# Grains = grams?



## TCOmega (Sep 4, 2014)

I bought a powder scale, and I want to convert my BH 209 100 grains by volume to grams. Googled it, and come up with 6.4851 grams by weight? Is this correct?

Found the fourmula 15.42 grains = 1 gram.

Thanks


----------



## TCOmega (Sep 4, 2014)

Should have looked harder before posting.

15.432358 grains = 1 gram.

100 grains = 6.4798911 grams??


----------



## harryrichdawg (Sep 4, 2014)

My math checks.  Should work just fine.  Weigh out a few loads ahead of time and put them in speed loaders.


----------



## dwinsor (Sep 4, 2014)

BH 209 grains  Divided by .7  =  the Black powder grains by Volume

Black powder grains by Volume times .7 = Weight in grains of BH 209


----------



## fishdog (Sep 4, 2014)

Most of the time black powder is measured by volume. I don't know if the substitutes are the same.


----------



## fishdog (Sep 4, 2014)

He posted while I was typing.


----------



## BarnesAddict (Sep 4, 2014)

TCOmega said:


> I bought a powder scale, and I want to convert my BH 209 100 grains by volume to grams. Googled it, and come up with 6.4851 grams by weight? Is this correct?
> 
> Found the fourmula 15.42 grains = 1 gram.
> 
> Thanks



By what you wrote, your real questons is you want to shoot BH209 at 100grs VOLUME.

Why are you looking for grams?

ALL........... ALL...... black powder is used by VOLUME.  However I'm taking a shot at this and believe you want to weigh your charges????

That is possible with BH209 but, the conversion from volume to weight MUST be used.  As someone already pointed out, the conversion number for BH209 is .7 and the formula is as follows:  100grs (V) X .7 = 70grs (W).

BP is measured by volume in grains, therefore if you use the conversion provided by Western, you are getting weight also by grains.  Not drams or grams.

Read the entire BH209 web site: http://www.blackhorn209.com/


----------



## TCOmega (Sep 4, 2014)

BarnesAddict said:


> By what you wrote, your real questons is you want to shoot BH209 at 100grs VOLUME.
> 
> Why are you looking for grams?
> 
> ...



Yes, I want to weigh my charges. I will check out the link. .7 is what a buddy of mine said as well. Will have to see if it comes out to what I had in grams..


----------



## TCOmega (Sep 4, 2014)

This is what I was looking for:

http://www.blackhorn209.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/b209muzzleloaderdata.pdf


----------



## BarnesAddict (Sep 4, 2014)

TCOmega said:


> Yes, I want to weigh my charges. I will check out the link. .7 is what a buddy of mine said as well. Will have to see if it comes out to what I had in grams..



The load that I shoot in my Pro Hunter of BH209, is 75 grains by weight.

To determine what I shoot by VOLUME:

75 (W) / .7 = 107.14 grains by VOLUME.

In your case, you are wanting to convert 100 grains VOLUME to weight:

100 (v) X .7 = 70 grains by WEIGHT

Just remember, Western states 120grs VOLUME or.... 84grs by WEIGHT is a maximum charge.


----------



## TCOmega (Sep 5, 2014)

Got some interesting results last night, weighing out my charges. I had 2 speed loaders that I bought last year from Academy Sports. They had a nice volume scale printed on the side of them. One compartment for the powder, and another that would fit the bullet/sabot and primer. I had been filling it up to the 100 mark, thinking it was good to go.

Well, did that again last night, and then weighed it. Scale showed 64.3 grns by weight. Hmmm, weighed out 70 grns on the scale, and got 110 on the speed loader scale.

Gonna take it out tomorrow and do some shooting with it, and see what gives me better groups. Will try 65, 70, and 75. It was giving me good groups last year with the 64.3, will see if there is a difference or not.


----------



## mmarkey (Nov 28, 2014)

"Grains" is a measure of weight NOT VOLUME. 

When I started shooting BP many years ago. I made a measure of 70 grains based on my powder scale. That measure is only approximately 70 grains based on humidity and other external influences. But it is close enough. Ajustible measures available today are also close enough. If you check them they will vary some, and sometimes the same measure will vary from shot to shot and day to day.

Simply, we use volume measure in "Grains" because it would be impractical to carry a powder measure to check charges, and it would likely not be more accurate due to environmental changes. 

If you're trying to compare pellets to loose powder you're making a mistake. Pellets are likely to be much closer (for legal reasons). Measuring loose powder is not an exact science, and it doesn't need to be. 

My advice is to make your own measure. Weigh the amount of powder you want and make a container that will hold that amount of powder. Speedloaders are only relative to someone else's research. Trust your own research and do it yourself. If you trust the speedloader measurements and adjust up or down to get a good load that would be ok too. But then you actually don't know what you're really shooting.

Check out this link for more information.
http://www.chuckhawks.com/blackpowder_volumetric.htm


----------



## SASS249 (Nov 29, 2014)

What Mike said is correct.  The confusion over weight vrs volume started when pyrodex was introduced. It was designed to be voiume to volume equivalent to black powder. 60 grains pyrodex by volume is equivalent to 60 grains of black powder but it does not weigh 60 grains

Until the introduction of all the substitutes most folks knew we actually measure charges of black by weight but used volume measures for convenience.


----------



## rosewood (Feb 20, 2015)

I guess I don't know why you need a grams conversion.  Does your scale only measure in grams?  All powder scales I have seen measure in grains and the digital ones will usually measure both.


----------



## 7Mag Hunter (Feb 20, 2015)

When all else fails, read the pkg..


----------



## steveus (Mar 1, 2015)

I always weigh Blackhorn 209. Their own info makes it very clear. As others have said, 70% of volume. Blackhorn makes it very clear on their website. Nothing beats a scale, I'm a reloader anyway and just like to use a scale.


----------



## lastofthebreed (Mar 2, 2015)

^^ What he said.  Weigh your charge on a good scale and transfer the powder to a quick loader.  Carry 5 or 6 of the quickloads with you and all will be well.  You will like BH209, my TC Encore loves 77 grains of BH209.


----------



## TCOmega (Mar 7, 2015)

lastofthebreed said:


> ^^ What he said.  Weigh your charge on a good scale and transfer the powder to a quick loader.  Carry 5 or 6 of the quickloads with you and all will be well.  You will like BH209, my TC Encore loves 77 grains of BH209.



Yep, love my scale, actually have 17 speed loaders now. For when I go to the range, makes it so much easier to load and shoot.


----------

