The question of powder is a very important one, and has provoked an endless amount of discussion and experimenting among manufacturers and shooters. The most desirable point is cleanliness, as much fouling means inaccurate shooting; and as that is a very marked defect in nearly all black powders at the present time, many believe that the effectiveness and accuracy of the revolver will be increased when improvements in powder are made.
In the smaller calibres and in short-barrelled pistols a finer grain of powder should be used; the fine-grain powder is also better for light charges.
A request to the leading American powder manufacturers to state the brands of powder they recommended for pistol and revolver shooting brought the following responses:--
_Dear Sir_,--I enclose one of our later folders, by which you will see that, in sizes, the Telegraph runs from No. 1 to No. 5, inclusive. I think, however, for pistol cartridges I should not recommend anything coarser than No. 2; _i.e._, Telegraph, Nos. 2 to 5; Rifle Cartridge, Nos. 3 to 5 (No. 2 is used in rim-fire cartridges, which are not reloadable); also "Dead Shot." Yours,
DUPONT'S POWDER, 87 BEAVER STREET, NEW YORK.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of 10th inst. duly received, and in reply would say that for pistol cartridges we would recommend the powders specially made for that purpose and known as _FFF B_ cartridge powder, and also _FFF A_ powder.
The Eagle Duck No. 3 is also used for pistol cartridges; but Mr. Conlin, the expert in such matters, and who keeps a gallery in this city for pistol-shooting principally, states that "the _FFF B_ brand of powder, introduced to revolver shooters, would prove the best adapted to revolver cartridges, as I find it to be the best that I have yet tried." Yours truly,
DEAR SIR,--Yours of 10th inst. is received. We would recommend for pistol cartridges our Wing Shot, No. 2 or No. 3 grain, or Western Sporting, _Fg_ or _FFg_ grain. Yours truly,
THE HAZARD POWDER COMPANY, MANUFACTURERS OF GUNPOWDER, NEW YORK.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 9th just received. The difference of opinion is so varied regarding the best powder for pistol cartridges that we hesitate to recommend. The calibre may be .32 or .45; yet, if the pistol barrel be long, it requires for accurate shooting a much coarser grain powder than does a short barrel. We enclose herewith our circular and diagram card, and remain,
