Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Weighed BH charges

So in the past I’ve used charges by volume(120gr) on and old brass measure. For more consistency I’ve started using my scale. According to the BH site. 120gr by volume equals 84 grains by weight. But the weighed charges are closer to 110 grains of volume. Should I increase the weight of the scale charges? I should mention that the volume charges shot great in the past. Anyone else experience this?

x.7

120gr Volume x .7 = 84gr Weight.

Your powder measure is off, which is not uncommon.

I could see that, but what is peculiar is that when I fill Bighorn speed tubes(with graduation lines and charges) with 120 he by volume it lands right on the 120 grain line of the powder tube. So are both wrong?

no no!! DO NOT go by that crap marked on the bh209 powder tubes! Its way off and inaccurate. Why they still sell them like that is beyond me.

10-4 thanks! Guess I’ve been shooting over max. Just curious but are there any measures that you’ve found more accurate than the others?

Not only are the tubes probably off, if you compare several measures, I doubt if they'll agree. Mine (I have three) don't. No big deal regardless. I weigh the charges I put in tubes just because it's neater and I don't waste powder. The main ingredient in BH209, based on the price, must be gold, silver anyway, so I don't want to spill it.

I went thru this exercise with 777 powder. Measured 10 x 100 gr (volume) charges. 10% + extreme spread. Average was 75 gr by weight.

It depends on how much consolidation takes place when filling the volumetric measuring device. I've gone to weighed charges, put in a Blackhorn tube for this reason.

Just to reinforce what others have already observed -- my BH weighed charges of 80 grains come to roughly the 110 grain by volume mark on the BH tubes, and 90 grains weighed comes in close to 120 grains on the tube markings. I've double checked this using two different scales, so clearly the error is from the tube markings. For consistency and confidence in charge levels, weighed charges would seem like the best way to go.

I recently just weighed mine out for the first time. I use a TC Clear U-View to set my load, it is 120 grains by volume BH209. Weighed it at 92.0 grains by weight. I compared that to the manufacture and it didn't match their math formula at all, theirs appears much more reserve. Powder was not broken up, everything looked good.

Now I've read on the internet each bottle might be different so I took this into account. However, I took powder from 2 different bottles and they were the same weight average, again 92.0 grains by weight.

Disclamer: Remember, black powder is measured by volume, not by weight! I'm not responsible for any issues, problems, damage or harm. Use at your own risk!

I have used the same powder measure and arrived at 73.6 gr (wt) = 100 gr (vol) [n=5]

You're getting 76.6 gr (wt) = 100 gr (vol)

BH 209 website says 70 = 100 (I don't buy it)

Weight vs volume changed a little from lot to lot. Now its pretty close after lot # 39. Any lot# after that should be more consistent. Remember that volume measures vary just as much. Yours can be different than his. Your method could be different than his. Tap no tap ect ect. After you find out what volume your rifle likes then weigh some of the charges you threw.

As far as weight vs volume.....Well, many of shooters at Friendship weigh loads including ML matches using real black. I know plenty of guys that weigh Swiss loads and pretty much all the BH209 shooters are weighing theirs. Doug Schwartz just set a new inline match record using weighed loads. Top 3 shooters all used weighed charges.