BLACK POWDER VS. RELATIVE HUMIDITY

[montanadan]

The other day(last sunday) went shooting.The day started out dry (less than 20% humidity) as the day went on storm front moved in and in less than 2hrs humidity went to 80%. My lyman GPR became much easier to load(softer fouling?), but the amount of fouling went way up. I started to see those little red dots at the end of the barrell, generally out here in Wyo. never hardly see them. I seemed to get much more fouling, but a heck of lot softer. With this increased fouling the groups started to open up, has to wipe much more often. Is this a normal , I ask this because a lot of you guys live back east where the humididty is much higher than we normally experience. How exactly does humidity effect black powder being a mechanical composition? It seems the the higher the humidity the more fouling? Might be a dumb question ...Just curious. Respectfully Montanadan

[Longcruise]

I've never noticed any increase in fouling as humidity rises but have seen the fouling become softer as you describe.

My solution is to wipe after every shot to maintain the same conditions as closely as possible regardless of humidaddy.  Have the same problem here in CO where it can range from 15% to 95%

So, how come a guy from WY is called Montandan? :grin:

[montanadan]

Longcruise I have had this handle since I was 6 or 7(will be 60 in june) Born and raised in southern Calif, My whole family worked in the motion picture industry,in the summer when I was not in school I would always ask if they going to film anything up in Montana(I liked westerns), WARD BOND asks my mom and dad if I could for the summer. So off I went ........got to ride horses, play in the mountains, hang out with everyone. This was back in the early fifties, I could not ever ask for a better summer vacation. Went several summers,everyone just started calling me Montanadan. I hope I did not bore you to much..Thanks for responding....Respectfully Montanadan

[Keith Lewis]

This is slightly off-subject but I have asked a similar question relative (NO PUN INTENDED) to 777 fouling problems. I have noticed that the people that seem to have less problem with 777 and the dreaded "crud ring" seem to live where the humidity is higher. I on the other hand have a major problem with 777 crud ring and I live in Arizona. We all know that with black powder cartridge shooting a blow tube to put moisture in the barrel helps to keep the fouling soft from shot to shot. I have not had anyone mention that the fouling was heavier with humidity.

[montanadan]

Keith I have used T-7(still do) but I shoot sidelocks no inlines. Most of the CRUD-RING stuff I have heard about is IN-LINES. The only thing with T-7 use very little lube on the patches(just sort of damp), and I now only use RWS caps(1075 plus). In larger grain loads (60grns and above) the RWS caps seem to give more complete ignition, can shoot all day,easy to load, hardly any fouling. Some of the crude tests I have done I did not find T-7 to be very hygroscopic, unlike APP powder or real black powder. Prior to shooting T-7 I have found that all lubes must be removed from the barrel, I use disk-brake cleaner and several pathes, till they come out clean, I think(others will probabaly prove me wrong) oil contamination of any kind is biggest single problem with SUBS and reliability. I have been trying to get away from shooting T-7 because of the price and availablity out here, well I hope that some of this rambling has helped. Good shooting...Respectfully Montanadan.

[Keith Lewis]

I don't want to extend this a lot on this site as the problems I have had with 777 are with an Omega (not traditional). I am now set on either Black Mag3 or American Pioneer. BM3 is my choice but if you think 777 is expensive don't even consider BM3. The Black Mag3 powder is really great and they claim it can be used in sidelocks and flintlocks. Fouling and residue is less than some slow burning smokeless that I use in black powder cartridge 40-65 loads.

[Longcruise]

I hope I did not bore you to much.

Not at all.  Interesting story.  I was just pulling your chain a little. :oops: