FFFG goex used in 45/70

[Hossfly]

Made some Black powder screen method, not pressed for density, as I haven’t made a press yet.
After screening and grading looks like I have between 2 and 3 f size. I loaded 100gr of this homemade bp into a Traditions MZ 50 cail and shoved a saboted bullet down to touch the charge. Capped with 209 shotgun primer, set into gun vice and pulled with string. Happy it went bang and fired the projectile fine. This is with Willow charcoal @ 75/15/10 mix and ball milled.

My question is this, would FFFg goex work? I have 4 Lbs of this FFFg Goex. Looking at it size of grains look smaller than my screened homemade powder.

Also would FFFG goex work in the 45-70 single shot Henry, with a compressed charge to get close to 60-70 grains into the case?

[Nobade]

Yes, it will. Maybe back off the charge a bit and you may get a little more fouling than normal 1.5 - 2 F but it will work just fine.

[Harter66]

I made a bit of screened powder . What I found with mine was that it took by volume , 80 gr of T7 3f , 85 gr Pyro RS , 90 gr Goex FFg , and 140 gr of my screened powder to get equal velocities in a TC Hawkins 50 cal .

Loaded in a 44 cal 1858 Rem I used 20 , 25 , 25 and filled flush so about 40 gr and had 940 , 910 , 890 , 840 fps with a 141 gr .454 RB .

I use mine filled flush in a 2nd Model Dragoon with RB , 200 , and 250 gr bullets .

I have explored the idea of using mine in 45 Colts , 45-70 and 38/357 , my concern is that the charge will collapse under the bullet and leave air space . Corned , pressed ground and sized or commercial powders solve this problem .

BP burn rates are controlled by gross surface area within the charge . In 45-70 FFg vs FFFg will give about 18kpsi vs 22 kpsi with variables of bullet weight , fit , etc with a 405 and closer to 22/28 kpsi with a 500/535 . SAAMI max is 28 kpsi for TD and 34 for Marlin etc going up to 42-45 depending on data point for Ruger .

[Hossfly]

Harter66 what do you mean by powder collapse under the bullet and leave air space?

[indian joe]

I made a bit of screened powder . What I found with mine was that it took by volume , 80 gr of T7 3f , 85 gr Pyro RS , 90 gr Goex FFg , and 140 gr of my screened powder to get equal velocities in a TC Hawkins 50 cal .

Loaded in a 44 cal 1858 Rem I used 20 , 25 , 25 and filled flush so about 40 gr and had 940 , 910 , 890 , 840 fps with a 141 gr .454 RB .

I use mine filled flush in a 2nd Model Dragoon with RB , 200 , and 250 gr bullets .

I have explored the idea of using mine in 45 Colts , 45-70 and 38/357 , my concern is that the charge will collapse under the bullet and leave air space . Corned , pressed ground and sized or commercial powders solve this problem .

BP burn rates are controlled by gross surface area within the charge . In 45-70 FFg vs FFFg will give about 18kpsi vs 22 kpsi with variables of bullet weight , fit , etc with a 405 and closer to 22/28 kpsi with a 500/535 . SAAMI max is 28 kpsi for TD and 34 for Marlin etc going up to 42-45 depending on data point for Ruger .

forget the volume measures and go to a direct weight comparison and I bet your homemade screened powder is almost identical to the FFFg goex - screened powder will take heavy compression in the loading process and if you lean on it enough is possible to get a full weight charge into a brass case . I have done that with 45/70 and 44/40 .........fill the case brimful, compress it, fill it again, compress again - thats gonna be close to the full WEIGHT charges (36 - 40 grains in 44/40 and 65 - 70 grains in 45/70) its a lot of fiddling but proves the point - corned powder is way easier to load in cases but more trouble to make.

[indian joe]

Harter66 what do you mean by powder collapse under the bullet and leave air space?

aint gonna happen - use some extra compression to make sure of it - screened powder in brass cases - just fill it right to the top (drop tube or vibrate as well) then compress, add wad, compress again, seat boolit, go shoot ----- the load might be a little tame but not so far short of the mark

[Hossfly]

aint gonna happen - use some extra compression to make sure of it - screened powder in brass cases - just fill it right to the top (drop tube or vibrate as well) then compress, add wad, compress again, seat boolit, go shoot ----- the load might be a little tame but not so far short of the mark

Thanks IJ I’ll try that. That gives me more confidence, with my homemade powder. Just a little nervous trying different things. But just to know I can make powder if things go to pot and cant buy any. Also would like to make my next deer hunt with my powder and a boolit I cast would be fantastic.

[tnlonghunter]

I've shot mostly 3f GOEX in my .45-70 Sharps, mostly because I had a fair bit and wanted to see if I could get good enough groups to only need to buy 1 kind of powder for all my BP guns (I do more flintlock than anything else). I'm still fine tuning, and I'm sure that something more coarse will work better, but it seems to work well enough for my purposes.