Greetingsmy Good Doug and My Dear Coffin
Happy Thanksgiving!
get off the computer and go eat something!
then , doug, get some of the Lee measure scoop thingies. You want to measure BP & Subs by volume. Why?
Because. And Tradition. and, well, tradition. and because it's what they did when they did that back when that was what they did.
now, my specialty - rambling on and on and on ....
The Case Capacity of one flavor of .45 Colt brass is 41.60 gr H2O or 2.696 cm3
over a lustrum and a half ago, our interweb compadres Driftwood Johnson and John Boy were discussing this at length, and posted the below ( elsewhere) , and it is so detailed and eloquent I will repost Driftwood,s details on the matter!
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Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283
Posted December 25, 2010
My point was, how can one generalize the weight of powder that will fit into a case by measuring how much water it will hold, when different brands of powder clearly weigh different amounts?
I have several references in my loading notebook that I have kept over the years as I have used different brands of powders. For instance, my favorite load for both 45 Colt and 44-40 is 2.2CC of powder. When I actually weighed these volumes, I got the following weights:
2.2CC of Elephant FFg weighed 37.5 grains.
2.2CC of Goex FFg weighed 34.5 grains.
2.2CC of Schuetzen FFg weighed 33.5 grains.
Those are actual measurements that I took and recorded.
Likewise this morning I filled a 45 Colt case with Goex FFFg and weighed it. It came to 40.4 grains on average.
I know that I am splitting hairs, and perhaps I should stop doing so, but referring to a table someplace that says that a 45 Colt case will hold 42 grains of powder based on the volume of water completely misses the point that not all brands of Black Powder weigh the same. You cannot generalize how much a specific charge of powder weighs by comparing it to a volume of water.
Enough already.......I will attempt to stop harping on this in the future.
I think I just heard sleigh bells and I need to put out a glass of milk and some cookies.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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Also bear in mind that actual weight of BP may vary according to relative humidity and time spent out of the container in that humidity....
soooo ....
If you want to shoot Pyro, and I do on occasion, basing the charge on the advised volume of BP, reducing the charge volume by 10% is often advised. otherwise, just fill up to near the bullet base, seat, crimp, shoot, and clean thoroughly or the perchlorate salt fairies will eat your brass and iron.
Or do what Coffin does and shoot APP ( I have 6 bottles and STILL haven;t tred it yet . boo. hoo. )
yhs
prof marvel