What do you use

[Half Dog]

I recently got a 1860 Army and I wanted to ask, which type of flask, funnel, and/or measurer do you use and where would be the best place to get it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Pine Baron]

Dixie Gun Works, Trail of the Wolf, heck, even Amazon. i used an old .44 mag case to throw 30gns Pyrodex P for my 44 1858 Remington. Recently I've been using paper cartridges, a lot less hassle in the field. Do a search and check it out.

[dtknowles]

I use a brass flask with a valve and measure spout on the end. I got mine second hand but Dixie Gun works had them (they still in business?) CVA made some that were in sporting good stores. You hold your finger over the spout turn the flask upside down, open and close the valve with your thumb. Turn back right side up, make sure a full spout of power is measured. Dump the powder into the cylinder. The spouts are interchangeable for different charge volumes, you can buy a over long one and cut it back to your preferred charge.

Tim

[Odinbreaker]

I don't put a full power flask over a cylinder. One spark big boom. I like a pistol measuring tube. for field I use preladed tubes

[alexzxz]

I got the kit from RMC Ox Yoke (http://www.rmcoxyoke.com/inc/sdetail/ox_yoke_originals_revolver_starter_kit/17324/140). Very affordable at $40. What pulled me to the site was their nipple wrench which is the best in the market I hear. Too many stories of Traditions nipple wrenches made of cheap steel and stripping quickly. I also got a set of stainless steel nipples and a cylinder cap for cheap. One thing though, the powder flask is some strong plastic and not brass if thats your thing.

[bedbugbilly]

For my revolvers, I use a variety of flasks and all work well. I took a real liking to one of the brass cylinder flasks with a push button valve as opposed to a lever valve. I never load directly from the flask into a revolver cylinder. While I don't shoot 44s - I only shoot .36 Navies - for my 36s, I use spent 38 special casing - just the right amount for my guns.

Work you load up until your revolver shoots accurately for the shooting you do, then you can make one or more measures out of a cartridge casing trimmed to the right size if needed. Pine Baron makes an excellent suggestion for the 44s.

Shop around for a flask. Track of the Wolf, Dixie, Amazon . .. . or look on flabby as you can often pick up a used or new one there at a decent price. Just because you have a 1860 Colt, don't feel like you "have" to use a Colt flask. I like the Remington flask I have as it has a dog on it and I like dogs. Lots of "civilian" reproduction flasks of different patterns as well.

Good luck in your search and have fun! ANY C & B can be an enjoyable experience - been doing it myself for 50 + years!

[rodwha]

My father gave me a brass powder flask and brass powder measure for rifles with a rotating funnel. Love it except that the increments are by 10 grains making it hard to work with smaller deviations.

Sometimes, even with that funnel, it's hard to get all of the powder in the chamber so I cut the base off of a .270 Win case.

I don't care for the cheesy flask or pistol measure that came with my NMA from Cabela's.

[dtknowles]

I don't put a full power flask over a cylinder. One spark big boom. I like a pistol measuring tube. for field I use preladed tubes

Others how about your opinion. I have used the powder measure flask to pour powder directly into revolver cylinders and long gun barrels a lot, am I living on the edge. I have also used a separate powder measure to pour charges. I have never had a charge ignite during loading.

Tim

[bubba.50]

I use the same brass adjustable measure with the swivel funnel that I use for my rifles. it's what I have & has always worked for me.

[triggerhappy243]

I do not shoot a cap and ball revolver. but a friend did. he gave me this. I may sell it.

[reivertom]

Others how about your opinion. I have used the powder measure flask to pour powder directly into revolver cylinders and long gun barrels a lot, am I living on the edge. I have also used a separate powder measure to pour charges. I have never had a charge ignite during loading.

Tim
It is one of the "golden rules" of muzzleloading to never load directly from a horn or flask. You are safe for the first loading, but after you fire the weapon, there is always the possibility of an ember in the chamber. It only takes one time and you may be called "lefty" or "ole one eye" for the rest of your life.....if you are lucky and don't die.

