Powder for 1951 Colt navy

[FluorideInMyWater]

Howdy Fellas

I need to get powder for my colt navy. I watched a few videos and the persons were using 22 grains of powder. Is that a universal amount for all brands of black powder?
Someone mentioned that Swiss powder is the best, but it comes in 1F, 1.5F, 2F. Not sure if this is the strength of the powder or something else.
If I'm loading .275 diameter balls, what powder would I get and how many grains would I use. Wondering if there is a conversion chart somewhere that tells you....
Thanks!

[jimmykan]

You don't want to use a substitute?

Hodgdon Triple Seven FFFG works pretty good in my cap and ball revolvers.

[edgerly779]

have fffg black powder in sales section.

[MajorSideburns]

The different grades of "F" are not "powers" of black powder, they are the size of the powder's grains. The more F's, the finer the powder. It's true that the finer the powder, the quicker it will burn, so in that sense yes you might have a little bit more velocity or "power" but it won't be earth shattering.

As far as the charge amount, you can't fit enough black powder or black powder equivalent substitute inside the chambers to be dangerous so I wouldn't stress too over the exact charge or which size powder you get. You will generally lose accuracy as you fill the chambers to maximum charge but you won't create a dangerous situation. These days you are kind of stuck with whatever you can find, but generally the smaller pistol calibers will have the best velocities and performance with the smaller grain powder like 3F. But if all you can find is single F or FF, those would work just fine.

I'm assuming you made a typo and meant you are using .375" balls. The usual starting charge for a .36 Navy is about 15 grains of any powder between 1F and 4F.

[edgerly779]

Location since black powder cannot be shipped without hazmat cert.

[sealocan]

As stated above I think black powder substitute will work fine, be easy to clean up after your shooting and I believe there's supposedly less chances of rust developing with it.

[Steve45-70]

Most of the time a pistol shoots 3f powder but 2f would be just fine. I am a traditionalist and like to shoot real black but black powder substitutes are much easier to find.

[Mojaveman]

Have a couple of '51s.

15 grains for paper targets and maybe 20 for a defensive load.

[NapalmCheese]

You need to put in enough powder so the ball seats firmly against the powder when you ram it down. If you're using the onboard rammer and you don't use enough powder, you will fail to seat the ball down hard on the powder.

That said, I just use a 20 grain spout on a powder flask that drops 20 grains by volume (about 18 grains FFFg GOEX by weight) under a wool felt lubed wad and .375 balls. With that load I have enough space for more powder I once filled up the chamber with FFFg until I had just enough room to put a wad in the chamber. At that point I put a bull on top and rammed it all home, it compressed enough when the ball was fully seated for the cylinder to be able to rotate. That gave me about 1000 fps with good accuracy. Measured out it was about 22 grains of powder by volume (maybe 23). That load with FFg is what Elmer Keith suggested.

[AR22]

Yeah 2F is what I would recommend..I actually hate the substitutes..Nothing like the real thing..Accuracy from my experience is even better with the real black..Cleanup is not any easier than real black than with the substitutes from my experience either.

As far as substitutes being less corrosive..I have no experience there as I always clean my muzzle loaders right after shooting..But have read that others say it is just as bad or worse if the substitutes go uncleaned..

[Sousuke]

Howdy Fellas

I need to get powder for my colt navy. I watched a few videos and the persons were using 22 grains of powder. Is that a universal amount for all brands of black powder?
Someone mentioned that Swiss powder is the best, but it comes in 1F, 1.5F, 2F. Not sure if this is the strength of the powder or something else.
If I'm loading .275 diameter balls, what powder would I get and how many grains would I use. Wondering if there is a conversion chart somewhere that tells you....
Thanks!

Assume .275 is a typo. You need .375 or possibly .380 if you aren't getting lead rings when seating the balls.

Try to get 3F or a 3F substitute if you can. Substitutes can be found in many gun stores and big box retail.

Here is a link to a company that sells the real stuff: https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...ategoryId/3501 Unfortunately prices have shot up about 20-30% because Goex is no more.

[NapalmCheese]

Goex was bought by Estes (the rocket company) and should be producing black under the Goex brand again.

[Sousuke]

Goex was bought by Estes (the rocket company) and should be producing black under the Goex brand again.

Thats good news. I used to buy Estes kits as a kid, back then I didn't realise the engines were blackpowder.

[MajorSideburns]

Goex was bought by Estes (the rocket company) and should be producing black under the Goex brand again.

That is great news thanks for that update, many of us were worried when they announced they were closing because it was the only USA factory that makes blackpowder.

[NapalmCheese]

Thats good news. I used to buy Estes kits as a kid, back then I didn't realise the engines were blackpowder.

That is great news thanks for that update, many of us were worried when they announced they were closing because it was the only USA factory that makes blackpowder.

Good news indeed!

I was also worried. Sounds like it's going to take a bit to start selling powder again, but so far as I know, the plan is to continue selling powder.

https://www.ilovemuzzleloading.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-estes-energetics-buying-goex