777 squib, twice

G

Gbro

New member
While shooting with a friend yesterday, He was loading 60gr. 777 under a 425 gr 54cal mini and they chronographed @1340's. (#11 cap)
Several shots later there was a Pfffftttttt and the mini hit the ground 30 yards out.
The barrel wasn't cleaned between any of the shots and about 30 min ?? shots it happened again. very same squib action. this time with PRB.
He said powder was relatively new, and this had never happened to him before.

I was shooting home cast maxi-hunter 435 gr. over 80 gr. FF = 1088fps and 90 gr. = 1289fps.

Is 777 that powerful?.
 
Gbro said:
While shooting with a friend yesterday, He was loading 60gr. 777 under a 425 gr 54cal mini and they chronographed @1340's. (#11 cap)
Several shots later there was a Pfffftttttt and the mini hit the ground 30 yards out.
The barrel wasn't cleaned between any of the shots and about 30 min ?? shots it happened again. very same squib action. this time with PRB.
He said powder was relatively new, and this had never happened to him before.

I was shooting home cast maxi-hunter 435 gr. over 80 gr. FF = 1088fps and 90 gr. = 1289fps.

Is 777 that powerful?.
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Yes, 777 is about 15% more potent than Goex Black Powder, as far as the squib loads I'm not sure but I do know that 777 does not like to be compressed too tightly just having the bullet touching the powder is better than compression I have found with my CVA Bobcat .50.
 
Yes, 777 is about 15% more potent than Goex Black Powder, as far as the squib loads I'm not sure but I do know that 777 does not like to be compressed too tightly just having the bullet touching the powder is better than compression I have found with my CVA Bobcat .50.
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15% is what I was thinking also, but what I was seeing looked more like 50%!

As for the tight packing, I can sure see where that could happen with the range rod he made out of 3/8 brass and 46 inches long with a 3" knob. I have never used a pile driver like that before. He is making me one 36 inches.
 
Sounds like a moisture problem ..eaither in the powder or ...if it was a hot day you might have gotten the barrel hot ...then took a long break before reloading and the moisture had formed inside the barrel around the nipple ...I`ve had that happen a few times on those real hot days here . Now if I take a break at the range over 5 mins I pop a cap before reloading again .
 
The squib loads are very likely to have been caused by overcompressing the 777. I use a 38" solid brass range rod to load and have to be careful not to compress 777 too much with the rod. I usually clean every third shot when using 777 just to be sure I have a clean enough bore to be in control of the rod when loading. I ease the ball down the barrel until the rod stops, check the rod mark to see it's fully inserted, and then give it just a light extra push with just one hand.

As far as your chrono data, your 777 numbers seem too high to me. You might check them with Hodgdon's web site. I don't see 50% hotter in your numbers, but they are higher than one would expect. Are those numbers averages, and if so, what were the spreads like?
 
As far as your chrono data, your 777 numbers seem too high to me. You might check them with Hodgdon's web site. I don't see 50% hotter in your numbers, but they are higher than one would expect. Are those numbers averages, and if so, what were the spreads like?
mykeal is offline Report Post
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The chrono was giving fault messages about 75% of the time. I started with it 10yds out and then 15yds. The 777 was recorded 2 times within 8fps, and I will agree the results do not meet 50% but much more than what I was looking for.
The day was hot, and we took time between some loads to shoot C&B and conversion revolvers.
I guess I am lost as to why a hot day would lead to moisture problems shooting 777. Or is 777 equal to BP when it come to collecting moisture?
 
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