12 days less than a year ago, I made the first test of Almar's brown low temperature Black Willow charcoal to compare his results with mine.
Before completing the full tests, weather, life, and other irons in the fire put the powder tests on the back burner for a minute, or nearly a year.
I finished testing it, today, and all I can say is his charcoal, in my opinion, is better than the best I have tested, to date. Burn rate; accuracy; muzzle velocity and cleanliness were all superior to all my previous powder tests.
On 4-22-2022, I tested 75-15-10 1.5ff (<12 >18 mesh) 1.587 Density. I think the numbers quoted by Waltham Abbey, on their rifle powder was holding on a 20 mesh, but I only had an 18 mesh. So, those grains were pretty large, compared to anything I had tested before or since and for what ever the reason; my rifles did not like it.
Both the .58 and .50 had very low muzzle velocities with my normal 60 grain heads up tests. Accuracy and cleanliness were great. However; the .570 PRB averaged a mere 1040 fps MV. But the deviation was only 8fps on 5 shots, after tossing 1 weird velocity.
The .490 PRB averaged 1164 fps on 5 shots, and only deviated 15 fps. Again, the accuracy was great.
I have not figured out why the low velocities; because the exact same powder batch in my normal 3fff (<24 >50 mesh) was a much different story. It averaged 1399 fps with the same 60 grain charge, in the .58. While the .50 produced 1618 fps average for 7 shots, with a deviation of 24 fps, and efficiency came in at 26.97 fps/grain. Accuracy and cleanliness were superb, for my place.
Today I finally tested the 76-14-10 recipe that was the main focus of a comparative test. Today's test was only on the .50 caliber because I was getting limited on powder. Which has been stored for a year and looked great, but I question the year long storage for the actual loss of performance; if it was not all due to the recipe change. Temperature was 11° warmer and humidity 6% higher today, versus a year ago. If that made any difference.
Starting with the 1.5f powder with a density of 1.62, once again; the large grain showed an actual loss of velocity over the test of last year. 10 shots averaged 1080 fps MV. That was not only low, but 84 fps slower than the 75-15-10 1.5f from last year.
This raises the question for me, was it a loss of performance from powder quality deterioration, due to a year of storage; possibly too great density; or was it simply a combination of recipe change and Atmosphere changes? Or, was it both? The variables are too numerous to lay blame on a certain thing, but once again; my rifle did not want to perform well, with the combination.
I had 8 shots of the 1.5f 75 grain loads made up and shot them, to see if they made much difference in the velocities or accuracy. Accuracy improved and of course the velocities increased, but not what I expected. The 8 shots averaged 1372 fps and I was expecting it to be much higher.
An interesting side note: the efficiency of the 60 grain charges averaged 18 fps/grain. The 75 grain charges efficiency averaged 18.29 fps/grain. I expected those numbers not only to be higher; but to have a wider margin.
Lastly, to keep it heads up, I tested 10- 60 grain loads of the 3fff 76-14-10. They averaged 1570 fps with a deviation 37 fps.
While much higher velocity than the 2ff; the average was still 48 fps MV slower than the 75-15-10 3fff, a year ago. with an efficiency of 26.16 fps/grain.
Almar, if you see this, I think the last we talked about it, you were liking the 76-14-10 recipe. Since you have a new rifle, you probably have tested your powder more thoroughly than I was able, and have drawn your own conclusions.
If you have seen a drastic difference in the 1.5f powder than what I experienced, I would like to hear your input on it.
My 3fff seems to perform at or above the stats I've read by Thompson Center, for my rifle with their stated velocities of 60 grain charges of commercial 2ff recommendations. But, my 2ff and especially the '1.5f' of Waltham Abbey lore just isn't performing well, in my rifles.
This could be the storage deterioration we've read about recently; possibly too much density, or even an indication of inefficient milling, though I saw no evidence of it, in the fowling.
It did do better in the .58 with the 42 inch long barrel. But the 3fff still blew it away and I'm not sure why. Maybe increasing the loads more may make it do differently, but going from 60 grain charges to 75 grain didn't show a significant difference.
Bottom line though is; the 60 grain 3fff from your charcoal has set my benchmark of all my tests. I think had I had more powder to play with, I would have got 1700 fps MV with 75 grains.
I tried my best to duplicate your charcoal, with my last batch of Sassafras and it looks really good. I hope to test it very soon. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to play with your charcoal.
One last thing I noticed, the year old powder showed less fowling than any powder I have shot. Even the same powder from a year ago. I swabbed after every shot, to keep the tests as heads up as I could, but I could have ran each of the 24 consecutive balls without swabbing, with no problem. I love the way it performs.
Buck
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Originally Posted by HWooldridge
