powder measuring scoops

are currently on sale at Numrich----not a bad price (50 cents each) if you need one

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/Closeo...8fFg..Aw7KMg.b..s.AWnu.a.VV5GOg.VV5GOg.xR7PLg

Well that's certainly affordable!

I'm not familiar with measuring shot or powder for loading ammunition, so I don't know what these sizes mean. For example, what does a .020 measure translate to in grams of ffffg? If I want a gram or 1.5 grams powder, what scoop do I buy?

Any info about translating scoop sizes to grams FFFG would be helpful. Thanks!

I will have to check, iirc my lee powder measure scoop 1 gram is the 1cc scoop by weight. I will go out tomorrow and pull my box out and check to see which numbers correspond to what. The one listed in the above link are the older style Lee Loader scoops (red ones), the newer improved versions are yellow and marked in cc increments, iirc the yellow ones also have the older measurements as well.

Just checked my Lee Powder Measure scoops (yellow ones) they are graduated in Cubic Centimeters, the older style red ones are probably graduated in Cubic Inches.

I've been flying AT motors for so long I have a huge number of the 2cc centrifuge vials they ship their powder charges in. I load a bunch with 1cc and 2cc of FFFFg powder and a few with 1.5cc and keep them in the range box. Must be 30 or 40 in there. I don't even want to count how many are in the bag on the shelf.

What's nice about having the pre-measured vials is that I never have to measure in the field. For those rockets that need some amount up to 2cc but not at the 1 or 1.5 marks, I just load some of those and keep them in a different bin in the range box. I don't need the measuring cups when I fill the vials on the bench because they have the measurements on the vials already.

So far I've been able to avoid spending money on those, although $0.50 is a pretty good price for them. Thanks for the heads up.

One neat little fact about FFFFg black powder - as alluded to above, 1g=1cc. Any measurement device will work.

AlfaBrewer said:

One neat little fact about FFFFg black powder - as alluded to above, 1g=1cc. Any measurement device will work.

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Most people don't realize that black powder is measured by volume rather than actual weight, no two brands of BP will weigh quite the same, unlike smokeless single/double base powders which are measured by weight and are almost exactly the same from lot to lot of a given brand (both in performance and weight).

Handeman said:

I've been flying AT motors for so long I have a huge number of the 2cc centrifuge vials they ship their powder charges in. I load a bunch with 1cc and 2cc of FFFFg powder and a few with 1.5cc and keep them in the range box. Must be 30 or 40 in there. I don't even want to count how many are in the bag on the shelf.

What's nice about having the pre-measured vials is that I never have to measure in the field. For those rockets that need some amount up to 2cc but not at the 1 or 1.5 marks, I just load some of those and keep them in a different bin in the range box. I don't need the measuring cups when I fill the vials on the bench because they have the measurements on the vials already.

So far I've been able to avoid spending money on those, although $0.50 is a pretty good price for them. Thanks for the heads up.

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I do the same. Much prefer measuring out BP on my workbench than outside in the elements.

Numrich, AKA Gun Parts Corp, are great folks to to deal with.

TopRamen said:

Numrich, AKA Gun Parts Corp, are great folks to to deal with.

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Having Gunsmithing as one of my other hobbies, I have dealt a lot over the years with Numrich/GPC and you sir are correct they have great customer service, and are sometimes the only place to get an oddball part.

I usually just use the standard charge that comes with the motor, and I use the whole amount. But now I have a Warlock, which has a large volume and may need a little bit extra BP to deploy. When I asked on the forum how much extra, the answer was provided in grams. So if the answer was 1.5 grams extra BP, that translates to 1.5 cc Goex ffffg?

It's odd that grams = cc's for BP. By definition, that's true for water, but I would not have thought so for BP. I would not have thought water and BP have the same density. Or maybe grams is a misnomer in this case, and people just say grams when talking about powder, but the actual measurement is cc's.

Now I wish I had saved more BP vials from my DMS motors. I think I only have one. I like the idea of measuring it out at home and bringing Pre-measured vials to the launch.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I usually just use the standard charge that comes with the motor, and I use the whole amount. But now I have a Warlock, which has a large volume and may need a little bit extra BP to deploy. When I asked on the forum how much extra, the answer was provided in grams. So if the answer was 1.5 grams extra BP, that translates to 1.5 cc Goex ffffg?

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You are correct, the 1.5cc would correspond to 1.5 g of FFFFg. Are you sure they said 1.5g in addition to what the motor has, or a total amount? You end up with about 3g of powder if you added it to the motor ejection. That seems like a lot, even for the Warlock. You might want to consider ground testing that.

Handeman said:

You are correct, the 1.5cc would correspond to 1.5 g of FFFFg. Are you sure they said 1.5g in addition to what the motor has, or a total amount? You end up with about 3g of powder if you added it to the motor ejection. That seems like a lot, even for the Warlock. You might want to consider ground testing that.

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I actually do not remember the exact amount recommended. The 1.5 grams was just an example and is probably too much. But now I know how to measure it when I do have the correct recommended amount. Thanks!

I'm crazy particular and use one of those very affordable 50 gram scales to measure charges for testing and then stick to it. Yeah overkill but I want to get it "just right".

Now of course, going "stupid high" will have its own problems with containment, having the charge to compensate for the evacuated air in the airframe and such but at least I can try to minimize the deployment
stress on the shockcords. Yes it's better to have a "little too much" than "too little" but want to avoid "way too much". Kurt

Actually the density of Geox FFFFG is somewhere between .92 to .94 ( if my memory is good) . So it's 92 to 94% the weight of water. it's less than 10% so it will mot make a big difference if you measure it in volume or weight. Anyway peoples get it wrong then they compute the volume of the space; they always forget the volume of the chute, the nomex and the shock cord and the ejection charges canister(s) or anything else that occupy space.

ksaves2 said:

Yes it's better to have a "little too much" than "too little" but want to avoid "way too much". Kurt

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I completely agree with you on this and I suspect most fliers also agree. Where the disagreement seems comes to in is what is "little too much". To me, any drogue charge that causes the two halves to hit the end of the shock cord with anything but a minor bump, is too much. The way I see it, if you have a drogue chute, all you have to do is get the rocket open enough to expose the drogue chute to the air stream. The drogue will slow down one half and gravity will do the rest.

That is extremely handy!