Triple Seven

I am running out of my supply of black powder, and it looks like it’s harder to find than it used to be. So I bought a pound of Hodgdon Triple Seven powder. It looks like the stuff is a little more energetic than BP and a little harder to ignite, but it should work. Anyone have any experience with this product, any advice?

I’ll be shooting it in my 12 gauge double. The load have been using is what they used to call a “square load”. 90 grains of black powder and the same volume of shot (I used the same measure for both). Test patterns we made with this load looked very good, nice and even. Hopefully I’ll be able to repeat that performance with the new powder.

SR

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You’ll want to reduce your powder charge by 10% with the 777. If you go to fffg instead of ffg you’ll maybe want to go back as far as 15%. 777 developes way more pressure than black powder or Pyrodex. You may have to snoop out a hotter cap too. Lots of cap shooters use the Dynamit Nobel caps, spendy but way hotter.

I shot 777 pellets before switching to Blackhorn 209 powder and wouldn’t even humor the thought of going back to 777. BUT, the 209 would be a no-no in your shotgun I think. The 209 is harder to ignite than the 777 powder.

Keep in mind that if you shoot it one day, clean it the same day. Like black and most all of the other subs 777 is fairly corrosive if the remnants of a shot are left in the barrel very long.

Personally if I was to shoot a powder other than the blackhorn 209 I’d be buying the granulated 777. I think you’ll like in your Bessie.

Thanks Tom. From what I’ve read, #11 caps should light off the granulated version just fine. The pelletized version is harder to light. I’ll start at 75 or 80 grains and see how that works. With 90 grains of black powder that gun snorts pretty good.

Bessie is shooting pretty good right now. I refinished the barrel and metal works, it’s not blued but rather browned. The repair parts I found for the locks work just fine, it shot flawlessly last Sunday. I’m very happy to have that gun back out in the field.

SR