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ClemBert · April 18, 2009, 10:08 PM

It was a nice day here in Orlando so I decided to take the ROA out and make some smoke. My typical loads were 35 grains of Hodgdon 777. Just for fun a did a few cylinders with 40 grains. That was fun...nice bang and lots-o-smoke. I then tried several shots with 45 grains (equivalent to 51 grains of black powder). Mind you, I wasn't doing this for accuracy. Rather it was just an experiment to see if it was feasible with 777. Since I needed the room I didn't use a wonder wad. Typically I do. And since I didn't have any lube with me I just loaded one chamber then fired just to be cautious about chain fire potential. My conclusion...45 grains of 777 is not feasible with a standard ROA cylinder. That is, there just isn't enough room in the chambers to hold 45 grains without compressing it. Recall that 777 is somewhat finicky. It doesn't like to have an air gap nor does it like to be compressed. I had to compress the powder a little to get the ball in all the way. I wonder how much of the powder just didn't burn and was blasted out the barrel with the ball. To fit 45 grains of 777 you'd have to have the chambers deepen a little. I am aware of at least a few of you who have done this. I suspect that with black powder it is much more feasible since a little compression of black powder isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just FYI. Don't try this at home kids. Again, the standard warning from Hodgdon is that 35 grains of 777 is the max load for a ROA. This just in case you soot lords aren't reading the label. FWIW.

April 18, 2009, 10:08 PM	#1
ClemBert Senior Member Join Date: March 2, 2009 Location: Orlando Posts: 936	45 grains of 777 in the ROA It was a nice day here in Orlando so I decided to take the ROA out and make some smoke. My typical loads were 35 grains of Hodgdon 777. Just for fun a did a few cylinders with 40 grains. That was fun...nice bang and lots-o-smoke. I then tried several shots with 45 grains (equivalent to 51 grains of black powder). Mind you, I wasn't doing this for accuracy. Rather it was just an experiment to see if it was feasible with 777. Since I needed the room I didn't use a wonder wad. Typically I do. And since I didn't have any lube with me I just loaded one chamber then fired just to be cautious about chain fire potential. My conclusion...45 grains of 777 is not feasible with a standard ROA cylinder. That is, there just isn't enough room in the chambers to hold 45 grains without compressing it. Recall that 777 is somewhat finicky. It doesn't like to have an air gap nor does it like to be compressed. I had to compress the powder a little to get the ball in all the way. I wonder how much of the powder just didn't burn and was blasted out the barrel with the ball. To fit 45 grains of 777 you'd have to have the chambers deepen a little. I am aware of at least a few of you who have done this. I suspect that with black powder it is much more feasible since a little compression of black powder isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just FYI. Don't try this at home kids. Again, the standard warning from Hodgdon is that 35 grains of 777 is the max load for a ROA. This just in case you soot lords aren't reading the label. FWIW.