Black Powder?

have convinced myself to try (real) black powder instead of Pyrodex that i had used in past for T/C Hawkens .50 cal.

What are the differences in Goex/Swiss/other brands as far as fg,ffg,fffg, etc.....? and what should i use for my aplication of shotting round balls and great plains style bullets?

Thanks everyone really appreciate all the advice and help

deadwooddan said:

have convinced myself to try (real) black powder instead of Pyrodex that i had used in past for T/C Hawkens .50 cal.

What are the differences in Goex/Swiss/other brands as far as fg,ffg,fffg, etc.....? and what should i use for my aplication of shotting round balls and great plains style bullets?

Thanks everyone really appreciate all the advice and help

Click to expand...

The difference is really in the kind of charcoal used to make the brand of powder. A different grade of charcoal can effect the over all power of the powder. For instance take a FFg (rifle grade for .50 caliber and above) powder. Swiss powder VS Goex. Swiss is 15% stronger the Goex with the same measure (by volume) of powder. So you would take that into consideration when judging the charge. For instance if you were shooting 90 grains of Goex you might want only 75 grains of Swiss.

Fg = cannon powder and some of the large muskets like the Bess
FFg = .50 caliber rifle and bigger
FFg = pistol powder and rifles up to .50 caliber
FFFg= pan prime powder

Now some people do shoot FFFg in .50 caliber and bigger rifles. You have to try your rifle and see which is most accurate. I personally like FFg in most of my traditional .50 caliber and bigger but have shot FFFg.

Also Swiss powder tends to burn much cleaner then other powders. It is a the Cadillac of powders. It has more power and tends to not foul as bad. Do not let black powder scare you for being dirty. I've shot 20 rounds without swabbing in my Hawkins using black powder. Foul is dependent on a number of things like humidity, temperatures, and other things. Some days you get more fouling then others. Why I can not explain. I just shoot it. I personally shoot Graf's & Sons powder. Its cheaper then Goex and seems to work just fine in my rifles.

goex seems to be same price on grafs web site as there brand? did i miss something?

Is there a minimum you have to purchase (25lbs) like other sites?

Hoping to find some 2f at the fun shows coming up but if i don't need to find best place to order off the web.

thanks cayuga for all the support.

If Graf's and Goex are the same price buy Goex. As for how much you have to purchase, you can buy just one if you want, but remember there is a
$25.00 haz mat plus shipping fee on that powder. If you can find it at a gun show, you are much better off.

Glad to help.

I buy mine from Graf & Sons as well. My first order was 5 lbs and still was cheaper and easier to get than locally, even with the Haz-Mat fee. Now I order 10 pounds at a time. Good balance between cost per can vs having to shell out for an entire case at one time. I use 2f in my 54s and 3f in my 50s.

There is a great difference in price between Goex and Swiss.

I pay $12.50 for Goex and Swiss runs about $23 to $25 a pound here in Virginia. I get mine from a friend who shoots N-SSA here in Winchester at a local store. I am fortunate. I have completely switched over to BP in all my sidelock ML.

Cayuga is correct about the performance of Swiss over Goex and how much more clean it burns. But bottom line, when it comes to cleaning what difference does it make which is cleaner. Your guns will have to be cleaned anyway!

In hte long run the Goex powder is more economical to shoot.

I shoot ONLY BP, and have shot Goex, Swiss, KIK, and Elephant brands. Swiss is "rifle powder" in 19th century terminology and the others are regarded as sporting powders, so not as powerful.

With the relatively short barrel of the TC Hawken .50cal, fffg would probably be the best choice. If you were shooting long, heavy conicals from a longer, quick twist barrel I would suggest ffg.

Considering the price difference, I would buy other than Swiss.

the swiss is more powerful, but also remember that the power is comming from more of the powder being burned into a gas upon ignition. what that means is less fouling. still using black powder, but surely cleaner than GOEX or elephant