Weigh or measure

[NSP64]

Would it not be more accurate/consistant to weigh the charges of the powder you are using? I mean, measure out say 100 gr eqiv. of Pyro, or 777. Then weigh that amount. Then make your other loads the same weight.:confused:

[Newtire]

I read an article one time about the weight of powder being dependent upon humidity for one and that you would be better off just measuring it with an accurate measure. I am inclined to side with the measure bunch. I recently got ahold of a Belding & Mull measure from a guy on this board and must say I couldn't imagine anything being more consistent. I am not sure if this one is made for Black or not cause haven't done a magnet check on it but think they make one that is. Check out what they have at buffaloarms.com as I know they sell them. Warning...you will be hooked.

[Rattus58]

Weight obviously is most consistent. The more fine the powder, the more consistent weight is going to be especially if you will measure first, tap the load till it settles, then fill it to the top again then measure.

Volume measured and tapped to settle then filled, tapped and poured is also pretty consistent.

Aloha... :cool:

[jonk]

To borrow from the smokeless world, I do both. I dispense volumetrically then weigh to confirm.

[44man]

Big waste of time to weigh black or the subs. I did an extensive chrono test and found better consistancy with volume. The only time I weigh is for BPCR so the compression is the same.
ANY measure can be used, you don't need a special BP measure. I have used my Redding forever with black powder. Ditto my old Lyman.

[RBak]

Quite often, as a carry over from our smokeless loading, where every thing is methodically and meticulously measured and weighed, we are all prone to give this a try....after all, isn't consistency the name of the game?

At one time or another, during the past fifty plus years of shooting muzzleloaders, I have weighed and sorted every round ball I cast, along with every powder charge I fired....However, for the life of me, I was never smart enough to see a lot, if any, difference.

Unlike smokeless powder, accuracy with real black just does not seem as sensisitive to "exact" powder charges.
In other words, while 5 or 10 grains difference will sometimes make a big difference in impact, 1 or 2 grains just doesn't seem to matter all that much, so the volume measure works just fine.

Having said that, I will insist that consistency is still the name of the name, but in a little different form.
This time it is with the lube, the patch, how the patch is fitted to the ball and the muzzle, how much pressure is used to seat the ball, along with how much pressure remains on the powder from the seated ball........these little things have always seemed much more important to me than the exact weight of the powder charge or the ball.

Just my thoughts.

Russ...

[Underclocked]

Hunting accuracy is fine with thrown charges. Going for the most consistent loads for punching holes in paper - weigh each charge. Shoot, weigh everything! ;) It really isn't such a big deal to weigh hunting charges too - you very likely won't shoot more than one in a day of big game hunting anyway.

[Rattus58]

Big waste of time to weigh black or the subs. I did an extensive chrono test and found better consistancy with volume. .

So did we and found Exactly the opposite. Tapping a volume and refilling tapping again.. etc, was almost as good. Underclocked, being a part of this testing along with many others actually, is absolutely right... accuracy for hunting is one thing, consistency over the chrony is something else.

Aloha... :cool: