Three Topics Often Receiving Comments

Addressing three topics that receive a lot of comments if mentioned during a video. 1. The use of the term "central-fire". 2. Using different black powder granulations. 3. Measuring black powder by weight instead of by volume. Each topic seems to spur a lot of debate. This video might answer some questions or create more debate.

[@jamesbutton233]

Enjoying watching and always learning something new from your videos. Thank you 👍

[@terryqueen3233]

That was very educational and I really want to thank you for that. Send more videos. Thanks for this video. Keep ye powder dry!

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Terry. Happy New Year, Todd

[@kentwilliams3326]

I was stationed at Idaho Fall Nuclear Reactor Facility in 1962 as a Navy student and went hunting jack rabbits on a crisp winter day. I noticed that the cold really got through my non-insulated boots quickly and had a funny effect on the inside of my nose. Saw one jack who had an apparently frozen rear end. Later that day I heard on the radio the temperature of -46 degrees!

[@dannybrittonknives]

Great information!! Thanks for taking the time to explain the topics! Always enjoy your videos!!

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Danny, I appreciate you watching. Todd

[@Everythingblackpowder]

Great video, Doc. I weigh black powder charges all the time and it always upsets people. I recently tried some 1F in my BP 10ga loads and it tightened up my patterns considerably.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Willard, I've been using 2F in the 12 gauge rounds. I might try 1F and see if I get the improvement you saw. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@soylentgreen7074]

I’ve got a box of 44 s&w Russian from 1872 I believe it is and says 44 central fire on it.

[@bigboresledder]

Well put!

[@martinkavanagh196]

Welcome to 2023. - Living a long way distant from "the land of the free" down here in New Zealand one would be most surprised to find anything other than FFF offered for sale. - Indeed you would count it a good day if there is anything other than 777 Substitute in the shop lately. Transport safety restrictions are truly limiting what is available. I'm planning on cooking my own black powder small batch when I can gather the three needed parts together - using KZbin methods. Thanks for another interesting video.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Martin, Good luck on making your own black powder. I admire your ambitious spirit and it sounds like a very interesting undertaking. Be careful and let me know how it eventually turns out. Todd

[@gileschavous]

I have really enjoyed your videos. Excellent quality in audio, video, and production. I shoot civil war replica black powder firearms in skirmishes (teams shooting breakable targets in timed events offhand at 50 & 100 yards). The reason for this comment is when the organization allowed inclusion of the Henry and Spencer replicas that use a central fire cartridge loaded with black powder. In the 58 caliber rifle musket with few exceptions generally 45 grains 3F and soft lead for the bullet mold. When my mentor purchased his Henry he convinced me to do likewise. He naturally molded the 44-40 bullet using soft lead and 3F at 30 grains.The Uberti Henry was out of the box very accurate at 50 yards - for about 4 shots, then could not keep it on the paper at 50 yards. Clean the bore and accurate again for 4 shots. Bottom line is that the Henry replica had a fast twist for smokeless powder and the black powder with soft lead was lead fouling the rifling. Switched to hard lead (wheel weight) and then at least 30 shots and accuracy retained. I would like to see you have a video that addresses that lead hardness factor in your black powder firearms

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Giles, I'll do that. But good lead hardness testers are expensive. It might be a while. Todd

[@williamsepessy8687]

Good description of black powder granulation and its application per twist rate/velocity. I also enjoyed your observations on weighing black powder charges in order to obtain a consistent volume per application. Most of my black powder loading(i.e.--a lot!) is for Cowboy shooting but I still like to insure I have consistently repeatable ammunition. This was a good video to escape the -45 degree conditions!

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks William, I appreciate your commitment to historically correct ammo for cowboy shooting. Keep it up, Todd

[@jims9249]

Congrats to your son on that nice buck!

