Grains – The Shooter's Unit of Measurement

Grains – The Shooter's Unit of Measurement

What is a “grain”? What exactly are shooters referring to when they talk about grains? Bullet weight? Amount of powder in the case? Weight of the oxygen in the gun barrel? Experienced shooters know all this, but a great number of people are a bit “cloudy” about all this, I believe.

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50 Comments

  1. The Sun Is A Planet The Earth Is Flat on October 28, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    9 years ago dang this man ain’t aging



  2. Elliot Bruce on October 28, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    Love learning something new everyday! Don’t even remember how I got here.



  3. Bob Baker on October 28, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    Always enjoy your videos.



  4. jseski on October 28, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    "let me keep this simple & not get too silly…" (too late!) 😀 LOL 😀



  5. Tj Souza on October 28, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    I didn’t think you said "calculator" there for a minute.



  6. AJ on October 28, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    I’ve heard some people say it’s best to "break in" new guns with lower grains and go up in increments, is there any validity to this?



  7. Ken W on October 28, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    Really cool to see the old Lyman reloading manual. Having a verified load is important when reloading — you don’t want your gun to explode in your face, or bullets to get stuck in barrels. The key point is to use the right number of grains (weight) of the specified powered with a specified bullet (weight, composition, and style).



  8. THE DEVIL on October 28, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    Your amazing bro



  9. Squidsquid on October 28, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Quick question here: if we already use the metric system to designate measurement of casings and bullets, why don’t we just extend that to the measurement of powder charge instead of continuing to use grains?



  10. MDM on October 28, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    So 9mm 115g and 124g, it’s the bullet weight not the amount of powder. So the kick is the same.



  11. Kamal Mattar on October 28, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    I wanted to know what to use various grains for? Long video just to tell you it’s weight of bullet not powder. Skip



  12. Ste Flo on October 28, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    I love the fact any gun questions I have 9/10 times Hickok45 will explain it to me!



  13. Graves Meister on October 28, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    You’re my favorite gun dude



  14. Robert A. Ruiz on October 28, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    Well done sir! Keeping it KISS! Very good explanation!



  15. Cappiello & Co. on October 28, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    2,000,000 Grain Bench Press = 285lbs 😯



  16. Gabber Piet on October 28, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    55 grains is .125oz or 3.5 grams



  17. Daniel Kniefel on October 28, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    This video just explains what grains people don’t mean. So thanks for that



  18. Eric Chilver on October 28, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    Clarification yes thankyou great explanation



  19. The Sun Is A Planet The Earth Is Flat on October 28, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    I wish this guy could be my second grandpa because I want another experienced shooter in my family



  20. Sei on October 28, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    Bird In background “he’s recording but not shooting my time to shine”



  21. Sombojoe C on October 28, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    Ahh. Finally at 11:33 told us what a grain is compared to a pound. Okay thanks bye! Haha
    Oh course still wondering it it is metric or imperial measurement or something else?



  22. JirachiEx on October 28, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    What about grams or milligrams



  23. Juan Jose Martinez on October 28, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    That bird kept going the whole duration of video! LOL



  24. Anthony Garcia on October 28, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    Loved how you used the bullet as a pointer. I’m going to start using a bullet to keep my spot while I read.



  25. Tony F on October 28, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    1 grain = 1/7000th of a pound…



  26. Ty Traulich on October 28, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    The grain of a bullet is to keep People from shooting each other. It is “Bodily”

    A way to breach the heavens & (back at it again) [see above]

    Of course, super smart people need not conjecture. But nonetheless a good idea.



  27. Michael Fetick on October 28, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    I have a lot of respect but..
    … "if no one is talking about grains of powder" THEN WHY ARE YOU???
    Can’t you stay non-confusing by just talking about bullet-weight.
    ? How does bullet weight relate to recoil force ???



  28. Pamela Schilling on October 28, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    All I was curious about and per your video is grains in bullet if it makes a difference. You go on and on about powder more than half of video.



