Hodgdon Triple7 fffg loads
- Thread starter Airmad
- Start date
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I think you will discover that traditional Black Powder Loadings are given as VOLUME - even though expressed in WEIGHT. At least as per the various things that I had from Thompson Center - was no scale involved - was volume measures - so would use equivalent volume of substitutes, usually. I never did find out about the weight thing - never weighed black powder to know.
You will likely read of someone saying how good his loading of 63 grains is - so he would have his VOLUME measure set at 63 - but likely never actually weighed that on a powder scale to know if that weighed 55 grains or 72 grains weight. I believe that I read that Black Powder is so terribly in-efficient that precision weighing of the powder loading does not really matter - is NOT like smokeless powder in that regard.
You will likely read of someone saying how good his loading of 63 grains is - so he would have his VOLUME measure set at 63 - but likely never actually weighed that on a powder scale to know if that weighed 55 grains or 72 grains weight. I believe that I read that Black Powder is so terribly in-efficient that precision weighing of the powder loading does not really matter - is NOT like smokeless powder in that regard.
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I, for one, do weigh my BP when I am working up a load and when I have determined the optimal load and am making a powder measure. After that, it IS all by volume.
I have a set of shop-made dippers that throw known weights of 3F powder and, with them, measure out groups of pre-measured charges in five grain increments for testing. Once the best load is found, I make a measure for that known weight and everything is by volume after that. So, yes, BP is measured by volume, but that volume should represent a known weight - understanding there will be some slight variation charge-to-charge.
Here is a question for you. You have an adjustable measure and set it for 50 grains. Is that 50 grains of 1F, 2F or 3F? The volume equivalent of 50 grains for one is different than that of the others.
I have a set of shop-made dippers that throw known weights of 3F powder and, with them, measure out groups of pre-measured charges in five grain increments for testing. Once the best load is found, I make a measure for that known weight and everything is by volume after that. So, yes, BP is measured by volume, but that volume should represent a known weight - understanding there will be some slight variation charge-to-charge.
Here is a question for you. You have an adjustable measure and set it for 50 grains. Is that 50 grains of 1F, 2F or 3F? The volume equivalent of 50 grains for one is different than that of the others.
