weight
 

While I'm working on my picture issue I have another question. When one weights out 50 grains of powder regardless of the type, 50 grains is 50 grains correct? Why is it that when I weight a 50 grain 777 pellet it weights from 29.7-30.2 grains? Regardless how loose or compact powder is if its a 50 grain pellet should it not weight 50 grains?

RE: weight
 

That is the danger of weighing powder charges.. Most muzzle loading rifles are loaded by volume. Still, 100 grains of Black Powder 2fby Volume will weigh close to 100 grains on the scale. Triple Seven is where they get in trouble. Think of it as 777 or 77.7 because 100 grains of Triple Seven will weigh around 77.7 grains on your scale.

If you want to weigh your charges, take your volume measure and weigh out five charges of the volume you normally shoot. Take the average of those five charges and then weigh that out on your scale.

RE: weight
 

If I wanted to shot 90 gr of blackhorn 209, why would I not weight out 90 gr on the scale, why measure 5 by volume then take an average if I know I want 90 gr?

When I weight 2 777 pellets I get 59.8 gr, why is this considered 100 gr?

RE: weight
 

Hodgdons makes Pyrodex and Triple Seven powder. When they first produced Pyrodex RS Pellets life was easy. Then they created Triple Seven pellets. The problem was, in loose form, Triple Seven is 15% stronger then Pyrodex. So if we were shooting loose powder, approximately 85 grains of Triple Seven is all that is needed to produce the same velocity as that produced by 100 grains of loose Pyrodex RS. So going back to pellets ... 100 grains of Pyrodex RS pellets is close in weight to 100 grains of loose Pyrodex RS powder. But if we were to make pellets equal in velocity of Triple Seven to Pyrodex, we have to lower the weight of the pellets. That's why you see the reduction in the weight of the Triple Seven pellets compared to the Pyrodex RS.

The reason I suggested you weigh out 90 grains of Black Horn in a volume measure, you are going to find it does not weigh 90 grains. And if you were to put 90 grains on a scale and shoot that.. it could be a dangerous load in your rifle. Never confuse powder by weight and that by volume. They are different. We normally shoot powder by Volume.. so you must know what the volume of that powder weighs before you start weighing out charges and shooting that.

RE: weight
 

90gr of pyrodex P by VOLUME,for me weighs 69.7grains.

IMO dont even bother weighing your charges. 6 loads for me were all within 1/10 of a grain *If i remember correctly*

RE: weight
 

First, you need to understand that for muzzle loaders, all black powder substitutes - Pyrodex, Triple 7, Blackhorn 209, etc. - are loaded by a volume measure that is based on the weight & volume of FFg black powder. As Cayugad correctly stated, if you weighed out 90 grains of FFg black powder, then poured it in any of the standard volume measures, the 90 grain weight charge would fill the measure right up to the 90 grain volume mark. That's not true with the substitutes for black powder - they all weigh less than black powder. But we still must use the black powder volume measure for them.

So, if agun's manual says you can use up to100 grains of powder, it means you can use 100 grains volume of black powder (which weighs 100 grains),or 100 grains volume of Pyrodex (which actually weighs around 80 grains),or 100 grains volume of Triple 7 (which actually weighs around 78 grains) , or 100 grains volume of BH (which weighs something less than 100 grains of black powder).

Think "volume equivalent" and you'll be on the right track. If your gun is designed for loads up to 150 grains and you use 150 grains actual weight of BH, you will be grossly overloaded, perhaps to a dangerous level.

If you want to weigh charges, do as Cayugad said. Measure out five charges of 90 grains volume in your measure, weigh them, average the weight, and use the average weight as your 90 grain volume equivalent charge.

RE: weight
 

I understand what you're saying now, what I don't understand is if you measure powder by volume to get 100 gr and it weights 70 gr then why don't they list the pellets by weight and not vol. equivalent, I can't see where vol. is more precise than weight, looks like thats just the way it done? Without the info from this site I would have put 100 grains on the scale, thanks

As far as I know if one is going to shot blackhorn 209 it has to be measured I have not seen this in a pellet?

Much thanks for this info, a bunch of knowledge here.

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Semisane
I was writting my reply as you were writting yours, I understand what everyone has explained, many thanks.

RE: weight
 

IMO: Weighing charges is not worth the trouble. Been there and done that. Sometimes accuracy was a little better than with measured charges and sometimes not. The hogs i hunt never know the difference.

RE: weight
 

It is 50g by VOLUME NOT by weight. If your shooting SMOKELESS it is by weight. Don't mix this up or you about DOUBLE your load and that is trouble. Chap