100 grain in pellet = x powder weight?

D

dyl

New member
Given 2x50 grain Pyrodex Pellets, what is the equivalent load by weight of Pyrodex RS powder?

Round to the nearest tenth grain. (That's what my balance beam does anyhow)

The situation: I was feeling like a cheapskate and thought to myself "30 dollars for 100 pyrodex pellets? That's only 50 shots!"

So I bought myself a pound of Pyrodex RS for $20. Not only is it 10 dollars cheaper, it has more powder (5000 grains in the pellet box vs 7000 in pound). I'm used to using Bullseye and for handguns and a jar lasts a long time.

I don't have a volumetric measure but I do have a good balance beam. My plan was to pre-load some powder and at least save money on the opening shots of my sessions.

All I want is a powder load equivalent to 2 pellets of pyrodex by weight. Anyone ever figure out how to do this?
 
Thallub, thanks for your help!

My scope will hopefully be mounted tomorrow so I'll test it out.
Only 60 some grains? Pellets really ARE a ripoff in comparison!

By my calculation at Walmart prices, I'll get 100 shots for $20 of Pyrodex powder, or only 50 shots for $30 of pellets.
 
Pellets really ARE a ripoff
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BINGO!!! So are saboted bullets.

With loose powder, you can adjust the load up or down by a few grains and hunt for the rifle's most accurate load, and save money.
 
They are a rip if you don't care about ignition characteristics. Pellets light faster, much more like BP. It's easy to hear the difference. I went to musket caps to try to get close to BP ignition, and it helps, but not as much as Black Powder does. Just sayin'. When I'm out burning powder for a lark, I shoot select or P, even some RS. But pyrodex isn't Holy Black as far as ignition goes. Cleaner, safer, yup. Easy to light, particularly in bent fire channels, nope.
 
Been a while(probably 10yrs) since I've shot with any pellets do to ignition problems and I've never weighed two pellets out of the same container that weighed the same. :rolleyes:
 
They are a rip if you don't care about ignition characteristics. Pellets light faster, much more like BP. It's easy to hear the difference. I went to musket caps to try to get close to BP ignition, and it helps, but not as much as Black Powder does. Just sayin'. When I'm out burning powder for a lark, I shoot select or P, even some RS. But pyrodex isn't Holy Black as far as ignition goes. Cleaner, safer, yup. Easy to light, particularly in bent fire channels, nope.
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I suppose you could put about 5 grains of real black powder down the bore as an igniter when using Pyrodex, like they recommend for flintlocks.

I haven't used Pyrodex in years because I'm lucky enough to be able to get real black powder.
 
I'm not a user of pellets either, but I have been told that the difference in price is because of the extra steps needed to pressurize the powder into a pellet.
The pellets are equal to 50 grains each by volume, not by weight, so weighing them will never work. It would be the same thing as measuring 100 grains in your powder scoop and weighing it, then loading it again and tapping on the side to pack the powder, then filling it back to the 100 grain line, then weighing. The two measures would weigh different.

I don't like them because I can't fine tune my loads, and my groups suffer between a 2" and 4" group at 100 yards. At the 50 yard line, there seems to be very little difference in my groups, but I loose that at 100 yards.

They are a lot easier to load in a hurry, and if your range is not to far, I guess they would be alright if your pocket book can afford them, but they just aren't for me. In some rifles that I have seen at the range, they seem to shoot very tight groups in some rifles, but I just don't happen to own one of them.
 
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