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Jim, he was incredibly excited. So excited that I worried he would mess up the shot. Good times. Todd

[@doranmaxwell1755]

For BP... volume is 'close enough' for smokeless even very small variations have a large affect. Lee makes powder dippers for smokeless but... which one you use depends on the make of the powder.

[@rooster3019]

AND really strict target shooters also screen their powder. Ask Mike,

[@coelagos8645]

Oddly enough I've been using 62.5 grains of Swiss 3F in two different 45-70 Pedersoli & one original sharps rifles for many years with great results and 55 grains of the same powder in a Browning B.P.C.R. high wall in 40-65 caliber again, best accuracy. A few years ago I improved the accuracy of all those loads when I switched to poly over powder wads from the usual cork or fiber wads I had been using. It pays to experiment with the unusual sometimes. I really enjoy your presentations please keep up the good work.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks for the comments. Accurate black powder shooting certainly takes a lot of experimentation. It's hard to give specific advice when different guns require different loads. I'm happy you found the best mix for your guns. I appreciate your insights, Todd

[@ChacoteOutdoorRecreation]

Don't waste the extreme cold weather time when you are stuck inside, this is the time to put a coat of tallow on every piece of leather gear and get another 100 years out of it, this is also the time to walk on wood floors with your spurs and make adjustments while developing muscle memory and navigation techniques because not every spur or strap works with every boot, this is also the time to cook up buffalo meat and sit down to a good movie or historical documentary, a great time to deep clean and polish all the locks of every firearm. Also, a great time to get in some reverse curls and get your forearms competition shooting ready, other than your eyes nothing is used more when delivering lead to a target, Jerry Miculek Jr. has proven that for a long time.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Great advice. Todd

[@ricktaylor5744]

Great job

[@453421abcdefg12345]

Of course we have the "Greenhill formula" to calculate what twist rate we should have for a given length/weight projectile, this was all calculated long ago, my Sharps has an 18" twist, so I have to use the correct weight projectile for best results.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Great reference. I'll look deeper into the Greenhill formula. I'm not well versed there. Thanks, Todd

[@Gunsmith-4570]

Apothecaries used to use the grain weight a lot, as far as recent history aspirin was prescribed by grains in the early days of its use. Medicines, gun powder, and chemicals are really the only common substances that used that small of amounts. Even shotguns used drams instead of grains, later when they began using smokeless powder they listed the powder charges in drams equivalent.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks for the comments. I did not know about aspirin being measured it grains. I do think it's funny that dram equivalent is still listed on boxes of some shotgun shells. This supplies most people with absolutely no reference since drams is no longer a common term and only a handful of us load black powder. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@453421abcdefg12345]

I would not worry about comment on your totally correct use of the term "central fire", centre fire is only a lazy persons way of saying the same thing. As for black powder weight/volume, of course weight is the correct way of measuring it, black powder gives energy relative to the weight of the charge, nothing to do with volume, the only reason we have volume measures is because back in the 19 th century they had no way of measuring by weight in the field, so a volume measure was devised, which with black powder is accurate enough, but to prove the point, if you measure by volume 100 grns of fff, then do the same with f you will find there is a large difference in weight, this will give different velocities due to the weight of the charge, unfortunately there are people out there that do not think about the reason things are as they are, but you will never change that! Good to see a nice long video, are you at minus 47 chill C or F ? Chris B.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Chris, it was -47 Fahrenheit and dead still. I appreciate your clear example of varying weight between the same volume of different powder granulations. Demonstratively correct. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@larryclark9380]

47 below 👇 holy moly. A little “global warming” might be a good thing.

[@chaecoco2]

Since this video is only 2 months old, where did you get all that GOEX Powder? You have a secret stash, LOL. I was happy to see Buffalo Arms is starting to finally get some Swiss and Schuetzen in stock--but no GOEX.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

I was lucky to have several cans before the shortage. Now the future of Goex coming back to the market is in question. Good to know Buffalo Arms has some stock. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@missingthe80s58]

July. I'm going to compare Estes made to Hodgdon made. I suspect some differences will be found.

