How much powder?

[Zulu]

Someone asked me how much powder would be needed to shoot a 1" ball from this Brook's gun.  I looked at the sticky and it said 1 oz. of FG per inch of bore.
That's 437.5 grains.  That sounds like a lot.  Is it?  El Cazador said he shot 150 grains for blanks in his 1" Brook's.
I completely understand about starting low and working your way up but I am puzzled about what I read in the sticky.
Zulu

[Double D]

Read the whole sticky.  There is a chart below for guns smaller than 2 inch.  I will modify the stick to make it clearer.

Also remember the chart and load recommendations are MAXIMUM suggested loads.

[Zulu]

Using a 1 oz. per inch of bore for larger bores is confusing to me also.  For larger bores it doesn't seem like enough.  My old 3" bore Parrott rifle would only use 3 oz.?  That would sound like a sneeze in that gun.  I shot 12 oz. blanks for 10 years.  I'm not saying I'm right.  I know better than that on this forum because I've learned so much.  I do know 3 oz. would sound like a sneeze.
Zulu

[Double D]

Using a 1 oz. per inch of bore for larger bores is confusing to me also.  For larger bores it doesn't seem like enough.  My old 3" bore Parrott rifle would only use 3 oz.?  That would sound like a sneeze in that gun.  I shot 12 oz. blanks for 10 years.  I'm not saying I'm right.  I know better than that on this forum because I've learned so much.  I do know 3 oz. would sound like a sneeze.
Zulu

The load charts are not for  blank loads but for firing projectiles. The AAA standard is 2 oz of  Fg or 3 oz Fa or  Cannon Grade per inch, not one oz per inch.  The  N-SSA has a chart for type of gun but is pretty similar. Click on the link to reach the N-SSA rules and look for the reference chart.

[Artilleryman]

I believe the load table is for projectile loads using Fg goex powder, not for blank loads.   Small bores are going to make more efficient use of the powder and so require less of it.  So starting out with smaller loads makes sense.

[Artilleryman]

You beat me to it DD. 

[Zulu]

Using a 1 oz. per inch of bore for larger bores is confusing to me also.  For larger bores it doesn't seem like enough.  My old 3" bore Parrott rifle would only use 3 oz.?  That would sound like a sneeze in that gun.  I shot 12 oz. blanks for 10 years.  I'm not saying I'm right.  I know better than that on this forum because I've learned so much.  I do know 3 oz. would sound like a sneeze.
Zulu

The load charts are not for  blank loads but for firing projectiles. The AAA standard is 2 oz of  Fg or 3 oz Fa or  Cannon Grade per inch, not one oz per inch.  The  N-SSA has a chart for type of gun but is pretty similar. Click on the link to reach the N-SSA rules and look for the reference chart.

My mistake.   You are correct DD.  2 oz. per inch, not 1 oz.
Zulu

[RocklockI]

Michael , with 750 grains my Dom made 1.75 will shoot fox balls to 500 yards easy . Do I read this correctly that you'd be 'OK' with two OZ. cannon grade and a ball ?

That sounds like a lot to me .

Gary

[Double D]

Zulu,

I missed it the first time also.

[Double D]

Michael , with 750 grains my Dom made 1.75 will shoot fox balls to 500 yards easy . Do I read this correctly that you'd be 'OK' with two OZ. cannon grade and a ball ?

That sounds like a lot to me .

Gary

Gary,

2 oz Cannon grade per inch for bores over 2 inch. 

[Terry C.]

The Switlik graph for small cannons shows a charge of 180 grains for a 1.0 inch bore with projectile.

This sounds about right, as I shoot a 250 grain charge in a 1.156" bore and it's plenty stout.

[rludwig]

Hi, I have heard a lot of references to starting with a low load and working up. This is often advised for loading metallic cartridges. In that case one inspects the fired cartridges for marks indicating that the over pressure limit has been reached and then reduces the load by 10-20%.  What signs would one look for in firing muzzloading cannons? I would think that by the time signs were easily detected, permanent damage or stress would already haave been inflicted. Or does one slowly increase the charge until reasonable range is achieved?

Thanks

[Cat Whisperer]

rludwig --

Good observations (and WELCOME to the board!).

Since the first sign of overcharge might well catestrophic, it's a good idea to use the rule-of-thumb loads based on a lot of folks' experience with a lot of cannons - that is to look up the max charge for a given design and size.

That will keep you in a 'safe' range of loading.

Safety is dependant on: design, materials employed, machining practices employed as well as loading practices.  ALL have to have been done right.

[Double D]

Hi, I have heard a lot of references to starting with a low load and working up. This is often advised for loading metallic cartridges. In that case one inspects the fired cartridges for marks indicating that the over pressure limit has been reached and then reduces the load by 10-20%.  What signs would one look for in firing muzzloading cannons? I would think that by the time signs were easily detected, permanent damage or stress would already haave been inflicted. Or does one slowly increase the charge until reasonable range is achieved?

Thanks

The recommended load information is consider  Maximum.  The recommendation is to start ridiculously low and work up  and do not exceed the maximum recommended loads.  Look at our sticky safe loads at the top of the forum for guidance.

FWIW it has been long known examining fired cartridges case is an unreliable method method for checking pressure. To many variables to misread.    Much safer to stick with published load data.

 

[Rickk]

I have the same Brooke Barrel.

They are strong as hell.

I don't know what max safe load behind a 1" lead ball is in this barrel, but what I do know is that the recoil from every load mentioned here so far would be tremendous.

I have been using 1F in it behind lead balls. Think much less, at least to start with, until you see what you are up against for recoil.

Start at 50 grains and work up. I suspect that around 100 grains you will want to evaluate your needs against what is happening to the gun carriage.

For blanks, well, PM me, or Caz, or Tropico, or ask Michael himself. We all discussed our loads amongst ourselves and with Michael. None of us really wanted to post the blank loads in public, as loading procedures for blanks for smaller guns tend to disagree with the established norm for the bigger ones and we did not want to create controversy.

Michael did some attempted destructive testing and we were all way under that, yet for blanks we were making way more noise than a 12 g shotgun every could.