How many grains of smokeless powder in 5 cc?

Answer 1

The number of grains depends on the powder itself. Each powder has a different bulk density factor (BDF or VMD), which is why reloaders use charts. As an example, if you're using a double dip of a Lee 2.5 cc powder dipper (5 ccs) to load 375 H and H (300 grain bullet), according to the chart, you'll be using 5.6 cc's of Precision Loader equivalents, or 70 grains of Accur 3100 powder. (Example only to make the math work, I wouldn't use Accurate 3100 for 375, I'd use Varget, R-15, Accurate 2495/4350 or IMR). Because bulk density is a measure compared to the universal standard (water) of 1 gram per cc (or 15.432 grains), it is non linear, so you can't just multiply up or down. Water obviously "fills the whole volume," whereas tiny grains of powder do not. The "15.4" number is important, because it is how you convert grams per cc to grains per cc, by just multiplying 15.4 times grams/cc. If a powder (such as Accurate 2230) has a grams per cc of 1, then the grains per cc will be 1 times 15.4, or 15.4. Hodgdon 322 has a grams per cc of .893, so you'd multiply this by 15.4 (taking a percent in essence), and get 13.8 grains per cc. The web also has some wrong answers, telling you to divide one by .7, when BDF's/VMD's are generally given as .07-- one digit less, whereas g/cc is as a high percent, such as .8. For example, the powder above (3100) has a BDF (or VMD factor) of about .08, so you'd multiply 70 grains by .08 to get 5.6 cc's, or divide 5.6 by the BDF of .08 (for that powder only) to get 70 grains. BDF/VMD come from the shape qualities of the powder, as different powders are tiny little balls, cylinders (extruded or tubular), flake, single base (like Accur 2495/Hodg 4895) extruded, etc., so they take up more or less volume in grains weight per cc of volume. Don't confuse grains of powder for grains of a bullet-- a measure of BULLET WEIGHT. If you go over all the charts, most of the grains per cc range (for rifle powders) between 13 and 16, so an "average" answer (dangerous in the reloading world) to this question would be around 72 grains. But, for a pistol powder like Accurate Nitro 100 (7 grn/cc), the answer would be 35 grains! See the table link we included below for many other examples. The above example is 70 GRAINS of powder for a bullet that weighs 300 GRAINS-- two different measures! Also, don't confuse ball ammo with ball powder-- ammo is a large ball shaped bullet, powder is tiny little balls of powder. "Stick" powder is often used to describe the little cylinders. In fact, many lost their lives in Nam when the M16 was tested with tubular and then fielded with ball powder, making the gas tube filthy and jamming a weapon that was advertised as "needing no maintenance!" Changing to chrome lined barrels and recommending regular cleaning, as well as introducing V2 with 3 rd bursts helped solve the problem. If you do ANY calculation, check it against a chart in a reloading manual to be sure your result is between the minimum ("starting") and maximum loads for safety. Also, don't load up a "varmint" round to the max and shoot it through a non-bull barrel, you'll destroy the rifling, and possibly warp the barrel. --Tim at certified reloader dot com.