[Czech_too]

I prefer not to load directly from a flask, but rather use a cartridge case of appropriate size, both for the caliber and charge.

[Col4570]

I use small Plastic sample Phials with a flip top and measured Charges.The lids can be opened with the thumb and poured out with one Hand.I once had a Powder Flask blow up with 1/2lb of BP.I hasten to say it was on a window ledge in my garage and I was using a Disk Grinder forgetting the flask was there.A stray spark found its way to the Flask and Boom.Initialy I thought my Grinder had blown up until I saw the two halves of the Flask.It had separated along the solder line,one side still retaining the flask top.I believe that on its flight it hit a Drill Press that possibly saved me from injury.Embarrasing but a lesson well learned.The Top is now on a Powder Horn I made.

[dtknowles]

It is one of the "golden rules" of muzzleloading to never load directly from a horn or flask. You are safe for the first loading, but after you fire the weapon, there is always the possibility of an ember in the chamber. It only takes one time and you may be called "lefty" or "ole one eye" for the rest of your life.....if you are lucky and don't die.

Do you have a source for this "Golden Rule"?

What kind of ember are we talking about, what could be left in a fired cap and ball revolver chamber?

When was the last documented accident of this type?

Tim

[waksupi]

Do you have a source for this "Golden Rule"?

What kind of ember are we talking about, what could be left in a fired cap and ball revolver chamber?

When was the last documented accident of this type?

Tim

Somewhere around here, I have a picture of a horn and gun blown all to hell, from loading from the horn. It wasn't all that long ago that it happened.

I don't think I would be very concerned with a revolver. By the time you get around to doing a reload, all spark should be long dead.

[Pine Baron]

Tim, I have loaded my 1858 from the flask with no problems. Blowing over the cylinders before loading give some people reassurance also. I just feel uncomfortable doing it. YMMV.

[bedbugbilly]

Tim . . . . I've been shooting BP for over 50 years now and I have shot everything from C & B revolvers, rifles, smoothbores fowlers, shotguns to full size Civil War 10 pound Parrott Rifles and original Siege Mortors. That doesn't make me an "expert" but it does make me an experienced shooter.

It really doesn't matter if the "Golden Rule" as stated has a source or not. It is a safety rule that many, and I emphasize MANY, BP shooters follow. In th end, it is up to the individual shooter . . . for it is their face, eyes, hands and body that COULD suffer injury if a horn or flask were to cook off. That said . . .

As far as "embers" . . . if a rifle, fowler or even a C & B revolver has been shot and there is fouling . . . which can include lube grease, etc., there exists the POSSIBILITY of having and ember. That is whey when a muzzleloading cannon bore is sponged between loadings, the vent is supposed to be "thumbed". This prevents air from being drawn into the bore which could help a dying ember to flourish. And, that is why when a muzzleloading cannon is loaded, you never wrap your hand around the rammer as during the Civil War, when cannons were being fired repeatedly, charges would ignite and take the No.1 man's right arm off.

Muzzle loading rifles and pistols are no different . . just smaller. When a flint rifle is fired, the frizzed moves forward and the vent is open. Even when a cap lock rifle is fired and the hammer sits on a spent cap, the possibility of drawing fresh air into the bore which could cause any type of ember to flourish exists.

Originally, I'm sure many of our ancestors poured directly from a flask into a long gun or revolver . . but we really don't know just how many MAY have had a problem with a flask/horn cooking off unless someone actually recorded a first and account. As stated in one of the threads above, I also have seen pictures of the results of horns/flasks cooking off . . . rare? Quite possibly. But personally, if I can avoid injury, isn't that a prudent and safe thing to do? Sort of like not drinking and driving . . . yet many foolish people do it.

