I would like someone to do something for me

[Alpo]

I would do it myself but I did not have aspirin at my house, and I do not wish to buy a bottle of aspirin just to find this out. But surely somebody out there uses aspirin.

 

Weigh one.

 

I read an article many years ago about a guy that was just getting into reloading. He did not have a scale, but he did have a balance. And the aspirin bottle said that they were five grain tablets.

 

So he loaded 38 specials using an aspirin tablet as his counterweight. Five grains of unique under a 158 lead bullet is a max load.

 

And he shot this for years. Many years later, out of curiosity, he weighed an Aspirin, and found that it was much heavier than five grains. Five grains of salicylic acid plus however many grains of whatever it took to bind the pill together.

 

And that he had been shooting overloads all this time. Boy he was lucky he didn't blow himself up.

 

And he said in the article how much the pill weighed, but I do not remember. And as I said, I do not think the idea of buying a bottle of aspirin to weigh one pill to satisfy my curiosity is fiscally responsible.

 

But it does seem possible that there is some reloader out there that takes aspirin, and they might weigh one and let me know how much it weighs.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

4 minutes ago, Alpo said:

I would do it myself but I did not have aspirin at my house, and I do not wish to buy a bottle of aspirin just to find this out. But surely somebody out there uses aspirin.

 

Weigh one.

 

I read an article many years ago about a guy that was just getting into reloading. He did not have a scale, but he did have a balance. And the aspirin bottle said that they were five grain tablets.

 

So he loaded 38 specials using an aspirin tablet as his counterweight. Five grains of unique under a 158 lead bullet is a max load.

 

And he shot this for years. Many years later, out of curiosity, he weighed an Aspirin, and found that it was much heavier than five grains. Five grains of salicylic acid plus however many grains of whatever it took to bind the pill together.

 

And that he had been shooting overloads all this time. Boy he was lucky he didn't blow himself up.

 

And he said in the article how much the pill weighed, but I do not remember. And as I said, I do not think the idea of buying a bottle of aspirin to weigh one pill to satisfy my curiosity is fiscally responsible.

 

But it does seem possible that there is some reloader out there that takes aspirin, and they might weigh one and let me know how much it weighs.

Take two aspirin, get some sleep, and call me in the morning.

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and I have never played one on TV.

[Cypress Sun]

 

I come up with 5.5 grains for a 325mg aspirin.

 

Found out that the battery needed changing in the scale also, so that measurement was with a new battery also.

[Pat Riot]

Screenshot from the Alliant Unique .38 Special page. 
158grain lead SWC Max Load 4.7 grains. 
This is the “New Unique” load. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

I would do it myself but I did not have aspirin at my house, and I do not wish to buy a bottle of aspirin just to find this out.

 

Walk over to a neighbor and ask if you can get some aspirin.  Or shell out the buck and a quarter for a bottle at Walmart.

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Here’s my unscientific understanding. Five grains is the weight of the active ingredient. The rest of the weight is the non-medically active stuff needed to make it stick together as a pill, it might be sawdust or cement or plaster or glue.

 

I went to my med cabinet and found my never opened bottle of 500 aspirin, 325 mg and opened it, uhoh smells like ammonia, that means the aspirin is breaking down and should be trashed.

 

I dug through the rubble on what I call a desk and found my little scale.  I can’t speak for five grain tablets.  Here are the results, FWIW.

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Here’s my unscientific understanding. Five grains is the weight of the active ingredient. The rest of the weight is the non-medically active stuff needed to make it stick together as a pill, it might be sawdust or cement or plaster or glue.

 

I went to my med cabinet and found my never opened bottle of 500 aspirin, 325 mg and opened it, uhoh smells like ammonia, that means the aspirin is breaking down and should be trashed.

 

I dug through the rubble on what I call a desk and found my little scale.  I can’t speak for five grain tablets.  Here are the results, FWIW.

 

 

 

 

That's about 5.86 grains Troy.  Or Avoirdupois.  
So, if he was over, it wasn't by that much, and, heck, I've compared the charge weights from different editions by the same company and noticed that in many cases the maximum charge weight has been lowered over the years.  So a charge that was safe in, say, 1969, might not be safe in 2022.

