How much gunpowder for a bullet?

Question
I want to know how many grams of gunpowder for a bullet. Example lets say you a a 10 gram lead bullet how much gunpowder do you need to propel the bullet?

Answer
Hello.

A fully assembled and loaded round of ammunition is called a "cartridge". The cartridge is made up of four basic components: case, primer, powder charge, and bullet. Powder and bullet weights are measured in grains. There are 7,000 grains in 1 lb. and 15.4 grains in 1 gram.

When manufacturing or reloading cartridges the amount of the powder used will vary based on many factors including the following: caliber, case type, primer type, powder type, bullet type, and intended use for the cartridge. There are many other factors as well including barrel length, desired velocity, desired muzzle energy, level of accuracy, level of felt recoil, etc.

Changing any of the above factors will often result in the need for a different powder charge. So cartridges are sort of like a good homemade meal, with the powder being just one ingredient in the recipe which often varies based on the other ingredients, who is eating the meal, and what they prefer.

To give you a general idea, however, I will pick out a very common cartridge as an example: the 9mm Luger which is commonly used in many handguns. Many 9mm cartridges will take between 4-6 grains of powder. These same cartridges will often contain bullets weighing between 100-150 grains.

When shooters reload their own ammunition they refer to various handbooks which contain the "recipes" for common cartridges including various combinations of powder charge and bullet weight for each given caliber. This allows them to try many different loads while still staying within the range of established safery standards.

Hope this helps.

Bob