Personally, I don't need a "documented source" for the "Golden Rule" . . . it is just common sense. What I have seen, is the deadly results of an open BP powder container and a piece of hot cannon wadding (ember) flying back in to it. This happened in the 1960s at a shoot held at the Heritage range that used to be at Somerset Center, MI. Doesn't make a difference if it is a small flask or a larger container . . . the results can be the same.

Not a whole lot different that another thread in another forum on this site a few days ago where a guy went to clean his pistol after range time - thought it was unloaded and while attempting to break it down for cleaning, cooked a round off in his house. There is a safety rule that every gun should be verified that it is cleared and unloaded to . . . doesn't make any difference if it is "written" or not . . . it's just common sense. Luckily, no one was hurt.

In the end . . . it is up to every person to develop good safety practices but we are still humans with "free will". If a person wants to load from a horn/flask . . . that is there business. Many, many ranges or organized shoots will not allow it. I have moved shooting positions in the past at BP shoots . . and sever times I did even at Friendship even though there are RO present, because the person next to me was not loading in a safe manner. I actually had a kid next to me one time, when the RO gave the command to snap caps with the muzzle pointed at the ground to check for a clear ignition path (clean nipple) prior to loading, point his TC Hawken at the ground, snap a cap and the rifle went off with a terrific "boom". Long story short, after I cussed him out the RO took over and finished the job - banning him from his area. The kid had loaded the rifle for the previous deer season and never unloaded it . . . nor did he ever check it before coming on the line with a ramrod to make sure it was unloaded. Again . . . common sense . . . some have it and some don't have a clue.

In the end . . it's all about being "safe" . . . not only for your safety . . . but for those around you as well.

[dtknowles]

Tim . . . . I've been shooting BP for over 50 years now and I have shot everything from C & B revolvers, rifles, smoothbores fowlers, shotguns to full size Civil War 10 pound Parrott Rifles and original Siege Mortors. That doesn't make me an "expert" but it does make me an experienced shooter.

It really doesn't matter if the "Golden Rule" as stated has a source or not. It is a safety rule that many, and I emphasize MANY, BP shooters follow. In th end, it is up to the individual shooter . . . for it is their face, eyes, hands and body that COULD suffer injury if a horn or flask were to cook off. That said . . .

As far as "embers" . . . if a rifle, fowler or even a C & B revolver has been shot and there is fouling . . . which can include lube grease, etc., there exists the POSSIBILITY of having and ember. That is whey when a muzzleloading cannon bore is sponged between loadings, the vent is supposed to be "thumbed". This prevents air from being drawn into the bore which could help a dying ember to flourish. And, that is why when a muzzleloading cannon is loaded, you never wrap your hand around the rammer as during the Civil War, when cannons were being fired repeatedly, charges would ignite and take the No.1 man's right arm off.

Muzzle loading rifles and pistols are no different . . just smaller. When a flint rifle is fired, the frizzed moves forward and the vent is open. Even when a cap lock rifle is fired and the hammer sits on a spent cap, the possibility of drawing fresh air into the bore which could cause any type of ember to flourish exists.

Originally, I'm sure many of our ancestors poured directly from a flask into a long gun or revolver . . but we really don't know just how many MAY have had a problem with a flask/horn cooking off unless someone actually recorded a first and account. As stated in one of the threads above, I also have seen pictures of the results of horns/flasks cooking off . . . rare? Quite possibly. But personally, if I can avoid injury, isn't that a prudent and safe thing to do? Sort of like not drinking and driving . . . yet many foolish people do it.

Personally, I don't need a "documented source" for the "Golden Rule" . . . it is just common sense. What I have seen, is the deadly results of an open BP powder container and a piece of hot cannon wadding (ember) flying back in to it. This happened in the 1960s at a shoot held at the Heritage range that used to be at Somerset Center, MI. Doesn't make a difference if it is a small flask or a larger container . . . the results can be the same.

Not a whole lot different that another thread in another forum on this site a few days ago where a guy went to clean his pistol after range time - thought it was unloaded and while attempting to break it down for cleaning, cooked a round off in his house. There is a safety rule that every gun should be verified that it is cleared and unloaded to . . . doesn't make any difference if it is "written" or not . . . it's just common sense. Luckily, no one was hurt.

