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joeb33050
10-24-2006, 07:48 AM
COMMENTS? CORRECTIONS?


8.4.1 ABOUT BLACK POWDER
Black powder comes in "F"s, where FG or "one F" is the coarsest = biggest grains, progressing through FFG, FFFG to FFFFG or "four F" = very fine small grains.
In very general terms, F is used for the largest bore rifles and big smooth-bore guns; FF is used for big bore rifles and pistols, FFF is used for small caliber rifles and pistols, and FFFF is used for priming charges in flintlock guns.. .
Black powder is said to explode rather than burn like smokeless powders, so some suggest that shooters should limit the amount of black powder kept on hand and/or store black powder in an outbuilding rather than in the house. I have kept as much as four one pound cans of black powder in the cellar without any problem, but it takes only one surprise to make a convert. Or a corpse.
There are several substitutes for black powder on the market now, such as Pyrodex and Triple 7; both Hodgden products. I have used Pyrodex and it seems to work just like black powder. Opinions differ about these black powder substitutes; some shooters claim that they aren't as accurate as black powder, others claim wonderful accuracy with the substitutes.
Black powder, and to a lesser degree the substitutes, is very corrosive in gun barrels. The residue or fouling is said to be "hygroscopic", a highfalutin word meaning that the fouling absorbs water out of the air. This water/fouling mixture is what is so corrosive, causing rust.. Cleaning should involve a lot of very hot water and patches and then thorough oiling. This isn't a problem, just takes a little time.
In the black powder world the word "cartridge" has three meanings.
First is the cartridge made for muzzle loading military or hunting rifles and for the revolvers. This is a paper device meant to hold the powder and ball and speed up reloading. In the case of the military rifles it was ripped open with the teeth, the powder was dumped down the bore, the paper followed, and the bullet was rammed home on top of the powder and paper. The revolver cartridges were placed in the chamber and rammed home.
Second is the cartridge made for breech loading rifles such as the early Sharps, that is put into the chamber whole. These are made of linen or paper, sometimes with combustible paper. The plan for the Sharps linen cartridge was for the block to shear off the rear of the cartridge as it was closed; exposing the powder to the primer.
Third is the brass cased cartridge as we know it today, as used in the later Sharps, Maynard and Remington rolling block rifles for example.

Willbird
10-24-2006, 09:19 AM
There were also ctg. made from aluminum foil thickeness brass sheet rolled in layers.



personally, I would avoid putting the debate issues about black powder analogs in this section, it belongs in a seperate section on those powders. This section would also contain info I think on the early "bulk" powders that were smokeless or semi-smokeless intended to be used in BP cartridge guns on a volume for volume basis for black powder, very similar in concept to the BP analogs we have now.

Black powder IS an explosive, and is legally treated as such. Smokeless powder is a flammible solid.

There are and were also far coarser grades of BP than Fg, some I have read with grains the size of walnuts for artillery. Today I think you can still buy a coarser grade called "cannon".

You could also mention maybe that BP was used to fire even smokeless powder artillery, they used a 45/70 case loaded with BP from what I have read. This was for smokeless powder bag charge guns maybe ??

Bill

9.3X62AL
10-24-2006, 10:24 AM
Fg = "Fusil granulation", with Cg = "Cannon granulation".