Volume vs. weighing in grains

I have watched this conversation from the wings...

...Because I can't claim to be all that good of a reloader.

I guess I just don't do it often enough. (Most folks reload so they can be more scientific. I reload because I am a cheapskate.)

When I am at the range loading cap and ball revolvers I have a CVA 1400 flask with a clear rigid tube and a graduated plunger set up. It allows me to get very consistent loads up to about a full load for the ROA into the chambers which I load out of the pistol using a press.

I don't shoot single shot muzzle loaders (meaning that I don't need loads much heavier than 45 grains) and so this flask and tube thing works pretty good.

For BP cartridges I use a Hornady Lock n Load which gives me very consistent volumetric charges. I weigh about every twentieth charge to verify that things are copusthetic. But in that case I am looking for a case that is filled to a consistent level rather than a specific weight. I do get a consistent weight, but it is an indirect indication. One thing about the LnL with BP is that it must be carefully cleaned and then between loading sessions it must be stored disassembled.

I load smokeless 9mm, .380 and .45 ACP on the Dillon 650 and check the powder weight carefully before starting to load for production.
 
Here are photos of the 1400 Mod









I had two different iterations of this tube thing. On the first one I threaded the end of the tub and screwed it into the top of the flask. Problem was that it broke too easily.

So in the second version I cut off a spout and epoxied the tube into the stump of the cut off spout.
 
Well honestly, (Beatles or Stones!)

If you weigh your powder loads and get the results you are looking for or if it's by volume, it really doesn't matter. The powder doesn't know!!!! (That's how "powder measures" work for reloading. You weigh what it throws, IT throws a volume !!! Shhhhhhhhh don't tell the powder!)



Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
 
You'll be surprised at just how many veteran shotshell reloaders don't own a powder scale. They just take in on faith that a #28 MEC powder bushing throws 17.9 grains of HiSkor 700X or 15.4 grains of Red Dot according to the MEC bushing chart.
In reality, those bushings throw a bit on the light side, most likely for liability reasons and for worse case scenarios, the guy who jiggles and vibrates the press a lot while the bushing is parked under the powder hopper.

The muzzle loading shotgun shooters often use shot dippers for powder measures. Since a good starting load for a muzzle loading shotgun is what is called a "square load" the same volume of powder as shot, many of them measure their powder charges with those adjustable plastic Lee shot dippers and if you ask them what they are shooting, they might say something like "1 1/8 ounces of shot and 1 1/8 ounces of powder" Of course they don't mean that literally, a true 1 1/8 ounce load of powder would be 492 grains of powder. What they mean is the amount of powder a 1 1/8 ounce shot dipper measures, about 80 grains.
Ounces volume is their reference point, many couldn't even tell you their charge in grains.
 
The confusion here seems to stem from the differing powders used & the weigh Vs measure groups.
With actual Black Powder I've found the weight & volume have about a 1:1 ratio, not surprising really, given the history.
However the substitutes vary widely when compared to actual B/P. I think you're pretty safe transferring a grain weight to a volume within a specific powder. Using a weight from one for a volume with another is a totally different kettle of fish. Some subs vary by as much as 60% from B/P as a standard & that isn't just a minor variation but a potential drastic overload.
 
density

Take a powder measure.....set it at 60 grains.
Now...here's the hard part....get four brands of FFg BP...say Goex, Swiss, Elephant, Graf. Pour and weigh each of those 60 grain volumes.....they will not weigh the same. There may be as much as a 10% difference.
 
Take a powder measure.....set it at 60 grains.
Now...here's the hard part....get four brands of FFg BP...say Goex, Swiss, Elephant, Graf. Pour and weigh each of those 60 grain volumes.....they will not weigh the same. There may be as much as a 10% difference.
Click to expand...

Weigh out a true sixty grains of those four brands of FFg black powder and every one will be a safe load in a .58 caliber rifled musket.
Weigh out 80 grains of each one of those and every one will be a safe load in a 12 gauge shotgun.
No, they won't have identical velocities but you won't blow up your gun.

Now weigh out 80 grains of Pyrodex or 777 and load it into a 12 gauge and I don't want to be the one to shoot it.
 
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