In the end . . . it is up to every person to develop good safety practices but we are still humans with "free will". If a person wants to load from a horn/flask . . . that is there business. Many, many ranges or organized shoots will not allow it. I have moved shooting positions in the past at BP shoots . . and sever times I did even at Friendship even though there are RO present, because the person next to me was not loading in a safe manner. I actually had a kid next to me one time, when the RO gave the command to snap caps with the muzzle pointed at the ground to check for a clear ignition path (clean nipple) prior to loading, point his TC Hawken at the ground, snap a cap and the rifle went off with a terrific "boom". Long story short, after I cussed him out the RO took over and finished the job - banning him from his area. The kid had loaded the rifle for the previous deer season and never unloaded it . . . nor did he ever check it before coming on the line with a ramrod to make sure it was unloaded. Again . . . common sense . . . some have it and some don't have a clue.

In the end . . it's all about being "safe" . . . not only for your safety . . . but for those around you as well.

When is safe "Safe Enough" if you really wanted to be safe you might never leave your house. That is why I asked what in my cap and ball revolve might leave an ember. I don't buy your comment that fowling or lube could be an ember. I don't use wads or hard lube and I only put lube over the ball nothing behind the ball but powder and the cap. If the range required I would follow the rules but if I am following the rules and you don't feel safe you are entitled to talk to the RO or leave. I think I will continue to load my Ruger Old Army (Black powder or subs) and my Savage 10ML (Smokeless powder) right from the flask. My other percussion rifles I load from a measure not from the horn but not really because of safety. Even when I use a patched round ball the patches do not get burnt at most just a bit black but that is fowling I expect.

I just watched three random videos of "Experts" teaching about cap and ball revolvers one used a separate measure but two loaded the cylinder right from the flask. I don't put a lot of stock in YouTube experts but I threw this in to show that I have been checking. I will go back and look at my Lyman Black Powder handbook and see if it has any other insights.

I am sure you have shot a lot more Cap and Ball than I have but I have two revolvers and they have gone through at least a few pounds of powder or subs in the last 30 years. I don't think I have been unsafe? I think the only way I could have been safer is if I never put powder in the cylinder. I don't see how I added any risk.

When you talked about cannons, they used bagged powder, right? Embers would be a real problem with them.

Talking about the "Kid" with the loaded rifle. Yes, bad mistake. Kid - like with adult supervision or kid like adult young man. If he was a kid, where was the parent or adult supervision, that is where the responsibility lies. If we are talking about a young man, did someone try to make a learning experience out of this near miss. So you cussed him out, like name calling and bad words or did you ask if he knew how to unload his gun, did he have a mark on his ramrod to check for an empty barrel. Yes, banned for the day to think about the mistake was probably in order. Did you even know if he was the one who loaded the gun last season. No excuse, still his fault and his parents as well if he was really a kid. At our range guns are checked for loaded or unloaded at the gate, how did this one get on the range loaded?

Tim

[Maven]

"I don't think I would be very concerned with a revolver. By the time you get around to doing a reload, all spark should be long dead." ...waksupi

Tim, I do what you do for revolvers and rifles/smoothbores. As far as loading the former, waksupi is right as it takes several minutes after the last shot has been fired and I begin reloading the cylinder (have been doing it that way since 1970). Btw, I'll bet the risks of injury are much higher when driving your car within 5 miles of your residence, so I don't worry too much about loading revolvers from a flask. If I want a stouter load than my flask will throw, e.g., for my Ruger Old Army, I'll use a separate powder measure...the one I use for my long guns.

Question for everyone who doesn't load revolvers from a flask: As I said above, I've been loading [revolvers] from a flask since 1970, yet I've seen no mention of the risk involved in Lyman's BP Handbook & Cast Bullet Handbook, several of Sam Fadala's books, "Muzzle Blasts," etc., so why the hyper vigilance now? I'd think chain fires and using loading stands, which can position the user's body over the muzzle, to be much more dangerous and more common.

