Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons > General Interest

Volume versus weight

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mark davidson:
Forgive this question if it is dumb. :-)  I cannot figure out the real difference between black powder weight and volume. My reading material (Fadala) emphasises black powder being measured by volume and not weight. So I figured there must be some big difference between the two. Well, my little brass factory powder measure set to hold 100grains by volume can be filled level and then dumped onto my scales and still actually weighs almost EXACTLY 100 grains!(99.7)  So what is the big deal??  Why is "volume" so strongly emphasised?  Am I missing something here?  The volume by volume and the volume weighed of Goex 2F is for all practical purposes identical in my tests. Somebody educate me here and tell me what I am missing or doing wrong.

jbullard1:
Mark
Weigh the same volume of Pyrodex and see what you get

sse:
Mark - If I were you, I'd just forget about the weight measurement.  Since everything depends on a volume measurement of a specific granulation (e.g. FFg, FFFg, etc.), and we don't take scales to the range or woods, there is no reason to be concerned about the weight of a given charge.

mark davidson:
I did read a similar example where Pyrodex weighed significantly different by volume versus weight but I do not shoot Pyrodex so I kinda put that out of my head. I could in fact just forget about weight but there seems to be something worthwhile in a little EDUCATION so I thought I would ask the experts. We may not take scales to the woods but I doubt if many of us just dump in a handful and hope  for the best.  I reckon I just want to know that my charge is not too heavy or too light and I was wondering WHY the whole shooting world outside black powder measures their powder by weight and BPer shooters still use volume. It's a simple curiosity question????

Bigsmoke:
Mark,
The concept of dumping a handful of powder and hoping for the best is more or less that of English big game hunters in Africa with their big bore guns in the 1800's.
The common word of wisdom here is to measure your charges, whether it be with an antler measure or an adjustable brass measure or whatever.
There is the thought of consistency in loading.  As such, a measure of whatever sort will give you a pretty consistent charge, which is what we are after.
The question of why does the rest of the shooting community weigh their charges while we steadfastly continue to do volume is simple.  With our firearms, if we go over by a little, it's not going to make all that great of a difference in pressures.  That cannot be said for these new fangled cartridge guns and their stinky smokeless powders, can it?

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