[@453421abcdefg12345]

As a matter of interest I wonder what the effect on burn rate is when the powder charge is compressed, in effect this would make the powder grain size less relevant as each cornel of powder burns from the outside in, therefore if it is one compressed mass it would, to a certain extent, act as one mass, like a powder pellet, it would be worth taking some velocity readings from compressed charges compared to uncompressed charges. Chris B.

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Chris, Over compression will form a pellet and drop velocities. I've overdone it and had this happen. You try to put compression on the powder without crushing it. But I haven't done a trial. Not a bad idea. Todd

[@sasquatch885]

I shot a Frontiersman match last summer. Shooting my ‘73 rifle in 45 Colt with 3F powder I couldn’t anything after 10 rounds. Gonna try dropping down to 2F. Great video.👍🏻

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

I hope that works. Also make sure there's enough bullet lube to make it down the entire barrel. That can be a problem too. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@robert4027]

12g shotgun black powder loads. powder recommended. ?? one F or Two. F ?? PLEASE

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

For shotgun, I use a lot of FFg. It's a wide, shallow powder column and FFg seems to be a happy medium. I've used Fg and been okay with it, but I think you get a more thorough burn with FFg. Refer to the Lyman Black Powder Manuel and you'll a lot of FFg load data. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@robert4027]

@@frontierwesternheritage1356 awesome thanks very much

[@dorisjohnson8857]

I have a Pedersoli Replica 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Carbine 45/70. How much, if any, disassembly would you recommend to clean it after shooting with black powder cartridges? DJ

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

DJ, I've never cleaned one, so I can't give you a lot of specific information. But if you're using a sloppy solvent, you will want to clean anywhere the liquid is going. Many black powder cleaning solutions are water-based and can run between the barrel and the stock. Chase it wherever it goes. If you can control the solvent on the patch - not as big of a deal. I would remove the trap door occasionally and oil the hinge. Also, oil around the firing pin and wipe clean. If you anneal your brass, very little fouling will blow back into the action. Most will go down the barrel. That's a big help. Thanks for watching, Todd

[@dorisjohnson8857]

@@frontierwesternheritage1356 Thank you for your excellent and informative reply. I just saw a video like that on Cinnabar's site r.e. a Winchester Lightning I will keep that all in mind To clean my disassemble revolvers I use Ballistol 1 part to distilled water 8 parts as a solvent and then a high pressure steamer blast then dry completely all parts while still hot.Then oil and assemble. I been only shooting BP revolvers so wasn't sure the best method for a Trapdoor. I do anneal my BP brass (mostly Colt 45 so far ) after every 3 firings. One batch now fired and reloaded 24 times not a single split or smokey case 🙂 Thank you again for your advice and all your great videos that I enjoy so much ❤ DJ

[@fubar55676]

I think people confuse the fact that you're not supposed to weigh black powder substitutes because they tend to be less dense the real black powder so they're only equivalent in volumetric

[@frontierwesternheritage1356]

Thanks Stephen, That is an excellent point that I hadn't thought of. Thanks for commenting, Todd

[@DavidVanVorous]

By the same token if one does a volumetric measurement of the BP subs and weighs it one can get a weight vs. volume relationship and adjust accordingly. Basic arithmetic type thing...

[@fubar55676]

@@DavidVanVorous if I were going to do that I would probably take 10 measurements then average it out and repeat that anytime I change lots of powder

[@l.a.3887]

👍👍

[@Snap4590]

FWIW - I use Swiss 1F in a 40-70 SBN and it's very accurate out to 600 yds. I use Swiss 1 1/2 in my 45-90. Other than I only use 4F as a flintlock primer, I don't feel that there are hard and fast rules for what granulation should be used in what caliber. Use what woks.

[@jimmyvalhalla1939]

38-55 1894 , 300 yards easy with irons.