hello all, anyone else weigh their powder? I weighed my 777 powder to equal 100 grains and shot several rounds out of my CVA 50 cal. The hornady SST's group under an inch at 100 yards. That is with a 9X scope, the best group I ever shot and I'm thinking that a precise powder charge was it.
anyone else weigh their powder?
- Thread starter smartshot
- Start date
- Status
Just remember, your weights will not be my weights and visa verse. Humidity, brand and batch all effect the weight of your powder.
Regardless of the actual weight of your charge, consistancy is the key. Personally I don't weigh my CB charges other than with a spout and it's pretty consistant, but I'm not shooting competively, I'm just havin' fun. I do weigh all my BP cartridge charges, mainly because they can sit on the scale while I put the wad in the last case charged and put it in the rack.
If you really want to see how consistant your charges are, find somebody with a chronograph. You may find that your spout is almost as consistant as a scale.
By the way, I'm not a rifle shooter, but 100gr by weight of 777 sounds a little stiff doesn't it?
Regardless of the actual weight of your charge, consistancy is the key. Personally I don't weigh my CB charges other than with a spout and it's pretty consistant, but I'm not shooting competively, I'm just havin' fun. I do weigh all my BP cartridge charges, mainly because they can sit on the scale while I put the wad in the last case charged and put it in the rack.
If you really want to see how consistant your charges are, find somebody with a chronograph. You may find that your spout is almost as consistant as a scale.
By the way, I'm not a rifle shooter, but 100gr by weight of 777 sounds a little stiff doesn't it?
JanZ
Member
Here's what I found
I did this with 777. Bottom line here is if you charge a BP firearm by weight measurement rather than volume measurement you will be over charging it.
However that being said if you needed to use your powder scale to weigh out some 50 gn volume equivalent charges then you set your scale to 36.7 gn to equal the 50 gn volume measure.
Volume gn = Weight gn
5---------------3
10--------------7.2
15--------------10.4
20--------------14.7
25--------------18.6
30--------------21.9
35------------- 27.1
40------------- 30
35------------- 34.3
50--------------36.7
A cautionary note here, I don't think all volume powder measures measure equally so be careful and set your own personal volume measure for the charge you want and pour a few and weigh them for consistency
As you can see by my chart there's a 13.3 grain difference in a fifty grain volume charge and what it actually weighs so doing a simple linear extrapolation were you to weigh out a 100 gn charge instead of a 100 gn volume charge you could be loading an extra 26.6 grains equaling 126.6gn (Volume) into your gun and creating a KB load.
I like to shoot my Ruger Old Army at 25gn (Volume) but I pre measure my loads at home into vials so I set my powder measure to toss an 18.6gn (Weight) for speed and accuracy. That gives me the 25gn volume measure equivalent I need to shoot.
There are some that get their panties wadded up about doing it this way but it works and it's accurate.
I did this with 777. Bottom line here is if you charge a BP firearm by weight measurement rather than volume measurement you will be over charging it.
However that being said if you needed to use your powder scale to weigh out some 50 gn volume equivalent charges then you set your scale to 36.7 gn to equal the 50 gn volume measure.
Volume gn = Weight gn
5---------------3
10--------------7.2
15--------------10.4
20--------------14.7
25--------------18.6
30--------------21.9
35------------- 27.1
40------------- 30
35------------- 34.3
50--------------36.7
A cautionary note here, I don't think all volume powder measures measure equally so be careful and set your own personal volume measure for the charge you want and pour a few and weigh them for consistency
As you can see by my chart there's a 13.3 grain difference in a fifty grain volume charge and what it actually weighs so doing a simple linear extrapolation were you to weigh out a 100 gn charge instead of a 100 gn volume charge you could be loading an extra 26.6 grains equaling 126.6gn (Volume) into your gun and creating a KB load.
I like to shoot my Ruger Old Army at 25gn (Volume) but I pre measure my loads at home into vials so I set my powder measure to toss an 18.6gn (Weight) for speed and accuracy. That gives me the 25gn volume measure equivalent I need to shoot.
There are some that get their panties wadded up about doing it this way but it works and it's accurate.
Last edited:
[email protected]
Member
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2008
- Messages
- 2,153
Yes, I weigh also. I want to know what I'm shooting not just guessing.
Jim Watson
Member
No, your 100 grains weight of 777 was MORE than a 100 "grain" black powder scoop would deliver. The fakes are generally of lower density than real black powder.
A 100 "grain" BP scoop would deliver 73 grains weight of 777. Further, 777 is commonly said to be 15% "hotter" than real black. So it would only take 62 grains weight of 777 to equal 100 grains weight of black. You were shooting the equivalent of 160 grains of real black.
The Sharps Rifle Company said it best about 130 years ago: "For fine shooting, powder should be weighed on a scale."
A 100 "grain" BP scoop would deliver 73 grains weight of 777. Further, 777 is commonly said to be 15% "hotter" than real black. So it would only take 62 grains weight of 777 to equal 100 grains weight of black. You were shooting the equivalent of 160 grains of real black.
The Sharps Rifle Company said it best about 130 years ago: "For fine shooting, powder should be weighed on a scale."
Pete D. said:
I use both Swiss and Goex. The Swiss I stuff into cartridges because of the higher density and the Goex I use in the CB's. My scale shows me a consistant difference of 11.5% heavier on the Swiss. This comes in handy when attempting a historical powder charge in a modern cartridge such as the 45 Colt or 44 Russian. Also it's said that Swiss is cleaner, my jury is still out on that one, I can't say I've seen a difference. The Swiss does cost almost 30% more though where I buy it.
The difference in weight between Swiss and Goex now leads us to another issue, the volume measure. As stated above, 777 is "hotter" than the holy black as well as lighter. The volume measures that you use whether they are adjustable or fixed are for your use only. If you were to use two different volume measures then weigh those charges, you might be surprised to see the difference. Nobody knows exactly "What" powder Pedersoli, CVA, etc. used when they created their volume measuring devices, some will throw heavy but in my experience they throw light. It's probably something to do with attorney's, liability and the reluctance to get sued over somebody blowing themselves up and not feeling responsible for their own ignorance.
As I stated originally, I thought your 100gr by weight of 777 seemed a bit stiff, but then again, I run out of room in a revolver long before I run out of powder. Just be careful, the idea isn't for you to put a Proof Stamp on your gun.
Last edited:
- Status
