ORIGINAL: KenL
I heard the Tripple 7 burns hotter than Pyrodex, therefore you have to use something like 5% less when shooting loose powder. Is this true, because I asked a salesman at my local gun shop, and he hadn't heard this. I am currently shooting Pyrodex RS, and I am thinking of trying 777, or Pyrodex RS select. I am not sure which I want to try. Any suggestions? I shoot a Knight wolverine 50 cal. inline. Thanks
Triple Se7en burns mch hotter and that is the reason for some of the crud build up problems in the breechs of some rifles. That is why swabbing between shots is so important when sighting in your rifle.
Your salemans I would disagree with. The rule of thumb is Triple Se7en ins approximately 15% hotter then Pyrodex RS or Goex FFg in loose form. There for if you were shooting 100 grains of Pyrodex RS, 85 grains of Triple Se7en 2f would equal the same strengh. There are cases where this holds very true and others where it is slightly off.
Triple Se7en is a great powder. It burns hot and much cleaner then most powders although I have not had a chance to try some black mag3. I also shoot a Wolverine II which has a #11 ignition. An excellent load in that rifle for practice and hunting is T/C Mag Express XTP's in 240 grain.
I am currently testing some powder called Pinnacle FFFg grain. This is shooting 90 grains of Pinnacle out of my Wolverine II. The rifle does have a red dot scope on it, and it was only at 30 yards. As you can see I sighted the red dot in for the where the first bullet will hit although the next three don't look all that bad.
I then swabbed the barrel with two patches. And I then fired 12 more T/C XTP's without ever swabbing the barrel to test whether this new Pinnacle powder causes crud rings or bad fowling.
As most of the posters on the board will tell you, shooting 12 sabots in a row without swabbing is almost unheard of in many cases, but the accuracy was still pretty good...
My hunting load with my Wolvernine is 250 grain Barnes Express with 85 grains of Triple Se7en or Goex 3f. I might give this Pinnacle a try with the Barnes Express if I have any left after season.
You have a great rifle there and it will really shoot a number of different projectiles very well. But if you're going to shoot Triple Se7en in loose powder for your own safety, keep the loads under 120 grains. You would never need more then that anyway. Most of the time the loads will come in between 85 - 100 grains.
Good luck with your rifle and remember the 15%. If your shooting Triple Se7en 3f which I have been told is better then 2f (I've never found any in the stores around here) you still only need cut your charges back around 15-20% compared to the Pyrodex RS or Goex from what I have been told. Perhaps a Triple Se7en 3f user can give you better information here then I can.