Please Explain Bullet Weights to me

[Steven_Seagal]

I understand that "x" grain refers to the bullet's weight - 125gr, 158gr, etc.

But for whatever reason, i never took the time to understand what that really means or why bullets are weighed in these terms. It was always something that I just knew the way it was, but neglected to ask "why?"

So here I am asking "why?" Why aren't bullets weighed by grams or ounces, and, if possible, how many grains make a gram/ounce/etc.?

Thanks

[Rob228]

Just a number I remember from some breaching courses.... there are 7000 grains in one pound. Why they chose to use grains as a measurement is beyond me, I'd imagine a few hundred years back the explosives guys and the ballistics guys decided to make it easy, as X grains of powder would move a bullet weighing X grains, and there may have been an exact formula that they used. That is pure speculation, the only certain thing I know is the 7000 per pound.

[Dave P]

How bout 16 avoirdupois ounces per pound? Or 12 Troy ounces per pound? Or 2.54 cm per inch?? How many stones per kg?

[Steven_Seagal]

Oh, and does the word "grain" have any reference to the amount of gunpowder in a cartridge?

as in "125 grains of powder?"

[jbrown13]

I'm going to give you my guess as to why. If referenced in grams or ounces there would be decimal places. i.e. a 125 grain bullet would weigh 8.14 grams. I'm guessing it was a unit of weight that eliminated decimal places while allowing small changes in weight.

7000 grains = 16 ounces = 453.6 grams = 1 pound.

[g.willikers]

Some people ask why? and others ask why not?
Coulda' been drams.
Anyway, to answer some of the question, there's approx 15 grains to a gram and 7,000 to a pound, or just a tad under 440 to an ounce.
Unless you're talkin' troy ounces.
Then it gets more confusing.
Hope this helps some.

[Jim Watson]

Your division is weak, jbrown13

7000/16 = 437.5 grains in an avroidupouis ounce.

Grains are used because that is the unit that gives a reasonable number.
A .38 Special shooting a .361 ounce bullet would be a harder number to manage. Grains came in when balls to the pound went out.

[Rob228]

Weight in stones is one I've always wondered about.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Grains are used because that is the unit that gives a reasonable number.

That always seemed like the obvious reason to me... never knew if it was the real reason though. I assumed that it was some sort of remnant of the black powder era that just stuck.

[Doodlebugger45]

It's just an old English measure that has stuck around for several hundred years. It works just fine. Actually though in the "civilized" world like in Europe they do measure bullet and powder weights in grams. It would just be a big adjustment to most of us though. I mean it's just instinctive to most of us to figure that a 200 gr bullet in .30 caliber is pretty "heavy" and a 125 gr bullet is pretty light for the caliber. It would throw off all our intuitive calculators to now switch to grams rather than grains.

[Don P]

The link is below if you wish to read more on the measurement of grains


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_(unit)

A grain is a unit of measurement of mass that is based upon the mass of a single seed of a typical cereal. Historically, in Europe, the average masses of wheat and barley grain were used to define units of mass, with the troy grain based on barley

[flintlock.50]

If you think grains are unusual, we could be using the Imperial unit for mass, "slugs." One slug = 32.17 pounds-mass.

[snuffy]

Oh, and does the word "grain" have any reference to the amount of gunpowder in a cartridge?

as in "125 grains of powder?"

When you pick up a box of cartridges in a store, the grain weight you see listed is for the bullet=projectile. It has NOTHING to do with the powder charge. Depending on the type of cartridge, the type of powder, the weight of the bullet, the powder grain weight could be any amount.

Actually, the heavier the bullet, the smaller the powder charge is in grain weight. That's if the powder is the same exact type and burning rate. That's for the same caliber shell.

[Jim Watson]

Powder is specified in grains weight, but it is not on the ammunition box label. Largely because they do not use the same powder all the time and it varies.
Powder charge weight is of most interest to the handloader, there are whole books full of data for different calibers and powders.

A stone is 14 pounds.

A hundredweight is 112 pounds.
A ton is 20 hundredweight, 2240 pounds.

Back before England metricated, that is.

[jbrown13]

Jim Watson, your eyes are weak.

7000 grains = 16 ounces = 453.6 grams = 1 pound. These are all equal weights, no division involved. Do you see the equal (=) signs?

Additionally, back in the late 19th or earlier 20th century when all this was "noodled" out, the metric system was a foreign concept in the USSA, which most likely is why grams wasn't even considered.

[Jim Watson]

Oops. Sorry.
Not that my eyes were weak, I was thinking in English instead of French.
While the French system has been legal in the USA since 1866, the internationalists have not been able to ram it down our throats for daily use.

[jbrown13]

Apology accepted. No hard feelings here. Have a good one.

[snuffy]

Jim Watson is right, 437.5 grains to a modern ounce. Who cares what the french, english or commies use? Or in which century. Lets not confuse a new reloader any more than he already is!

Anybody want to explain dram equivalent? Ya know like on shotgun shell boxes? As I understand it, it basically refers to velocity. Was a dram ever a set weight?

[FlyFish]

If you think grains are unusual, we could be using the Imperial unit for mass, "slugs." One slug = 32.17 pounds-mass.

Actually, we should be using slugs as our unit of everyday mass. As it is, we use pounds, which is technically not a unit of mass at all, it's a unit of force, i.e., the equivalent of the joule in the SI (metric) system. Of course, unless we're planning on leaving the earth to weigh our bullets, it really doesn't matter.

[jimbob86]

Anybody want to explain dram equivalent?

"Dram Equivalent" would be an arbitrary convesion to mass .....

Teh Internets say a dram is equal to 27.34375 grains......

....I would think that would depend upon the density of the material measured.

[jimbob86]

unless we're planning on leaving the earth to weigh our bullets

I have a daughter that aspires to leave this mudball, and she shoots!

[geetarman]

Anyone know the conversion from feet per second to furlongs per fortnight?

Geetarman

[FlyFish]

It's not a question of English or French. jbrown13 posted the number of grams in a pound, Jim calculated the number of grains in an ounce. By chance, they're similar numbers (453.5 vs. 437.5), but two entirely different things.

"Dram equivalent" is an outdated (and potentially dangerous for beginning reloaders) term that refers to the velocity (or pressure, I'm not entirely sure which) achieved by that quantity of black powder, i.e., a modern shotgun shell achieves the performance equivalent to 3 or 4 drams of black powder by using a much smaller quantity of higher-energy smokeless powder.

[FlyFish]

Anyone know the conversion from feet per second to furlongs per fortnight?

1 foot per second = 1 832.72727 furlongs per fortnight

Useful tip: You can do just about any conversion (including the one above) quickly by simply typing it into the Google search bar. That is, simply type "feet per second in furlongs per fortnight" and hit return.

[FlyFish]

I have a daughter that aspires to leave this mudball, and she shoots!

Sounds like she's been raised well, on both counts.