  29. Jared SGT on October 28, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    You’re like a bad ass Mr. Rogers.



  30. Martha Thompson on October 28, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    Very good explanation. Thanks. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS. very knowledgeable.



  31. Mike M44 on October 28, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    some day they need to switch to metric…



  32. Shane the suburban cannabis farmer🎶 on October 28, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    1 grain is about 65mgs…



  33. Matt Carroll on October 28, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    So when a jacketed bullet’s weight is listed on the box, do they mean the weight of the lead, or the lead and the jacket?



  34. Butch Simpson on October 28, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    Great video and great explanation. However, let’s be clear about black powder or it’s substitute. This powder is only used in guns designed to shoot black powder like cap and ball guns, and occasionally some cowboy action cartridges. Grains for black powder is referring to volume, not weight. Don’t get the two confused. Depending on the powder, a black powder volume load of 20 grains (Triple 7,FFFG Powder) weighs 14 grains. On the other hand, 20 weight grains of the same powder is 30 grains volume. So, if you load a black powder pistol with 20 grains weight of the same powder, but it’s supposed to be 20 grains volume, you have just overloaded your black powder pistol by 10 grains, which could be very dangerous depending on the gun. Keep that in mind. For powder measuring (when reloading or shooting black powder guns), smokeless powder is measured by weight, black powder or it’s substitute powder is measured by volume. Black powder shooters have tools which measure powder by volume.



  35. bluzamps23 on October 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Drams



  36. MrDrofinnah on October 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    7000 grains in a lb… tyvm… you’d be surprised how difficult it was to get a straight answer by looking online…



  37. romek305 on October 28, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    Please shot that bird !!!!



  38. NightmareDeathDealer on October 28, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    Jesus this is an old video lol



  39. Sombojoe C on October 28, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    Four minutes into video and still has NOT said what grains are yet!



  40. Johnny Fridge on October 28, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    A grain is a unit of WEIGHT! The gun powder and bullet are weighed in grains to allow for precision in loading a cartridge, and thus precision in ballistics. Powder can also be measured in volume instead of weight. As for the powder GRANULES, they come in a variety of shapes. Although the word ‘grain’ pertains to weight, it is incorrectly used to define that tiny speck of powder, as in a grain of salt. If you use GRANULE for that, you could be a nerd. But then, precision is everything.



  41. Clarence Marino III on October 28, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    Thank you sir this is the 3rd video that I watched about the subject and you definitely gave the best explanation.



  42. theddavis on October 28, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    Thank you I’ve gained grain knowledge lol



  43. Brian Smithmier on October 28, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    So…is grain measuring the powder?



  44. Arcey P on October 28, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    Just another reason the US should be on the metric system, 🤣🤣🤣.
    Seriously, grains were "grains" bc that’s what they looked like, feet were exactly that, and measurement cups were the same as average drinking cups. Made alot of sense back then. We tried in the 70s to switch but, "xenophobes and xylophones", as they say.



  45. Ken W on October 28, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    Grain is just a measure of weight. It can be the weight of anything, bullet, powder charge, something else. Just get a scale that measures in grains, it is all made easy. Who really cares what a grain is, as long as you are using the right number of grains.



  46. Anthony Ranieri on October 28, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    powder your nose lol



  47. scott Grant on October 28, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    thats why you need to move to the metric system, then you don’t need to talk about measuring something in grains like its 1941



  48. Adil X on October 28, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    thanks



  49. RcaperO Bonk on October 28, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    I’ve always thought it was the powder, thank for the explanation



  50. Salvage Games on October 28, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    Grain = gr
    ________
    15.432

    1.0 Grain = 0.064 Grams
    7,000 Grains in 1 Pound of Ammo Propellant

    20.0 Grains = 1.296 Grams

    3 grains would be almost 2 tenths of a gram… about 0.194 grams
    3.5 grains is about 1/4 of a gram
    4 grains is just over 1/4 of a gram.. about 0.259 grams