[waksupi]

"I don't think I would be very concerned with a revolver. By the time you get around to doing a reload, all spark should be long dead." ...waksupi

Tim, I do what you do for revolvers and rifles/smoothbores. As far as loading the former, waksupi is right as it takes several minutes after the last shot has been fired and I begin reloading the cylinder (have been doing it that way since 1970). Btw, I'll bet the risks of injury are much higher when driving your car within 5 miles of your residence, so I don't worry too much about loading revolvers from a flask. If I want a stouter load than my flask will throw, e.g., for my Ruger Old Army, I'll use a separate powder measure...the one I use for my long guns.

Question for everyone who doesn't load revolvers from a flask: As I said above, I've been loading [revolvers] from a flask since 1970, yet I've seen no mention of the risk involved in Lyman's BP Handbook & Cast Bullet Handbook, several of Sam Fadala's books, "Muzzle Blasts," etc., so why the hyper vigilance now? I'd think chain fires and using loading stands, which can position the user's body over the muzzle, to be much more dangerous and more common.



I agree on the loading stands. They have been restricted from use loading on the ground at our shoots. We put a couple cable spools on the range, so they are at least standing up, and not over the muzzle when loading with stands.
Lots easier to just get your stuff organized, and not haul the extra **** with you.

[JeffG]

Somewhere around here, I have a picture of a horn and gun blown all to hell, from loading from the horn. It wasn't all that long ago that it happened.

I don't think I would be very concerned with a revolver. By the time you get around to doing a reload, all spark should be long dead.

i agree, I definitely don't reload the rifle from the powder flask but into the measure from the flask. You don't know how long it can smolder down the barrel. I was watching an episode with RLee Ermey a few months ago and he had a guy shooting either a flint or cap and the guy was quickly loading and shooting fast as he could as part of a rate of fire thing and had one of the charges flash as he dropped it in the barrel. His face was away and the barrel tilted away so didn't get hurt.

Personally, I swab between shots because I'm target shooting but if I was hunting and trying to get off another shot quickly, the odds are obviously better for that to happen.

Lymans book does say to leave the hammer down on fired cap to deprive anything still smoldering in the barrel of air. Just common sense but some like to tempt fate.

[adrians]

Yeah loading directly from a flask can be unsafe so I don't do it , I " rigged " my old Lyman flask so it will take a 38 case I use for filling the chambers .
The spout also acts as a handy dandy case keeper when not in use .

[Omnivore]

The risk is certainly low, but greater than zero. No one who's been killed by this practice has ever come back on here and reported his death, so obviously it is very rare.

Seriously though, I did see with my own eyes, one time, a guy trying to see how many shots he could get off from his cap lock rifle in one minute. He was pouring powder from a horn into a measure, and from the measure into the barrel. One of those charges did ignite as soon as it was poured in. Since he knew what he was doing, keeping the muzzle pointed away from the face, pouring from a measure and not a horn with a pound of powder in it, the only result was him saying, "See? That's why you don't stick your face over the muzzle and why you don't pour directly from the horn."

I think just being aware of the danger, the very unlikely but potentially catastrophic danger, is enough, and so I don't get in a hurry to reload.

There is another general rule, with no source (or is it in the Ten Commandments? I'm not sure), which says;

"Is gun. Is not safe."

I have little tolerance for the "range Nazi" attitude. Some sectors in our society have become so risk-averse as to be dysfunctional and pathological. It is a communicable disease. A lot of it has been driven by litigation, and the fear of litigation, and by insurance companies worried about liability but not having any real understanding of now things work in the real world, rather than any genuine caring or concern for one's fellow man. It is the Authoritarian System rearing it's ugly, stinking, filthy head. Some of the rules at ranges are utterly irrational (such as the "load five" rule applied to a percussion six shooter - leave the damned thing on half cock until your ready to fire, so you're not fiddle farting with a loaded gun trying to lower the hammer in the right place - the load five rule only came about as a result of needing to carry the gun holstered anyway) and I will not participate where such attitudes prevail. I have no use for irrational people, especially frightened irrational people, and I will not associate with them except so far as to try correcting them, BUT this one about loading directly from a flask at least has some grounding in reason and in fact.