 

[Cypress Sun]

6 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Here’s my unscientific understanding. Five grains is the weight of the active ingredient. The rest of the weight is the non-medically active stuff needed to make it stick together as a pill, it might be sawdust or cement or plaster or glue.

 

I went to my med cabinet and found my never opened bottle of 500 aspirin, 325 mg and opened it, uhoh smells like ammonia, that means the aspirin is breaking down and should be trashed.

 

I dug through the rubble on what I call a desk and found my little scale.  I can’t speak for five grain tablets.  Here are the results, FWIW.

 

 

I see that you measured in grams and came up with .38 grams. I was curious, so I switched to grams, I came up with .35 grams.

[Subdeacon Joe]

3 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

I see that you measured in grams and came up with .38 grams. I was curious, so I switched to grams, I came up with .35 grams.

 

 

That;s 5.40 grains.  @Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 if your aspirin was breaking down it might have gained weight due to absorption of water.  

[Subdeacon Joe]

When I was starting to reload I told my wife I needed to buy a scale to weigh the charges rather than using the Lee scoops.  She asked why I couldn't use the food scale - it could weigh in 5 GRAM increments.  That is, anything between about 3 and 7.5 grams would show as 5 grams, 8 grams to 12.5 would show as 10 grams, and so on.   I was rather emphatic when I told her that it would not be a Good Thing To Do.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Bottle was still sealed, doubt water involved. Breaking down is likely the acetylsalicylic acid giving off NH3 (ammonia). But quantity measures are beyond the capability of my lab.

15 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

I see that you measured in grams and came up with .38 grams. I was curious, so I switched to grams, I came up with .35 grams.

you switched from grams to grams and lost three?

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:

Screenshot from the Alliant Unique .38 Special page. 
158grain lead SWC Max Load 4.7 grains. 
This is the “New Unique” load. 

When I first started reloading, one of the first manuals I got was the Lyman cast bullet.

 

 

In that one, which I believe is from 1963, the maximum load in 38 special with 158 grain bullets and Unique powder is 5.0 grains.

 

I'm quite sure they've lowered the charge. They change the charges all the time.

 

Lawyers, you know.

[Pat Riot]

8 minutes ago, Alpo said:

When I first started reloading, one of the first manuals I got was the Lyman cast bullet.

 

 

In that one, which I believe is from 1963, the maximum load in 38 special with 158 grain bullets and Unique powder is 5.0 grains.

 

I'm quite sure they've lowered the charge. They change the charges all the time.

 

Lawyers, you know.

I thought it was 5.0 grains as well. 
 

I did read somewhere that since ammo and powder companies have dropped CUP (copper units of pressure) and now use PSI, so loads have been reevaluated and adapted… Or in the words of all the old timers of reloading , you know, the ones that can remember getting Leonardo Di Vinci into the shooting sports “They’re just pansifying our loads. New shooters are a bunch of sissies and reloading companies are run by lawyers and girly-men!”

[Cypress Sun]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Bottle was still sealed, doubt water involved. Breaking down is likely the acetylsalicylic acid giving off NH3 (ammonia). But quantity measures are beyond the capability of my lab.

you switched from grams to grams and lost three?

 

No. 

Your weight = .38

My weight =.35

 

You gained .03

 

[PowderRiverCowboy]

2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

That;s 5.40 grains.  @Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 if your aspirin was breaking down it might have gained weight due to absorption of water.  

The weight is actual weight in mg of Aspirin  , he is using coated which is not figured into weight .

[bgavin]

Looking at the SAAMI specs for 38SP they now call all as +P types.
SAAMI max is 20,000 CUP, but their proof spec is 29,500.
This is probably why the guy overloading his cartridges didn't blow up.

Side thought... using an aspirin for weight is akin to Harley Davidson ignition points.
Spec calls for using a dime to set the point gap, but if none can be had, then two nickels works just as well.

[Eyesa Horg]

1 minute ago, bgavin said:

Looking at the SAAMI specs for 38SP they now call all as +P types.
SAAMI max is 20,000 CUP, but their proof spec is 29,500.
This is probably why the guy overloading his cartridges didn't blow up.

Side thought... using an aspirin for weight is akin to Harley Davidson ignition points.
Spec calls for using a dime to set the point gap, but if none can be had, then two nickels works just as well.

The dime and Chevy points will get ya home!

[bgavin]

Yep.
Been there and done that.