can i use FFF black for a 44 cap & ball pistol... 1860 army?

[mozeppa]

this is what was given to me by an uncle.....pistol and all the goodies.

if it's not correct .....what should i use?

if it is acceptable ....how much should i use?

[Rebel Dave]

You can use FF, Or FFF, no problems.

Rebel Dave

[rodwha]

3F is great for these pistols. I also use it in my .50 cal rifle.

You could load it all the way up without issues unless it has a brass frame which will eventually get battered.

How much you'll want to use is determined by what you intend to do with it. Many, who target shoot, find 15-22 grns with filler to be quite accurate. Mine are for hunting and so I use a more energetic powder (Olde Eynsford or Triple 7) and found the most accurate load that wasn't light. For my Remington New Model Army .44 it's 30 grns with a ball or my custom WFN bullets. With my Ruger Old Army it is 35 grns. These are close to 5 grns short of a max load.

My Remington likely produces standard .45 ACP power and my Ruger a bit over .45 Colt levels.

Do you have a powder measure?

[Omnivore]

FFF is the most commonly used granulation for the percussion revolvers. As rodwha says; if your revolver has a steel frame, use as much powder as you like, depending on what your gun likes for accuracy.

[mozeppa]

yup ....i got the measure, capper tool... literally everything needed.

[JeffG]

Seems like I used about 20 grains FFF and about 13-14 grains cream of wheat atop that which placed the RB right at the face of the cylinder. Then a smear of crisco or bore butter to seal.

[swathdiver]

this is what was given to me by an uncle.....pistol and all the goodies.

Is the frame case hardened steel or brass? If steel, load it up to your heart's content, if brass, don't exceed 20-25 grains.

[Don Purcell]

Ruger Old Army .44 (actually .45) with 40 grains FFF and round ball is extremely accurate.

[Battis]

More info from an old COLT INDUSTRIES - FIREARMS DIVISION pamphlet:
"FFG black powder is best for the large and medium-sized revolvers, and FFFG for the small pocket models, but any grade that is available will work reasonably well."

[rodwha]

Old Swiss powder bottles:



Also a fellow who works in a museum took apart BP cartridges from the late 1800's and found all of them used 4F or finer powder.

And a fellow studying paper cartridges from the Civil War found that the Hazard's Pistol Powder used in the .44 cal guns contained 4F and was as powerful as Swiss.

And then this screenshot is from a 70's Lyman Black Powder Handbook for a .44 caliber:

[victorfox]

Any idea on velocity, energy and pressure drop when using 3FG? Not that it's all that important, but would be nice to know where to stop while shooting a modern gun. In my case, I'll be using a Taurus Judge, except it's a brazilian smoothbore (sold as .410 only), but the .45 factor is still there...

[John Boy]

if it is acceptable ....how much should i use?

With a 128gr pure lead round ball:
25gr FFFg - 730fps
30gr FFFg - 760fps
40gr FFFg - 840fps

[rodwha]

He's talking about a .44 cap n ball revolver and not a muzzleloader.

Standard Goex powder?

[Texas by God]

My .44 brass frame cap&ball revolver loves 25 grds fffg. Accurate enough for squirrels! Best, Thomas.

[snoopy]

I use 3f in everything I've got including .54cal, may not be correct but it works for me. If I ever come across some 2f locally, I'll try it in the larger calibers.