It's probably a bad idea to stuff your paper cartridges in the gun immediately after firing too, as in trying to prove how fast you can reload. I've done it, and I still have all my body parts, but upon reflection I think it's a bad idea. I've run a stop sign or two before, also without incident, but that doesn't mean it's a good policy.

All that said; I have the repro Colt and Remington flasks, and the tubular, threaded top brass jobbies with the push-button valve. They're all pretty good, the Colt having more capacity if that matters. If you want maximum capacity, don't use a flask at all-- Get one of those valved caps they make for going directly on the powder can. They make them for the steel Goex cans and for the plastic Pyrodex jars, and probably others. If you're using more than one kind of powder, label them as to what's inside (which is another reason to use the container the powder came in, and just stick a dispenser cap on it). The repro flasks are good for that period correct display case.

I haven't used a flask for some time though, preferring to use a mechanical powder measure on a stand, of the type used in metal cartridge reloading, to make paper cartridges. It easier and faster to use and it throws more consistent charges than any flask and spout setup using your finger as a stopper.

I still use an old-fashioned powder horn for rifle though, occasionally, but when hunting I only carry two reloads in plastic "quick shot" type loading tubes. That way I'm not carrying a horn or even a possibles bag. Ram rod tips and such are carried in the patch box built into the rifle, and quick shot reloads are carried in a pocket. The bag and horn, I figure, only make sense in what might be called "expedition carry" wherein you're out for days or weeks at a time. In my day hunts I'm going home after dark, so there's no need to carry every darned thing with me. If I do everything correctly I'm only firing one shot, right? so the reloads are for when I screw up. I've used a reload on three occasions over about ten years, none of those follow-up shots being strictly necessary, but only so as to hasten the inevitable.

[Omnivore]

The risk is certainly low, but greater than zero. No one who's been killed by this practice has ever come back on here and reported his death, so obviously it is very rare.

Seriously though, I did see with my own eyes, one time, a guy trying to see how many shots he could get off from his cap lock rifle in one minute. He was pouring powder from a horn into a measure, and from the measure into the barrel. One of those charges did ignite as soon as it was poured in. Since he knew what he was doing, keeping the muzzle pointed away from the face, pouring from a measure and not a horn with a pound of powder in it, the only result was him saying, "See? That's why you don't stick your face over the muzzle and why you don't pour directly from the horn."

I think just being aware of the danger, the very unlikely but potentially catastrophic danger, is enough, and so I don't get in a hurry to reload.

There is another general rule, with no source (or is it in the Ten Commandments? I'm not sure), which says;

"Is gun. Is not safe."

I have little tolerance for the "range Nazi" attitude. Some sectors in our society have become so risk-averse as to be dysfunctional and pathological. It is a communicable disease. A lot of it has been driven by litigation, and the fear of litigation, and by insurance companies worried about liability but not having any real understanding of now things work in the real world, rather than any genuine caring or concern for one's fellow man. It is the Authoritarian System rearing it's ugly, stinking, filthy head. Some of the rules at ranges are utterly irrational (such as the "load five" rule applied to a percussion six shooter - leave the damned thing on half cock until you're ready to fire, so you're not fiddle farting with a loaded gun trying to lower the hammer in the right place - the load five rule only came about as a result of needing to carry the gun holstered anyway) and I will not participate where such attitudes prevail. I have no use for irrational people, especially frightened irrational people, and I will not associate with them except so far as to try correcting them, BUT this one about loading directly from a flask at least has some grounding in reason and in fact.

