Guns that shoot 3-4" groups w/ 3F can cut that in half in some cases w/ 2F. And this is with more or less service loads, not target loads. I have 1 .36 Pietta Remmy that shows a slight preference for 3f, but my other Remmy, all my '61 Navy Colts, and my Pietta .44's seem to like 2F better. 1 Dragoon doesn't care, but it has "issues" that need to be cleared up. It has the short arbor syndrome of some Uberti's.

 

[garandman]

Interesting. I'll try it.

 

[Trumpetman]

I am currently low on 2f and 3f Goex powders, and I plan to eliminate one or the other of these powders from my bench. The question is: which one should I keep? The only gun I have that is questionable with 2f powder is my Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy .44 Cal. revolver. I would like to test it with 2f before my next powder purchase, but I would appreciate any input you all may have in my specific situation before I spend a lot of time (and lead) on testing.
FYI: I shoot paper targets at 21 feet and 50 feet, and steel targets out to 25 yards. The gun shoots well for these purposes with 17 grains of 3f, with an average velocity of 806 fps (without filler). Previously, I tried 15gr, 17gr, 18gr, 22gr, and 26gr of 3f , but I get the best accuracy with 17gr of 3f so far. Also, it takes at least 17 grains to fill the chamber enough for the arm to set the ball tightly against the powder charge.
On this forum I learned about the importance of bringing the ball closer to the forcing cone of the barrel, so I started filling with grits or cream of wheat. That improved my groups a bit too. I have not yet chronographed this load after I started using the filler, but I believe I have lost a few fps in the process, which is OK with me. Some of you know the manual for the brass-framed 1851 Confederate Navy revolver calls for a minimum of 12gr and a maximum of 15gr of 3f.
If my accuracy for 2f Goex turns out to be good, I'm leaning toward 2f as my only powder. Does that seem like a good idea, even though I use such a light load? :hmm:
P.S. (I know the original 1851's were chambered in .36 Cal. I still enjoy shooting my eighty-nine-dollar .44 Cal. Pietta.)

 

[cynthialee]

I would go with 3f

Those minimum and maximum load outs were developed by lawyers, not shooters.
For my 1851 in 44 I load it with 27 grains of 3f with plenty of corn meal to bring the ball closer to the barrel. It is a rather stout load for the brass frame and I will pay for it eventually when the heavier loads mess up the brass frame. But it is certainly not overloaded. Minimum load should be about 15 grains and max would be about 35 although I only put one cylender of 35 grain 3f down range. Acuracy went out the window with that much powder. Somewhere around 20-25 (turned out to be 27 for my pistol) with plenty of filler and your .44 should find its sweet spot.

Before I got serious about the sport I just loaded any BP revolver with 25-30 grains and a ball on top with greese. Never any filler and never any thought to tailoring the charge.