I figured I'd shoot Saturday before the monsoons set in today. I like to try a lot of different combinations so I bought some Swiss FFFFG. Yep, 4FG. I usually don't use real black as it's difficult to get and I've never tried 4FG but I was over at Friendship Indiana and I picked up a few pounds.
I used my 5-1/2" ROA, a Classicballistx cylinder with Slix Shot nipples as well as the stock cylinder with Treso nipples. I started with 30gr of 4F, RWS caps, BigLube 210gr Hollow Point bullets. I ended with 40gr of 4FG and then compared it with 40gr of T7. I use no grease or wads.
Meh...no big deal. There were some interesting differences though.
I remove the cylinder and use a loader as it's much easier when using bullets. I noticed that 4FG doesn't compress hardly at all....go figure. By comparison, T7 felt like cotton. I had to be careful as T7 only likes mild compression.
RWS caps likely create a lot more kaboom than needed to ignite real black. In the future I'll shoot Remington caps with real black and RWS with T7.
I quickly moved to 40gr loads and noticed that while muzzle jump was about the same between T7 and 4FG. The T7 loads were sharper. Interestingly enough, I did get some bullet jump but only with 40gr and the stock cylinder. The Classicballistx cylinder held the bullets.
T7 is also somewhat cleaner shooting. The Swiss 4FG left a much grittier filth that could be felt in the action and in the cylinder rotation.
The Slix shot nipples worked better than the Treso's. The cap trash never caused any issues in the Classicballistx/Slix Shot combo. The Ruger/Treso left more junk to fall into the works.
Accuracy was decent no matter what I used.
I fired 50 rounds without cleaning. Though towards the end it felt like the action was filled with sand. I came home, stripped off the grips and threw it in the dishwasher. I did not disassemble the gun. I only removed the cylinder and left it on half-cock.
Two things became apparent once I was done. One: Our new dishwasher works better than the old one. Two: There was no leading at all, none. While I didn't chronograph the session (one day I will), there was no doubt that it was really whipping them down range. The bullets were cast with "soft" lead, sized to .454 in a Star lubrisizer and lubed with SPG.
I shimmed my hammer and trigger to take most of the side to side slop out of them. While I like the way it feels, the gritty feeling when it got dirty was likely made worse. T7 doesn't seem to have that effect. I'm sure if I'd just squirted some Ballistol into the works it would have cleared it out.
I guess I found out what I wanted to know. 4FG works perfectly well in my ROA.
I used my 5-1/2" ROA, a Classicballistx cylinder with Slix Shot nipples as well as the stock cylinder with Treso nipples. I started with 30gr of 4F, RWS caps, BigLube 210gr Hollow Point bullets. I ended with 40gr of 4FG and then compared it with 40gr of T7. I use no grease or wads.
Meh...no big deal. There were some interesting differences though.
I remove the cylinder and use a loader as it's much easier when using bullets. I noticed that 4FG doesn't compress hardly at all....go figure. By comparison, T7 felt like cotton. I had to be careful as T7 only likes mild compression.
RWS caps likely create a lot more kaboom than needed to ignite real black. In the future I'll shoot Remington caps with real black and RWS with T7.
I quickly moved to 40gr loads and noticed that while muzzle jump was about the same between T7 and 4FG. The T7 loads were sharper. Interestingly enough, I did get some bullet jump but only with 40gr and the stock cylinder. The Classicballistx cylinder held the bullets.
T7 is also somewhat cleaner shooting. The Swiss 4FG left a much grittier filth that could be felt in the action and in the cylinder rotation.
The Slix shot nipples worked better than the Treso's. The cap trash never caused any issues in the Classicballistx/Slix Shot combo. The Ruger/Treso left more junk to fall into the works.
Accuracy was decent no matter what I used.
I fired 50 rounds without cleaning. Though towards the end it felt like the action was filled with sand. I came home, stripped off the grips and threw it in the dishwasher. I did not disassemble the gun. I only removed the cylinder and left it on half-cock.
Two things became apparent once I was done. One: Our new dishwasher works better than the old one. Two: There was no leading at all, none. While I didn't chronograph the session (one day I will), there was no doubt that it was really whipping them down range. The bullets were cast with "soft" lead, sized to .454 in a Star lubrisizer and lubed with SPG.
I shimmed my hammer and trigger to take most of the side to side slop out of them. While I like the way it feels, the gritty feeling when it got dirty was likely made worse. T7 doesn't seem to have that effect. I'm sure if I'd just squirted some Ballistol into the works it would have cleared it out.
I guess I found out what I wanted to know. 4FG works perfectly well in my ROA.