It's probably a bad idea to stuff your paper cartridges in the gun immediately after firing too, as in trying to prove how fast you can reload. I've done it, and I still have all my body parts, but upon reflection I think it's a bad idea. I've run a stop sign or two before, also without incident, but that doesn't mean it's a good policy.

All that said; I have the repro Colt and Remington flasks, and the tubular, threaded top brass jobbies with the push-button valve. They're all pretty good, the Colt having more capacity if that matters. If you want maximum capacity, don't use a flask at all-- Get one of those valved caps they make for going directly on the powder can. They make them for the steel Goex cans and for the plastic Pyrodex jars, and probably others. If you're using more than one kind of powder, label them as to what's inside (which is another reason to use the container the powder came in, and just stick a dispenser cap on it). The repro flasks are good for that period correct display case.

I haven't used a flask for some time though, preferring to use a mechanical powder measure on a stand, of the type used in metal cartridge reloading, to make paper cartridges. It easier and faster to use and it throws more consistent charges than any flask and spout setup using your finger as a stopper.

I still use an old-fashioned powder horn for rifle though, occasionally, but when hunting I only carry two reloads in plastic "quick shot" type loading tubes. That way I'm not carrying a horn or even a possibles bag. Ram rod tips and such are carried in the patch box built into the rifle, and quick shot reloads are carried in a pocket. The bag and horn, I figure, only make sense in what might be called "expedition carry" wherein you're out for days or weeks at a time. In my day hunts I'm going home after dark, so there's no need to carry every darned thing with me. If I do everything correctly I'm only firing one shot, right? so the reloads are for when I screw up. I've used a reload on three occasions over about ten years, none of those follow-up shots being strictly necessary, but only so as to hasten the inevitable.

[swathdiver]

I don't put a full power flask over a cylinder. One spark big boom.

That'll NEVER happen. Just pure baloney that gets barfed up again and again as truth.

Track had a sale on flasks, I think it ends this weekend. Pedersoli is the only company if memory serves still making original type flasks. I prefer the Remington flask for its smaller size. All are just fine and we have most of them. Get 30 and 35 grain flask spouts for it and get the Pedersoli funnel that screws in to make refilling the flask easy peasy.

You don't need a separate measure unless your range or event requires it, if so, the ones from Ted Cash are great. Get a TDC snail capper too.

Enjoy!

[Squeeze]

I like a measure, its really because thats what I am used to. I use a small pistol one for pistols and .32/.36 rifles, and a full size for everything else. Ted Cash stuff is top shelf in my opinion also. I like the style measure with the funnel top. http://www.tdcmfgstore.com/agora.cgi?cart_id=79894102.21700&p_id=z-PMRS&xm=on&ppinc=search2

[doc1876]

I also have been running revolvers since 1970. I often have to load three and four at a time under pressure from opposing forces while on on horse back. I have never seen a flask blow. Reloading them with the short chamber, and the time between shots as waksupi said, is plenty safe.
NOW a long gun that is different, there is a chamber area long ways away from any wind, and an ember can stay lit, so yes, I always load from a powder measure. If you re really afraid of it, make the paper cartridges and enjoy them

[ChrisPer]

At our club we have had a flask blow in loading a long gun. It was against the rules, it used to be everyone was taught to fill a measure from the flask, then pour from the measure down the barrel. Now its mandatory pre-measured charges, and if you need to measure from a flask or a can, you do it off the line and into vials.

Believe it or not, without the rules there are people who put open containers of powder at the bench ready to catch a spark. Believe it or not, there was a fatality in Germany fairly recently from setting off accumulated spilled grains in a piece of carpet on the bench.

And as to the revolver, I helped a guy who made paper cartridges for his and hot charred paper was still there after the shot. It was blocking the vent and giving misfires, and pouring in powder for the next shot would have been very chancy.

So its all very well saying you have never SEEN a flask or charge go up, but that is the advantage of being human - you can learn from others losing fingers, eyes or dying without insisting on doing the same.