Quote:
|
Originally Posted by fernando
Wayne, interesting entry and wise words on what concerns risks involving proximity to cannon discharges and fabrication of gunpowder. Let me guess however that your last paragraph/s on powder classification and those 'FF' specs skip over a few centuries to a fresh context ... re-enactment purposes and all  . ... |
Picky, Picky,Picky.
the "F" classification was a US thing from the latter half of the 19c & still in use for 'modern' Black powder weapons which are still very popular for target shooting and hunting,
...and re-enactments.
Earlier gradations can be found in the US Ordinance manual. See below, handy thing to keep a copy of, you can download a 20 mb pdf version from the link I enclose below. (too big to attach here)
UK designations:
For larger cannon, a powder designated as "Large Grain" or L.G. was used, until the advent of rifled cannon, at which point a powder called R.L.G (Rifled Large Grain) was introduced. This powder worked well for cannon of smaller calibre, but when guns of 7 inches and larger calibres were introduced, it was found advisable to use a slower burning powder than R.L.G, at which point, Pebble powders (P and P2) were introduced. These were larger grain powders of cubical-shaped grains. P powder grains were about 5/8 inch per side and P2 powder grains were 1.5 inch cubes.
For small arms, a more rapidly burning powder is required, and therefore these are much smaller grains on average than the ones above. In England, there were four grades of powder produced for small arms:
Fine Grain (F.G.) powder to be used by smooth-bore firearms (e.g.) the Brown Bess musket. This powder was also used for the charge of 7 pounder muzzle loading cannon and for the bursting charge of shrapnel shells.
Rifle Fine Grain (R.F.G.) powder, to be used by most rifled small arms, except the Martini-Henry rifle and pistols.
Rifle Fine Grain 2 (R.F.G.2) powder, to be used by the Martini-Henry cartridge.
Pistol powder, to be used by pistols and revolvers such as the Colt Single Action revolver and the Deane-Adams revolvers. This is a quick burning powder and is suitable for shorter barrels, where a slower burning powder would not finish burning within the barrel completely. Since it is a very quick burning powder, it was also used for shrapnel shells.
These powders were classified based on grain size and density and were separated by passing the grains of powder through sieves. Sieves are designated according to the number of divisions per linear inch. Therefore, a 4-mesh sieve has 16 holes per square inch, an 8-mesh sieve has 64 holes per square inch and so on. R.F.G. powder should pass through a 12-mesh sieve, but not through a 20-mesh sieve, and have a density of about 1.6. R.F.G.2 powder should also pass through a 12-mesh sieve, but not through a 20-mesh sieve, however the density is higher than R.F.G. powder at 1.72. F.G. powder should pass through a 16-mesh, but not through a 36-mesh, while pistol powder should pass through a 44-mesh, but not a 72-mesh.
In addition to these powders designated for service small arms, there were also powders classed as "Blank powders", used for training purposes. As with the above powders, these were also made in different grain sizes, (e.g. Blank R.L.G., Blank R.F.G., Blank F.G. and so on). These were made from recycled gunpowder from old shells and broken ammunition boxes and only used for firing salutes and training rounds, where the full power of ammunition was not considered critical.
Serpentine Powder charge table for various bore sizes is attached.
The US Army 1862 Ordinance Manual can be downloaded from:
https://books.google.co.uk/books/dow...w1ENDvkigVCrZA
It contains the American seive sizings from the period. It also has an extensive section on formulation, chemicals used, actually making black powder from scratch, both dry mix 'serpentine' used thru the 17c into the 18th, and corned.
Serpentine powder charge chart for naval cannon sizes: