I was wondering if somebody could explain to me what the grain of the bullet means. I was under the impression that when it is printed on the box of ammo it means the weight of a bullet, but doesn't grain also refer to how much gun powder is used. Also if you could comment on plus p ammo, because I'm a little confused about what that is.
Bullet grain and +p ammo.
- Thread starter nickro
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In a nutshell....
The grain listed on the box is the weight of the bullet.
+P ammo is a "hotter" version of whatever ammo it is (there is also +P+), some guns however should not have +P ammo shot through them so due diligence is neccessary.
The grain listed on the box is the weight of the bullet.
+P ammo is a "hotter" version of whatever ammo it is (there is also +P+), some guns however should not have +P ammo shot through them so due diligence is neccessary.
robocop10mm
Active Member
The word grain has several meanings.
It is a unit of measure. 1 pound = 7000 grains
It is an edible plant seed. Wheat, Oats, Rye, etc
It is improperly used to describe one kernal of gun powder. A grain of powder is not one piece of powder, it is 1/7000th of a pound of powder. Depending on the powder it may be 1/2 of a kernal or 20 kernals.
+P is a SAAMI term for more pressure than a "regular" load. SAAMI does not have +P specs for every cartridge. There is no .357 Mag +P. There is no .40 S&W +P (yet).
A .38 Special +P does not generate as much pressure as a .357 Mag. A loader that is not a member of SAAMI can label anything as +P as they are not contractually obligated to conform with SAAMI specs. They could label ammo as .22 LR +P but it would not really mean anything as there is not an established specification for that load.
It is a unit of measure. 1 pound = 7000 grains
It is an edible plant seed. Wheat, Oats, Rye, etc
It is improperly used to describe one kernal of gun powder. A grain of powder is not one piece of powder, it is 1/7000th of a pound of powder. Depending on the powder it may be 1/2 of a kernal or 20 kernals.
+P is a SAAMI term for more pressure than a "regular" load. SAAMI does not have +P specs for every cartridge. There is no .357 Mag +P. There is no .40 S&W +P (yet).
A .38 Special +P does not generate as much pressure as a .357 Mag. A loader that is not a member of SAAMI can label anything as +P as they are not contractually obligated to conform with SAAMI specs. They could label ammo as .22 LR +P but it would not really mean anything as there is not an established specification for that load.
grain is imply a unit of weight (or is it mass?).
Both the weight of powder and the weight of the bullet can be measured in grains.
When I load my 9mm rounds. I used 4.2 grains of 700X IMR powder with a 115 grain plated, berry bullet.
I have never seen the powder load on factory box of ammo. I think it is proprietary.
Evidentially the term comes from people using grains of (I think) barley as a standard. Kind of like how one foot used to be the length of one king's foot.
These things aren't meant to make sense. They just are. Why gun/ammo makers don't use standard metric units, I don't know.
I'm supprised they haven't switched. . . . .they would eventually sell a lot of new scales to a bunch of ticked off reloaders (or handloaders if you prefer). : )
Both the weight of powder and the weight of the bullet can be measured in grains.
When I load my 9mm rounds. I used 4.2 grains of 700X IMR powder with a 115 grain plated, berry bullet.
I have never seen the powder load on factory box of ammo. I think it is proprietary.
Evidentially the term comes from people using grains of (I think) barley as a standard. Kind of like how one foot used to be the length of one king's foot.
These things aren't meant to make sense. They just are. Why gun/ammo makers don't use standard metric units, I don't know.
I'm supprised they haven't switched. . . . .they would eventually sell a lot of new scales to a bunch of ticked off reloaders (or handloaders if you prefer). : )
Bullseye Shooter
Active Member
I can't take credit for the answer, but here it is:
The "grain" is the smallest weight unit in the English, or Avoirdupois, System of measurement, for weighing ANYTHING, as the gram is the center unit in the Metric System. It comes from Medieval times, and was taken from the weight of one GRAIN of wheat, from which we get the name. There are approximately 15 grains in one gram. One avoirdupois ounce is 437.5 grains.
ANY small unit of material, whether it be medicine, gun powder, chemicals, or flour can all be weighed in grain units.
In firearms terminology, reloading of ammunition in particular, bullet and powder charge weights are measured in grain units. Any reloading scale for measuring powder charges and bullet weights are accurate to .1 (1/10th) of a grain, which means a scale can divide 1 gram 150 ways! (Which is the main reason dope dealers bastardize these tools in their poison trade.)
In grain units, a 220 grain bullet weighs almost exactly 1/2 ounce.
This exacting accuracy must be maintained because different formulas of smokeless gun powder have different burning rates, and the fastest burning powders usually have the lightest charge rates, sometimes as light as less than 5, and sometimes 2 or 3 grains, such as Bullseye powder, which is why Metric units aren't used. The denser the powder, the heavier the charge required. Some Ball and Tubular powder formulas for Magnum pistol and rifle cartridges start at around 20 grains and go up from there.
Black powder is also measured in this unit. For example, the Sharps rifle of Tom Selleck's "Quimby Down Under" was chambered for a .45-120 Sharps cartridge, which utilized a .45 paper-patched bullet of around 300 grain weight, loaded over a 120 grain charge of black powder, hence the designation.
To explain the +P a little better, there is a standard pressure range that the round is designed for, and this is generally held to be whatever SAAMI determines. Let's say it is 40,000 PSI Max for a particular chambering. Ammo manufacturers can then load the rounds "above max" or "above SAAMI max" and push the pressure up to say 42,000 PSI. This load is now marked a +P load because it has additional pressure beyond what SAAMI designates as standard.
There's also a +P+ load which is not defined by SAAMI, so the pressures can vary based upon the manufacturer. The +P+ load is generally held to be slightly higher pressures than +P, but without a standardization, it could be 1% more or it could be 10% more. Best to refer to the manufacturer of both the ammo and the gun to see if this is a safe load. Most modern firearms will run it, but I wouldn't feed it a big diet of the stuff.
country_boy
TGT Addict
texas42 are you creating a new form of measurement?? I have the same problem forgeting to proof my typing. Speaking of I misspelled forgetting.
I was tryng to study at the same time. The whole thing of memorizing drugs makes you a little crazy. I kind of didn't finish my thought. I do think that a slug is the standard unit of mass though I think it is a very large unit. Physics 1114 was a little while ago. I could look it up. But I don't care enough right now.
I'll try very hard not to make up new units in the future.
I'll try very hard not to make up new units in the future.
