yeoman

Zuqunruhe - 44 cal 270 SP

Mossie & UC - When this season ends I plan to begin the "Great Powder Experiment". I have an antique can of Goex I should use up. Of course I have to try 777 since I could leave the gun loaded after a fouling shot with less fear of corrosion using SL's "gentle cleaning" method, plus,I like that the odor would be less while hunting. And, if UC is in love with Swiss 3f, I feel compelled to at least take her on a date. I will admit to a bias toward Pyrodex due largely to availability. I guesssince I'm going to do the powder comparison I can justify the hazmat fee and get several cans at once.

cayugad

A thing to keep in mind.. when you order powder, some places will charge you one hazmat fee for the black powder you order, and a second hazmat fee for the substitute powders you order. Get some caps, and it is a third hazmat fee. It is just crazy the laws. And most companies claim their shipping regulations are set in stone, so there is no use telling them (or proving to them)that other places do it different.

Underclocked

Graf's has the best price on Swiss last time I checked. http://www.grafs.com/fc/product/175949

Couple of dollars higher on the T7 than Powder Valley - but you might find some T7 at a Wally World on closeout.

Zugunruhe

I bought some of the 270gr. softpoints last week and some of the green Knight High Pressure sabots to try with them, that is we ever get a break in the weather here. Its either been too cold, too rainy/snowy or too windy for the past week to get any good range time in.

I did run one down the barrel (CVA Kodiak) to see how they fit. The sabots are really thick, much thicker than the TC mag express sabots (black) I had on hand. The 270gr. bullet is longer than the 240gr. I had been shooting and didn't appear to seat well in the Knight sabot. I was surprised that they seemed to go down the barrel with not too much effort. From what others are saying, this tight but not too tight fit may be to my advantage. For the record, my gun shoots the 240gr. TC Cheapshot sabots very well (they are super easy to load) over 85gr. of RS. I think I'm going to up the load to 100gr. and see what we get with the 270gr. Gold Dots. Planning to try the same in 777 2f as well.

yeoman

Cayugad - do you know a place from which to order that only charges a single hazmat fee per shipment? Or for an order under a specified weight?

UC-do you know ifGraf's charges a separate hazmat per container? Our walmarts don't carry powders, unfortunately. I can not open your link from here but will from home tonight. Thanks.

Zugunruhe - tight but not too tight seems to work for me, but then I suspect that varies with each of us. I load with a wooden ramrod so am relatively sensitive to loading pressure.

cayugad

If you are ordering all black powder, you can order up to 25 pounds for a single hazmat fee I believe. When you add other powders is where you get in trouble.. That's where the second hazmat fee comes into play. Also some companies charge you according to where they have to order the stuff from.

If I wanted black powder, swiss, and pinnacle, I would order from Powder INC. Since they carry all of it, they might do it for one hazmat fee.But if you want to mix powders, I believe you are doomed to pay two hazmat fees.

I ordered twenty five pounds of black powder from Graf's & Sons for my range fun, and only paid the one hazmat fee... But I did not add substitute powders. If you want just substitute powders and caps.. check MidSouth USA... see if they will do it all for one hazmat fee.

yeoman

Thanks Dave. I may also see what the best total price I can get from the ideas you provide would be, and take that to a local shop where I've been getting my RS and see if he can beat the price. It may be that the hazmat charge is consolidated if the receiver holds a hazmat license or is ordering from a distribution facility which is closer by.

Mossie

Underclocked,

Would you care to elaborate about your findings with Swiss 3f? What charge rate and bullets are you getting good results with? Do you have any idea what velocity your are getting with your loads? What gun and rate of twist is your rifle?

I intend to give the Swiss 3f a tryout eventually; but I have got to burn up a bit of the supply of other powders before I order anything more. How about the details on your Swiss 3f use?

Underclocked

I've been shooting it in Whites. My Ultra Mag seems to love the stuff and shoots well almost without regard to the projectile. I was using 90 grains volumetric behind 200 grain Shockwaves and getting very good groupings (the .504 White is a 1:24" twist). It also did very well with lesser charges behind several different heavy conicals. My .451 97 White (1:20")is sighted using 70 grains by volume of Swiss FFFg, RWS 1075+, 420 grain BullShop conical, again with very good accuracy.

I don't own a chrono but fully expect the results from the Swiss would equal or exceed those from T7. One thing I really like about the powder is how well it meters into a volumetric measure. Simply fill and level it off, there is little to be gained by tapping the measure - unlike T7 - so I would translate to greatly increase consistency.The accuracy results tell me that is true.

When firing conicals, I don't really worry about velocity. I tend not to shoot heavy charges so leading is not a problem. So far as trajectory, I verify trajectories by shooting at multiple ranges out to my own imposed limits.

It IS black and does have the rotten egg smell but not nearly as bad as other blacks I've shot or been around. There is an even coating of fouling left in the bore that seems very uniform and swabbing between shots is an easy task.

Zugunruhe

Well, I managed to get five rounds off last night after work before I ran out of daylight and dexterity. Thanks Alberta Clipper for the 12 degrees plus windchill!

No pics to post, I just mounted a scope on my rifle last week and attempted the poor man's bore sighting (looking down the barrel). I'm still shooting high off the paper after these first five shots. Let me say I've been shooting RS lately but tried 777 last night. Crud ring!!! The fouling made it very difficult to swab between shots and load subsequent shots. My ramrod even got stuck with the first damp patch and it took getting out the t-handle to remove it. I wanted to try 777 to try and pick up the extra velocity, but I may go back to RS. It seems to shoot much more cleanly in my Kodiak.

I need a day above freezing to get this thing sighted in but it doesn't look like it will come any time soon...[:-]