Myth about powder burn

[52Bore]

Good article in April issue of MB about rare, short-barreled Hawken rifles.
One thing I noticed was the data (Velocity) the author showed in the graph. He basically chrono 5-shot groups for each of the powder charges and plotted the data - he did this with a 36" barrel, then cut the barrel to 24".
Note how velocity continues to increase with each increase in charge, even in the 24" barrel - I've alway heard that "your waisting powder past a certain point", this seems to be a Myth.

 

[Idaholewis]

Thanks for posting Rick :yeah:

My dad and i shot together 2 winters ago on a heavy Snow covered day, he was using his Ole trusty load of 100 Grains Goex 2F, and a Maxi ball, And i was using my Swiss (cant remember my bullet or charge? But it had to of been at least 70 Grains of Swiss 3F or 80 of 2F, as that is the lightest charges i shoot) Anyway, upon walking through the snow to check our targets I noticed dad had left a fairly significant trail of unburned powder, I had not? Later i tried an experiment with my TC Scout .50 Cal Pistol, 80 Grains of Swiss 2F powder and a 450 Grain PP bullet over a blanket of Snow, I couldn’t find any sign of unburned powder? Recoil with that particular load in the 10” barreled pistol was quite awakening! :lol: Dad and i planned to test his rifle/load combo over my chronograph, starting at 60-70 Grains and continually working up til we stopped seeing the Velocity climb, But we never did end up doing it.

 

[MrTom]

In my first Renegade .54 cal I shot real black to start with, then Pyrodex came along and I got on that kick. Pyro was a dirty powder for me and when shooting over snow I always noticed a lot of un-burned powder laying in the blast path. I quit the pyro and went back to plain old black until T7 got available here and began to shoot some of it but then sold the gun. Dumbest thing I ever did was sell that one.

I have some T7 powder measured out and tubed now to try in the new-to-me Renegade. Sure wish I could find some black in my area without having to travel 50 miles. The T7 is easy to find so that'll have to do to start.