Shotshell Pressure Question?

[Austin W Hogan]

We found an old Dupont loading manual and extracted some material from it in Parker Pages earlier this year. DuPont bulk became available around 1895, and is last mentioned in the early 1950's loading pamphlets. Shotgun handloaders were essentially extinct following WW2 until revived by Alcan in the early 1960's.

DuPont Bulk Smokeless was a convenience. It looked like soap bubbles under a magnifying glass. It was loaded by volume rather than weight as was black powder and it occupied the same space in the shell, allowing it to be used with the same wads. It produced about twice the pressure as black to achieve the dram equivalent load. I don't think pressures were noted for bulk in the DuPont manual, but Phil Sharpe's book indicates bulk burned cleanly at about 9000 psi.

This issue of Parker Pages will contain some information contributed by Ken Waite Jr on Parker's changeover from Black to Bulk smokeless for patterning. Parker continued to pattern with bulk smokeless throughout Meriden production.

PB stands for porous base. It was also bulky relative to IMR and SR DuPont powders, and occupied more shell volume. The early DuPont loading manuals specifically note that PB can not be substituted for black.

Best, Austin