Early 20th Century Powder Question?

[Drew Hause]

Ed: interestingly Laflin & Rand's Unique and Infallible were made from the same formula, the only difference being the granulation. Both were reformulated over the years.
Hercules promoted Red Dot as a replacement for Infallible, but continued to manufacture Infallible (later by Alliant).

Nobel's Ballistite for shotshells was discontinued (in the U.S.) in the late 1920s.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Drew Hause

OH NO MIKE!!!!
Bulk Smokeless was measured by volume and early on the volume was the same a black powder. That changed with 33 grain = 3 Dram Eq. Bulk powders
Dense was ONLY to be measured by grains/weight.



A 3 Dr. Eq. (Dram Equivalent) load of “E.C.” No. 1 or “Schultze” was 42 grains by weight. 3 Dr. Eq. of Dense Smokeless Ballistite was 24 grains; Infallible 22 grains. The pressure of a 3 Dram (82 grains by volume) load of Black Powder with 1 1/8 oz. of shot at 1200 fps is about 5000 psi. The pressure of 1 1/8 oz. 3 Dr. Eq. of BULK Smokeless was 6500 - 7500 psi; 3 Dr. Eq. of DENSE Smokeless was 9000 - 10,000 psi.

Substituting a Dense Smokeless powder for Black or Bulk Smokeless powder would double the charge. It has been estimated that 50 grains of Infallible or Unique could reach 30,000 psi.

I was thinking dense was bulk. My bad. I still wouldn’t bother with it.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Funny thing is I’m in the midst of reading Askins book on “Modern Shotguns and Loads” and he has chapters devoted to powders and loads and patterns and……