Black Powder Maximum Efficiency Loads

[kyratshooter]

Low Key asked a guestion in another post and I am very bored. So rather than keep causing trouble and smarting off I will answer his querry.

How do you detirmine the most efficient BP load that give maximin power without wasting powder?

Good question!

You will need to know how to do this if you are ever forced to make your own black powder. Each batch will be of a different potency and you will need to make adjustments in your charge.

It is also a question every shooter had to answer for himself back when every gun was hand made and none used the same ball or charge. There are books that will serve as safety guides but they are not precise directions for your particular rifle.

First of all, as a pure safety measure, almost no rifle will require more than double the caliber number as a full charge. I do not care how many "pellets" Shocky is using, more than double the bore size is a waste. That third pellet can probably be picked up intact about 10 yards down range, or it made a wonderful fireball that was very impressive on camera.

There are two simple ways to detirmine charge, One requires your ears, the other requires a bed sheet.

The sound method is very simple and was once refered to as "kracking the rifle". Yep, they spelled it with a K, the Germans can do that.

You start with a powder charge equil to the bore of the rifle: 50 caliber=50 grains. .45 caliber=45 grains, you get the idea.

Load and fire the rifle, it should make a dull boom.

Now increase the gharge by 5 grains and fire again.

Increase the charge until when you fire, the rifle goes "KRACK" instead of boom.

The krack occurrs when there is just enough powder in the bore to have a few grains extra to burn in the open air. All the powder you can burn is being burned and you will get not a single FPS more by adding any amount of powder. All the excess will burn outside the barrel and is wasted. With a 30 inch barrel you will usually reach this point just below the "twice the bore" number. For a 50 caliber it will usually be around 80-90 grains and with a .45 it will normally occurr at about 70 grains.

This is also why long barrels were prefered in the old days. They allowed longer black powder burn time/higher velocities/less drop.

The bed sheet method is simple. In fact, you should probably use a cheap tarp for this. Your significant other will probably be pee'd if you burn hole in her bed sheets.

Spread the smooth surface on the ground ahead of you. Load the rifle and fire it over the bed sheet. If you have a lot of burned powder grains falling onto the sheet it is wasted powder burning outside the bore. Increase or decrease the charge until you have only a few unburned grains falling to the ground.

This method is real good for setting the charge in pistols. You can decrease the size of the fireball at the muzzle of your .70 tower pistol without losing power.

One of the things that has been discovered when we find old powder measures attached to rifles or shooting bags is that the powder measure is usually guaged at half a load, or two dumps from the measure for a full load.

This gave them an "economy load" of one scoop for small game that was still good enough to kill a deer if you jumped one.

Two scoops of powder gave a full charge for big game or defense.

They also used three scoops and two balls or a buck and ball charge down the bore for dangerous game at close range. (They called it loaded for bear)

Now, let the inline pellet shooters begin the flame war!

[LowKey]

Thanks K. I'd heard about the sheet method. How far out do you lay it out?
Thanks too for explaining some of the brackets. My Hawken is a .54. I had started with a 50 grain load (fffg) just to get a feel for the rifle. Now I want to start working it up. I see those guys up there with their inlines and the blaze of fire coming out of their barrel. They think it's cool. I go play on the pistol range until they are gone. It just seems like one of these days, one of them is going to blow up a rifle..

[hunter63]

Fire balls ARE cool especially at dusk....But a waste of powder, maybe, but if it shoots good?

My .50 cal T/C Hawken shoots best and most consistent at double the cal.....490/.015 pillow ticking cut patch, 100 gr of 2 fg...arrived at by working up the load, using several types of patches, ball dia. powder loads, etc.

Range loads of 50 gr are not as consistent.

[LowKey]

I like watching the fireballs at battle reenactments. That's about it.
I can see the fun in it too, I guess.
But I'm more into making noise and hitting the target than setting the woods on fire.

[SARKY]

I've gotten great results with Pyrodex P at a 90 gr charge with a maxi hunter maxi ball over the top of it.

[Rick]

Thanks for this thread, KY. I've learned quit a bit from it. Thanks!

[yellowcab]

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