Swiss powders. . .45 cal conicals.

[Offshore]

I've tried several brands/types of "off the shelf" powders in my 45 cal. 1-26twt. Hot Rod Hawken with decent accuracy. . .looking to try some of the Swiss brand of powder. I have two bullets that I have been shooting, both grouping inside 5" at 100 yds. (not bad but feel it could be better); the LEE 452-255 RF and the Accurate 46-310H both lubed/sized to .453. The two powders that have shown the best results have been GOEX 2F and Triple 7 3F at 80 grains by volume lit by a RWS musket cap. I'm needing to make a powder order for other metallic cartridges I load for and plan to add Swiss to the mix. For this rifle/bullet which Swiss powder 1.5 or 2.0 should I order. . .or is it a coin toss? Thank you.

 

[edmehlig]

IdahoLewis shoots 80gr of Swiss 2F in all of his 45's with great results.

 

[deermanok]

Don't think you can go wrong with ordering Swiss powder.
Seems to be a bit cleaner burning than the Goex.

 

[sdporter]

Doc White recommends 3f in his .45’s. I shout 2F Swiss with good results in mine.
I personally wouldn’t burn 1.5F in a .45

 

[edmehlig]

Doc still says Pryodex P is still an excellent powder for Whites, no crud ring, don’t have to swab between shots you Just need to clean bbl well afterwards.

 

[Idaholewis]

IdahoLewis shoots 80gr of Swiss 2F in all of his 45's with great results.

That is my “Go To” Load for “Almost” Everything, There are a Few Exceptions, But VERY few. With 375 to 500 Grain Bullets, 80 Grains of Swiss 2F is an AWESOME Load for me. For 500 Grain Bullets and Above, I prefer to bump up to 85, and even 95 Grains for the little Extra Velocity. I like my Lead Bullets to Run in the 1300 to 1400 Fps Range, Regardless of Weight.

 

[Idaholewis]

Doc still says Pryodex P is still an excellent powder for Whites, no crud ring, don’t have to swab between shots you Just need to clean bbl well afterwards.

Pyrodex P is no doubt a Good Powder when you learn it’s Requirements, @idahoron uses it exclusively, and has had great luck with it, Pyrodex P is ABSOLUTELY the Reason that Ron is able to Re-load a Paper Patched Bullet down a Fouled Bore Multiple times, This is due to Pyrodex P leaving a Soft, Gooey type Fouling. On the other hand, 1 shot with Swiss Real Blackpowder, and you will NOT be reloading a Paper Patch Bullet down that Bore without Stripping the Paper off. A Swiss Fouled Bore after shooting a DRY Paper Patch Bullet feels about like 80 Grit Sandpaper. When i shoot Paper Patch, I have NO CHOICE but to Swab my Bore Good before Reloading

as most know, I am not a Fan of ANY of the Substitute powders, They require a Larger Flash Hole to get Reliable ignition, and even then i have Stil had Failures. Simply put, Substitute Powders are NOT for me. Trust in our Gear is a LARGE part of this Hobby (at least for me it is) I always say, Shoot what you Trust, and feel you can Count on

 

[Widude]

I bought 2 lbs of FF Goex yesterday, $21 each. I haven’t bought black in a long time. It’s for the old 58 cal 1861 Springfield. We’ll see how it works.

 

[Offshore]

Thank you all for the advice. I plan on adding a couple pounds to my next powder order.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

Pyrodex P is no doubt a Good Powder when you learn it’s Requirements, @idahoron uses it exclusively, and has had great luck with it, Pyrodex P is ABSOLUTELY the Reason that Ron is able to Re-load a Paper Patched Bullet down a Fouled Bore Multiple times, This is due to Pyrodex P leaving a Soft, Gooey type Fouling. On the other hand, 1 shot with Swiss Real Blackpowder, and you will NOT be reloading a Paper Patch Bullet down that Bore without Stripping the Paper off. A Swiss Fouled Bore after shooting a DRY Paper Patch Bullet feels about like 80 Grit Sandpaper. When i shoot Paper Patch, I have NO CHOICE but to Swab my Bore Good before Reloading

as most know, I am not a Fan of ANY of the Substitute powders, They require a Larger Flash Hole to get Reliable ignition, and even then i have Stil had Failures. Simply put, Substitute Powders are NOT for me. Trust in our Gear is a LARGE part of this Hobby (at least for me it is) I always say, Shoot what you Trust, and feel you can Count on

Lewis, it never occurred to me to ask you, until now, do you use #11 caps or musket caps?

 

[Idaholewis]

Lewis, it never occurred to me to ask you, until now, do you use #11 caps or musket caps?

