Vesuvit LC

[Turnup]

Just got a some Explosia Vesuvit LC Black Powder. A kind gentleman at my club drove all the way to Market Rasin in order to collect a bulk order at a very good price (£20.40 per kilo but you have to buy in multiples of 16kg), and at that price it was just too good to pass up. He came back with 32kg of it in his car . Apparently you can lawfully transport up to 50kg on an ordinary explosives licence + RCA, which came as a surprise to me.

He claims that it is more or less like TS2.

Anyone using it?

What load for a .44 pistol?

[tacfoley]

What load for a .44 pistol?

Pistol or revolver? Ball or bullet? Smooth-bore or rifled?

They DO have a different levels of chargement.

tac

[Turnup]

Pistol or revolver? Ball or bullet? Smooth-bore or rifled?

They DO have a different levels of chargement.

tac

Revolver, rifled, ball (swaged, soft).

But in fact quite interested to hear about all experiences with this powder, which is why I was not specific.

[tacfoley]

Revolver, rifled, ball (swaged, soft).

But in fact quite interested to hear about all experiences with this powder, which is why I was not specific.

Sorry, can't help you at all, since I've never heard of it. That, of course, means diddly, since there will undoubtedly be folks here who know all about it.

However - average loads for a replica .44cal BP revolver in good condition range from around 20 - 40gr of average quality 3Fg, depending on how much commotion you are after at either end of it. Swiss BP, being of a far higher quality than the stuff that we otherwise get, gets loaded with around 10% less load than TS2, maybe even 20%, since, IMO, TS2 is on a par with shooting chicken droppings by comparison. GOEX is good, too, if you can ever get it in this country. Most BP shooters in North America, me included, shoot the various grades of that brand with great success.

Replica single shot target/duelling pistols of the LePage/Moore/Mortimer/Kuchenreuter/Mang in Graz variety like between 15 - 25gr or so - patched ball is the norm there. Flintlock or percussion is immaterial.

Smooth-bore pistols need around 25gr up to 40gr for this rather small-bore of .44cal. Patched, too.

Your initial question about loads leads me to suspect that you are new to shooting BP handguns, and if this be the case, then this is undoubtedly THE place in UK to get wised up on the subject. Many folks here have been shooting since BP was all there was to shoot. So I'm told.

So ask away.

tac

[Turnup]

Sorry, can't help you at all, since I've never heard of it. That, of course, means diddly, since there will undoubtedly be folks here who know all about it.

However - average loads for a replica .44cal BP revolver in good condition range from around 20 - 40gr of average quality 3Fg, depending on how much commotion you are after at either end of it. Swiss BP, being of a far higher quality than the stuff that we otherwise get, gets loaded with around 10% less load than TS2, maybe even 20%, since, IMO, TS2 is on a par with shooting chicken droppings by comparison. GOEX is good, too, if you can ever get it in this country. Most BP shooters in North America, me included, shoot the various grades of that brand with great success.

Replica single shot target/duelling pistols of the LePage/Moore/Mortimer/Kuchenreuter/Mang in Graz variety like between 15 - 25gr or so - patched ball is the norm there. Flintlock or percussion is immaterial.

Smooth-bore pistols need around 25gr up to 40gr for this rather small-bore of .44cal. Patched, too.

Your initial question about loads leads me to suspect that you are new to shooting BP handguns, and if this be the case, then this is undoubtedly THE place in UK to get wised up on the subject. Many folks here have been shooting since BP was all there was to shoot. So I'm told.

So ask away.

tac

Tac,

Not new to BP. I shoot with several international level muzzle loaders (but do not compete with them!) and have benefitted from their advice over many years, but they have not tried Vesuvit before either. I suspect it is relatively new to the UK.

I have tried home-made (really just to prove that it could be done relatively easily - it went bang but that's about all I could can say in its favour),

FO Triangle, only a little better than my home-made.

TS2, much better but not as good as:

Goex fff - faster. (I have precious little of that left in a stash purchased from the US international Team at Wedgnock many years ago - rumour was that the USAF brought in a pallet load of it for them - far too much of course so they sold off the surplus at the end of the meet),

Swiss No2, IMO faster than Goex but there is not a lot in it.

TS2 and No2 are both becoming expensive, Goex is as you say rocking horse droppings here in the UK. Black Silver is, alas, no longer available.

but never Vesuvit.


So in the search for a good and affordable powder, I am asking specifically about Vesuvit LC, which appears to be relatively new on the scene here in the UK, although I do wonder what actual powder Kranks and Fultons are selling as own brand, since there are only so many manufacturers on the planet, and the packaging looks very similar.

[tacfoley]

Since you have it already, and nobody else has, and you are an expert BP shooter with many years of international shooting, I suggest that you ignore my post, and try the stuff out for yourself on an empirical basis, since whatever else it is, it is still only whatever grade of back powder it is, and then let the rest of us know your findings.

A quick search in the internet reveals that LC grade is equivalent 3Fg. My recommended loads, from the 30th edition BP handbook and almost fifty years of BP shooting, albeit without the benefit of international level shooting buddies, were based on the loads of a similar grade of powder.

Over to you.

tac