The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old October 16, 2009, 10:59 AM   #1
NRATC
Junior Member
 
Join Date: March 10, 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 4
100 gr vs 150 gr 777

All things being equal (250 gr sabot), how much muzzle velocity can I gain by using 150 gr 777 vs 100 gr 777 in an Omega? Is another ??? fps worth the extra cost of powder?
NRATC is offline  
Old October 16, 2009, 11:43 AM   #2
arcticap
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2005
Location: Central Connecticut
Posts: 3,166
1. According to the manufacturers, no one should load 150 grains of loose 777 powder into a muzzle loader that's rated for 150 grains because loose 777 needs to be reduced by 15% volume.
Only the 150 grain equivalent 777 pellets can be loaded into a gun rated for 150 grains of powder.

2. The maximum load is not necessarily the most accurate load. Some bullets are designed to be pushed fast and some aren't.
For example there are Hornady XTP's [pistol bullets] and Hornady XTP Mag's that have different expansion rates.

3. According to this generic Traditions chart, the difference between 100 grains of powder and 150 grains is about 250 feet per second with a trajectory difference of about +2 inches at 200 yards. There is a very noticiable difference in energy.


http://www.traditionsfirearms.com/loadchart.pdf

Loading more powder depends on the accuracy, type of terrain and possible shooting distance, size of the game animals, whether good quality bullets are being loaded, whether a ballistic bridge sub-base is needed to hit the target or not and if the felt recoil is tolerable enough to not flinch at the shot.
The more powder that's loaded means more powder residue after each shot that may need to be swabbed before reloading. In the field, a 2nd follow up shot may require using a different projectile that loads easier like a Powerbelt bullet.

Ballistic bridge sub-bases are more often used in the Savage smokeless powder guns, but if accuracy suffers with maximum loads then maybe these will help. See what they're about near the bottom of this linked page.

http://www.mmpsabots.com/

Last edited by arcticap; October 16, 2009 at 12:03 PM.
arcticap is offline  
Old October 16, 2009, 11:47 AM   #3
NRATC
Junior Member
 
Join Date: March 10, 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 4
100 gr vs 150 gr 777

Since Most of my shots are 100 yds or less I think I'll stick with 100 gr. 777 pellets.
Thanks,
Jim
NRATC is offline  
Old October 16, 2009, 06:56 PM   #4
30-30remchester
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 18, 2009
Location: mountains of colorado
Posts: 977
If you study the buffalo harvest of the 1880's most all buffalo were shot with cartridges that shot under 80 grains of powder. Considering the buffalo is the heaviest land animal on North America and 80 grain loads were sufficent for them, then about any load you use should be ok for whitetails and small bears.
30-30remchester is offline  
Old October 17, 2009, 06:53 AM   #5
shortwave
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 17, 2007
Location: SOUTHEAST, OHIO
Posts: 5,970
As Articap stated, watch 777 loose powder as it is hotter than say Pyrodex. In loose powder,measured by volume, 120grns of 777 =`s 150 grns of Pyrodex. There are a few other powders on the market that are in the same boat as 777(hotter than the norm). Also all M/L`s are not designed to shoot the same max. load. A reminder to all us B/P shooters, CAUTION: ALWAYS READ THE MEASURING INSTRUCTIONS ON POWDER CONTAINER AS ALL BP POWDERS/SUBSTITUTE`S ARE NOT THE SAME. ALSO, ALL M/L`s ARE NOT DESIGNED TO SHOOT THE SAME MAX. POWDER CHARGE. READ MANUALS.

Last edited by shortwave; October 17, 2009 at 07:15 AM.
shortwave is offline  
Old October 23, 2009, 03:55 PM   #6
ragsxd
Member
 
Join Date: December 29, 2008
Posts: 46
i shoot 100gr. 777 and 300gr xtp sabot,,,shoots 1,746
ragsxd is offline  
Old October 24, 2009, 04:52 PM   #7
sourdough44
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 17, 2007
Location: WI
Posts: 621
120 grns of Blackhorn 209 gives 1950 fps with my Knight & a 250 grn SST. I would not go above 120 with any loose powder/substitute. I don't really need to use 120 & may drop it down some.
sourdough44 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:49 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.04695 seconds with 9 queries