Black Powder 12 gauge Round Ball

[RMc]

Great short article that also covers:

12 gauge 2.5" cartridge with 600 grain round ball driven near 1400 fps by American Black Powder made to late 19th century best quality standards.

http://www.classicarmsjournal.com/from-the-loading-bench/

[megasupermagnum]

I won't pretend to be knowledgeable about black powder, but I do love it. Unlike normal people, I put next to no value on the cleanliness of a powder. I actually love the big cloud of smoke.

If I get off this lazy streak, I have a bunch of 770 grain full bore slugs I am going to load up. I will be using Bluedot for smokeless, but I also plan on using black powder. If it's more accurate, I would gladly use it. I clean my guns every single time I use them.

[longbow]

Hah! I used to have an old Cooey single shot I put a home made muzzle brake and Pachmyr screw in choke tube on (long before most shotguns came with screw in chokes tubes).

I used to shoot 0.690" RB's in it. Weren't very accurate but fun to shoot. I decided to burn up some BPI under the balls. Great fun!

I got a big orange fireball at the muzzle brake and the big 'ol BP cloud of smoke. Very satisfying!

Give it a go, it is fun. Better if you get good accuracy too though. I never managed that with the 0.690" balls.

A rifled gun using brass cases would be really nice with BP and 0.735" RB's or full bore slugs.

BP is hard on plastic hulls in my experience and plastic wads shred in the bore on the fouling. I think card wads along with a lubed felt wad would be better. Get some form of BP lube in there anyway whatever else you use.

Longbow

[megasupermagnum]

I have not tried yet, but I was hoping I could get enough blackpowder in a hull to go with minimal or even without wadding. I don't know how far I want to push it, but I'm thinking 150 grains of FFg should take up quite a bit of space.

[RMc]

I have not tried yet, but I was hoping I could get enough blackpowder in a hull to go with minimal or even without wadding. I don't know how far I want to push it, but I'm thinking 150 grains of FFg should take up quite a bit of space.

FFFg would be more appropriate for use in a 12 gauge cartridge shotgun.

[17nut]

I have not tried yet, but I was hoping I could get enough blackpowder in a hull to go with minimal or even without wadding. I don't know how far I want to push it, but I'm thinking 150 grains of FFg should take up quite a bit of space.

I can get 135grains in a 2½" hull with wad and round ball and have enough for roll crimp.
180grains is easy in a 3" hull.

[megasupermagnum]

Why would FFFg be more appropriate? In my 12 gauge muzzle loader, FFg is recommended, and I have even shot about half a pound of Fg. I used both with percussion caps, then converted it to 209 primers (It is a Knight TK2000). Never a misfire, and patterns great. I even shot a turkey with it this year with 100gr Goex FFg, Ranger elite wad, and 1 3/4oz #5.

Has anyone done any pressure testing with blackpowder in modern guns? I know generally muzzle loaders are listed as a max of 120-150 grains, and they look to be about as tough as an Ultra slug hunter.

[RMc]

Three Drams, (82 grains), GOEX FFFg Blackpowder, Federal Paper hulls, 1 1/8 Oz Shot, Winchester 209 Primers, nitro card, two ¼” felt filler wads yielded PSI 6,600 and 1167 FPS.

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=259371&start=40

Sherman Bell, Double Gun Journal Vol. 10, Issue 4, Winter, 1999, “Finding Out For Myself” Part II

Goex recommendations for breechloading shotguns:

http://www.goexpowder.com/images/LoadCharts/Breechloading-SG-Shells.pdf

[megasupermagnum]

I guess in the case of low pressure, low speed, you need FFFg to build up any amount of pressure. I'm looking to launch a 1 3/4 oz slug and am fine with pressures up to 14k psi.

[RMc]

Actually, FFFg is better suited due to the limited space available in self-contained shells. Check the velocity reported in the article with a Greener rifled 12 bore pushing a 1 3/8 ounce ball. Also, note the powder used is equal to the greater power and cleaner burn of the best late 19th century powders.

http://www.classicarmsjournal.com/from-the-loading-bench/

The performance shown in the Goex load chart is based on lower grade "standard" black powder.

http://www.goexpowder.com/images/LoadCharts/Breechloading-SG-Shells.pdf

Also see post #15 :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?78235-12-ga-paradox-help-!-Slug-or-RB-loads

[longbow]

Despite the usual comments of FFFg for calibers up to .50 then FFg, I always got better performance from muzzleloaders and my .45-70 using FFFg and that included my Pedersoli 12 ga. side by and my 12 ga. cartridge gun.

All my guns liked FFFg better than FFg or Fg.

Different strokes I guess... and maybe that applies to gun preferences too?

Longbow