This year's gun

[Smitty5]

I've decided to use my TC Firehawk at least for some of the season. I'm using some green sabots and the 300 gr. Nosler HP. It's a 50 and it will be fired with a #11 cap by Remington. The charge is 100 grs. of Dupont FFFG. I know it seems hot but after having tested the load and finding it very accurate. 1/2 inch groups are easy at 50 yards and 2 inch groups are easy at 100 yards. I don't know how fast it is out of my 24 inch barrel but feel it's going fast enough. I have a Bushnell Sportview 3x9 scope on this rifle. It has never lost zero since 1999. The reason I'm using it instead of my 54 Renegade is that the trail I am watching is in timber and 110 yards out there. The Firehawk with it's glass will cover the poor light and many branches when trying to judge a deer. It should do well on hogs too.

[Twanger]

The reason I'm using it instead of my 54 Renegade is that the trail I am watching is in timber and 110 yards out there.

I'm all for nice shooting long range guns, but your statement above kinda begs the question... why not get closer to the trail? (I'm sure there's gotta be a reason, just curious what it is!)

For 100gr of T73F and a 300 grain bullet you have 0.333 grains of powder per grain of bullet.

My formula for T72F says you should get 1725 fps, and T73F is 5% hotter, so you should get around 1750 fps.

For T72F... MV in feet per second = 2518 * x^0.334, where x is the powder volume in grains divided by the bullet weight in grains.

Multiply x by 1.05 (i.e. add 5%) for T73F.

[Smitty5]

Why not get closer to the trail? Well the stand is on a hilltop and to my left there is some thick brush and small trees. There's a road to the east and of the main crossing travel lanes, after they get onto the property come within 30 yards of my stand and another comes about 110 yards from my stand which is placed so that most likely my scent won't be going their way with the usual prevailing winds which are from the south east and the northwest. Nice calculations by the way. So Triple 7 is pretty much like black powder? I used and still use Pyrodex but like the way regular black powder is so much easier to clean and also that the major buildup from black is closer to the muzzle than Pyrodex. By the way I as rickt30 bought the 54 and 50 caliber barrels from you for my Renegade several years ago. I am still shooting them and they are still good shooters. The 54 especially likes Lymans minie on top of 70 grs. of Pyrodex RS.

[Twanger]

So Triple 7 is pretty much like black powder?

T72F is about 20% more powerful than 2F black powder (or 2F granulation loose pyrodex)
T73F is about 25% more powerful than 2F BP.

Interestingly, if you weigh a T7 pellet you will notice that it is about 80-85% the weight of a 50-gr pyrodex pellet, but they both yield about the same MV from my Encore 209X50. They made the T7 pellet match the power of the pyrodex pellet, not the weight. That way you can exchange them and get basically the same ballistic performance.

I've just about completely switched over to loose T72F for rifles (including my side lock) and T73F for the pistols.

The Encore likes pyrodex pellets so much that I'll probably shoot through all of my stock of pellets before I even consider changing. I've been trying to find a 2100-2200 fps load for the Encore that will print 1.5" or better at 100 yds, but have not found it yet... but have burned a lot of powder. :D :p

I've been looking into Blackhorn powder. It's nice and clean and seems to light-up just fine with a 209 primer. It's not make for use with lower power #11 or 209ML primers.

Oh... here's the plot of MV vs. T72F powder charge and the resulting curve fit. Also is the fit for T73F in the ML pistols I have with 14" barrels.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/14937MV_vs_powder_and_lead3.jpg

[Smitty5]

I have only a few places where T7 is available and it seemed pricey. I never liked the pellets or used them much preferring the flexibility of loose powder. So when I burn my 3 pounds of triple F black and my 2 pounds of Pyrodex RS I'll get some T7 which does seem to be a favorite.