Weigh your powder.

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Rather than relying on a sloppy, volumetric powder scale-- weigh your powder charges. It is easy to do, without breaking any rules.

Let's say your favorite charge is 105 gr. T7 FFg. Volumetrically measure 105 grains, then weigh it.

Preweigh all your T 7 loads matching that weight. I believe it clearly shrinks group size.
 
RandyWakeman said:
Rather than relying on a sloppy, volumetric powder scale-- weigh your powder charges.

I've been weighing my Triple Se7en powder charges for well over a year now. I wouldn't do it any other way now!
 
Nic_58 said:
RandyWakeman said:
Rather than relying on a sloppy, volumetric powder scale-- weigh your powder charges.

I've been weighing my Triple Se7en powder charges for well over a year now. I wouldn't do it any other way now!

The only way to go! :wink:
 
I'm not sure if I'm on the same page. After reading this post I went to my workshop and using a brass powder scale, filled it to 100 grains and then dumped it onto a digital grain scale. The digital grain scale reads 71 grains, this is a 29 grain difference. What am I doing wrong, I thought this should also be close to 100 grains?
 
flati said:
I'm not sure if I'm on the same page. After reading this post I went to my workshop and using a brass powder scale, filled it to 100 grains and then dumped it onto a digital grain scale. The digital grain scale reads 71 grains, this is a 29 grain difference. What am I doing wrong, I thought this should also be close to 100 grains?

What it means is that whatever powder your using is less dense than blackpowder. This is common for the blackpowder subs. That's why to safely weigh powder you have to weigh your volumetric charges first to find out what to duplicate.

My favorite load in my Knight Extreme is 260 gr. Platinum tip and 100 gr (volume) of Triple Seven that weighs 80 gr. Please note that depending on what volumetric powder measure you use, and how you fill it, weights can vary a bunch.
 
I gotcha..So if my 100 grains of 777 weighs 80 grains then by using a scale it will allow me to accurately use the same amount for each shot.

What's the best method for carrying the pre-weighed powder charges to the range to eliminate bringing along a scale and weighing the powder on the bench in front of you before each shot?
 
The way I use is powder vials in a shotshell box. I bought mine off of Hunter280man, but I think Randy sells them regularly. I'll have to find my camera to give you a picture.
 
I would like to see some pictures of what you guys use to handle pre-weighed powder at the shooting bench.
 
vials.jpg

These are 12 Gauge boxes.They allow me to flip them upside down when empty to tell how much powder I have. Beats a ziplock. :wink:
 
I use the same vials as Patrick. I also use a labelmaker and mark the top of each vial with the grains of powder. After I mark all vials, I use a post-it-note and tape it in the top of the lid incase any of the labels come off. This way, I can preload different loads or powder and make sure I know exactly what is going in the barrel.
 
Question.
Is the weight to volume linear?
That is, if, 100 gr. volumetric is 80 weighed, is 120 gr. volume = 96 gr. weighed?
Just a thought.

Do you usually average 3 to 5 "volume" mesurements to get the weight to avoid packing density variables?
 
gary0529 said:
Question.
Is the weight to volume linear?
That is, if, 100 gr. volumetric is 80 weighed, is 120 gr. volume = 96 gr. weighed?
Just a thought.

Do you usually average 3 to 5 "volume" mesurements to get the weight to avoid packing density variables?

Per my experience, it does work that way. I've found that the weight is 20% less than what the volume measurement is. It appears that powder measurers and the way you measure your powder affects this.

To the last part, it's like anything else. The greater the sample size the less margin for error.
 
I actually just started weighing my charges as well. When I did my measurements, I threw 5 charges and took the average. My best EVER EVER EVER group was 1" @ 100yds(using 460gr homecast bullets). My query is: On the packaging of my T777 FFFg it only gives 100gr loads, is the 100grFFFg 777 = to 150ish gr of BP???? I ask because I loaded my MZ up tp 120gr of the 777 (Am I/ Was I asking for trouble in doing 5- 120gr loads??)
 
hmmm shoulda weighed my select before i ran out...doh! anyone weigh 90 grs of select or rs for me....im switchin to blm3 and be intresting to see the difference or what it takes to replicate select with blm3???

does the 20 % rule fall in with select???
 
cancan said:
does the 20 % rule fall in with select???

Are you talking the difference in volume vs. weight? If so, you'll have to weigh some select and find out. I'm thinking Pyrodex is closer to 30% because of what is said ont the bottle. Still, you'll need to weigh some yourself.
 
Is it safe?

I have a RCBS Uniflow powder measure that I have used for my 270 for 25 years, is it safe to measure black powder in? This would be faster and probably less mess than using the brass measure to throw the charge onto the scale. It seems to me it would maybe throw some static charges, could it go boom? Also would the powder trickler have the same issue? Twogun
 
Re: Is it safe?

Twogun said:
I have a RCBS Uniflow powder measure that I have used for my 270 for 25 years, is it safe to measure black powder in? This would be faster and probably less mess than using the brass measure to throw the charge onto the scale. It seems to me it would maybe throw some static charges, could it go boom? Also would the powder trickler have the same issue? Twogun

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT use any powder measure that does not have a brass tumbler to measure black powder.

DC
 
Yea!!! Something else to spend money on! My wife LOVES muzzle loading! :stretch:
 
I also use the 12 ga. shootgun boxes also. 63.0-70.0-77.0-84.0-and 87.5 gr. by weight of BH-209. This way ever range session can be recorded with each charge if needed. :D
 
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