doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Could you share your light load nitro formulas?

It's a granular powder with a fairly fine grain. It meters as well or better than any other powder I use. My Sizemasters with MEC bushings throw very consistent charges.

It has a burn rate near that of Unique but the low pressure 16 gauge loads that Tom Armbrust tested for me with SR-7625 were much more uniform than those with Unique. I now use SR-7625 for all of my 12 and 16 gauge low pressure loads.

12 gauge: I load 17.2 gr/Alliant E3/Win 209 primer/STS hulls/ 3/4 oz of shot/ 3/4 oz Claybuster wads. Gives about 1273 fps. Pressure is quite low, as is recoil.

Great discussion and information thread! Thanks poochie. This one should be made a sticky.

I don't believe that is accurate. With the same weight/type of powder, primer, hull type and shot weight there will be no substantial difference in pressure between two shells in the same gun provided the gun is chambered for the longer of the two. There is no difference in any of the metrics except a taller wad column in the longer shell. Ask that Hodgdon guy to prove what you have told us and provide the pressure and velocity data for two identical loads in both 2.5 and 2.75 shells. Or perhaps you can provide us published data comparison in any gauge showing any significant difference in pressure between two identical loads in different length hulls. Without either you are just passing along a myth similiar to composite barrel are dangerous with nitro powders.

I just relayed the information given to me but a representative of the Hogdon Powder Company, If you have some doubts and questions, I suggest you ask the question directly of Hogdon.
Jim Pettengill

I will just addd for whatever use it may be to anyone, "IF" you are using any of these loads in temps where you are shivering rather than sweating, be extremely careful of 7625 loads or any other loads in that burn range or slower. These slower powders do not always perform well at low pressures combined with cool temperatures. They were designed for heavier shot loads, higher velocities or both & to gain this rely on deterrant coatings to "Slow" their burn rates. PB is much more reliable as temps drop & in the Alliant line Green Dot is about the max burn rate for low pressure use. Loads simply need to be adjusted downward to acheive desirable pressure range. Personally I have no qualms with any of my sound Damascus guns with loads in the 7.5K range.

7625 has the same pressure curve as black powder, which is why Dupont brought it out years ago. i can e mail you the
chart if you wish. The chart is from the DGJ article of Black Vs Smokeless a few years ago.

Rem STS
Win 209 primer
Federal 12S0
7/8 ounce shot
about 16-17 grains of Clays.

It's in the book. It's a nice target load, soft recoil, easy all around.

Saying 7625 has the same pressure curve has nothing at all to do with its ignition capabilities. You can put a pile of black down on a flat rock & throw a match in it & it'll go WHOOSH. Put a pile of 7625 down on that same rock & thow a match on it & the match'll burn out but the powder won't.
Black powder burns at essentially the same rate regardless of confinement, NO smokeless does. With smokeless the higher the pressure the faster it burns 7 the faster it burns the more pressure it produces, so while in a very limited range Black & 7625 can have virtually identical pressure curves, BUT, this does not hold true all the way across the board.
Hey, I'm not trying to stop anyone from using 7625 if it suits them. I decided about 30 yrs ago it did not suit my purposes. All I said was "BE CAREFUL" with it.
When it did let me down in the middle of a duck swamp it did manage to get everything out the bbl, just not with enough OOMPH to kill a well hit Duck. It was a Mallard Drake & this was pre lead ban. I was shoting a 1�oz load of #5 shot which according to DuPonts current data shoud have produced 7K psi, that's not even a pip-squeak 5K. He did come down but hit the water swimming. My son finished him with a 1oz load of 6's loaded with Unique from a 20ga. We checked him carefully when we dressed him & the #6's had penetrated well, the #5's were buried in the skin. I honestly don't know what made him fall, unless he just got off balance, the 5's had not done enough damage to hurt him much. All who insist on using slow powders at low pressures just be certain & make sure every shot empties the bbl, shame to ruin a good gun from a stuck charge, that's all I'm saying. There is plenty of evidence out there that slow powders in cold weather lose ballistics. This becomes even more notable when pressures are low to begin with.

I used to use 700x,
there are some nice loads with this powder on the Hogdgon site, particularly with Rem 209 primers,ranging from 5500 to 7000 psi..1100 to 1200 fps.Seems to burn cleaner than some in my guns.
Its great that there are so many loads to pick from, ain't it?
I haven't shot much in the last couple of years.
But I intend to pick up a jug of something granular ,dig out the couple bags o # 71/2 ,& primers in the basement & see how much shot n powder I dump in the innards of my Hornady progressive before I remember how it works...& crank out a few to shoot clays with...roll on spring!
Franc