I shoot No. 11s Exclusively, and LOTS of Em I like to keep about 5,000 on hand at all times I have tried the Musket Caps, RWS 1081s, But I’m not a Fan of them in my Sidelock Muzzleloaders, The ONLY advantage they have is their Ease of Handling due to their much larger Size, Wings (Top Hat) As for Spark, a No. 11 Magnum Cap is EVERY BIT as Hot

 

[451whitworth]

Swiss and OE 1.5F work great in .45's when shooting 500 grain and up bullets. Not needed for your bullet weights. I burn a fair amount of 1.5F in Whitworth/Volunteer rifles. Musket caps are great for substitute powders as they have double the gas volume of even #11 magnum caps (both have = flame temperature). Musket caps also work better than any #11 when you are burning big charges of black powder. I have two October Country big bore round ball rifles (.69 & .72) and a Pedersoli .72 double rifle. When lighting off 140 to 180 grains of black powder you can feel the slower ignition of a #11 magnum cap vs. the instantaneous boom of the musket cap. Also the chronograph will show 100+ fps increases in velocity with those big boomers when using a musket caps vs. any #11.

 

[Idaholewis]

Swiss and OE 1.5F work great in .45's when shooting 500 grain and up bullets. Not needed for your bullet weights. I burn a fair amount of 1.5F in Whitworth/Volunteer rifles. Musket caps are great for substitute powders as they have double the gas volume of even #11 magnum caps (both have = flame temperature). Musket caps also work better than any #11 when you are burning big charges of black powder. I have two October Country big bore round ball rifles (.69 & .72) and a Pedersoli .72 double rifle. When lighting off 140 to 180 grains of black powder you can feel the slower ignition of a #11 magnum cap vs. the instantaneous boom of the musket cap. Also the chronograph will show 100+ fps increases in velocity with those big boomers when using a musket caps vs. any #11.

I haven’t found that to be so in my Trials. Hundreds and Hundreds of Pounds of Lead Down Range, From 60, To well beyond 800 Yards. I shoot Swiss Powder Exclusively in my Rifles, Mostly 2F Grade, and LOTS of it.
I have shot 560 Grain Minie Balls through a .58 Cal, With 170-180 Grains of Swiss 3F Powder, Using No. 11 Magnum percussion Caps, Ignition was INSTANTANEOUS.

As i said above, i have shot RWS 1081 Musket Caps, But wasn’t AT ALL impressed, They are stil sitting here beside my Chair, I would Gladly give them to someone local, Along with any Musket Nipples i might have laying around. I find ZERO advantage in Them with ignition in my Sidelock Muzzleloaders. The ONLY thing i can give them is their ease of Handling due to their larger size, i can see them being nice for Tight spaces such as Scoped Plunger inline Rifles, But thats it for me

 

[BrantSFGDS]

I shoot No. 11s Exclusively, and LOTS of Em I like to keep about 5,000 on hand at all times I have tried the Musket Caps, RWS 1081s, But I’m not a Fan of them in my Sidelock Muzzleloaders, The ONLY advantage they have is their Ease of Handling due to their much larger Size, Wings (Top Hat) As for Spark, a No. 11 Magnum Cap is EVERY BIT as Hot

I'll have to get some of those. I haven't bought caps in over 25 years, at least. RWS was the hot ticket back then. Magnum 11's are new to me. Thanks!

 

[Idaholewis]

I'll have to get some of those. I haven't bought caps in over 25 years, at least. RWS was the hot ticket back then. Magnum 11's are new to me. Thanks!

If you are already setup for Musket Caps, and have had good luck with them, By all means stick with em

To me, they just aren’t worth the Extra Cost. In some Sidelock Muzzleloaders such as the TC Hawken’s and Renegades like i shoot, Hammer to Nipple alignment must be SPOT on in order to Clear a Musket Cap, Any slight misalignment and the Hammer Cup won’t go over the Musket Cap, and hit it Squarely, Where that same Slight misalignment with a No. 11 is NO Problem at all

These are the musket caps i have sitting here, Again they are FREE to someone local, as they can’t be Shipped (Hazmat BS)

The misalignment i speak of, Here is a Musket Nipple in place, NO GO

Now with a No. 11, She’s a GO

 

[BrantSFGDS]

The RWS caps i ha e are #11. I used to have some musket caps as well but they were for a percussion Sharps. I still have some RWS 11's but they are pushing 30 years old. Hammer misalignment is common with musket caps, not terribly hard to correct but just a pain. I just stuck with #11's for my TC's.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

The RWS caps i ha e are #11. I used to have some musket caps as well but they were for a percussion Sharps. I still have some RWS 11's but they are pushing 30 years old. Hammer misalignment is common with musket caps, not terribly hard to correct but just a pain. I just stuck with #11's for my TC's.

 

[Idaholewis]

The RWS caps i ha e are #11. I used to have some musket caps as well but they were for a percussion Sharps. I still have some RWS 11's but they are pushing 30 years old. Hammer misalignment is common with musket caps, not terribly hard to correct but just a pain. I just stuck with #11's for my TC's.

Hammer misalignment is easy to correct, and i do so if it’s Bad, But if it’s a Slight misalignment i don’t give it a 2nd a Thought. But with Musket Caps, Perfect Hammer alignment is VERY important, As you can see from the example above

 

[brad502a]

Hammer misalignment is easy to correct, and i do so if it’s Bad, But if it’s a Slight misalignment i don’t give it a 2nd a Thought. But with Musket Caps, Perfect Hammer alignment is VERY important, As you can see from the example above

how do you correct the misalignment?

 

[Walkingeagle]

Heat up and bend the hammer into alignment.
Walk