Well, only black powder is black powder, the others are substitutes that came about when BP started to be more regulated and expensive to ship and store.
Substitutes are entirely different compositions and are much less dense than commercial BP which is pressed to 1.7g/c3 . By weight, your typical charge of BP takes up much less volume than BP substitutes. This is why it's recommended to measure by volume and not weight with BP and substitutes.
As far as black powder, the performance variable is the type of wood used for the charcoal. Goex uses maple and other hardwoods, not ideal, but cheap and abundant. Swiss and GOEX express use Alder and or Willow. These are the two choice woods for super fast, hot and clean Black powder. Manufacturers used to offer many different BP formulas with varying ratios of KNO3, Sulfur and Charcoal. Every business, military organization or blasting company had their own criteria and formula for powder. The most commonly used ratio is still 75% 15% 10%, KNO3, Charcoal, Sulfur.
I notice a difference in recoil, sound, smoke and corrosion when using different substitutes. Most substitutes are designed to be used and loaded just like BP, so you can usually keep the same powder charge size. As far as granulation, in revolvers, FFFg and FFg are interchangeable to me, no major difference in lighter loads. In a rifle, I'd stick with FFg or Fg depending on how big a charge. Smaller granulations have more surface area per charge, so the whole charge is combusted faster and has a higher pressure spike.
Out of all the substitutes I've tried, the only one I'll ever use is 777 and that's if I run out of BP. 777 has a quick impulse and should be reduced 10% from your normal charges. I don't like it's smell, it's high pitch crack or the way it compresses when loading, but it's clean, non corrosive and reliable.
As long as it's possible, I'll take real BP anyday
