What to use for a powder measure?

Urban Coyote · Nov 18, 2022

RE: deerstalkert's post

A near miss, thank goodness, a guy I was shooting with who was loading from horn to measurer to barrel left his horn on the bench stopper out. Shooting from the bench, horn to his right, a spark hit a trickle of powder which burned, flashed, toward the open end of the horn. Why it didn't blow is beyond me, a half pound of powder plus.

Then there's the story of a well know lock maker, from the Denver, CO area I believe, who was working with a flintlock, out of a rifle, that sparked into a box of gear igniting some powder badly burning him. A second hand tale but believable.

Vigilance in working with blackpowder cannot be over stressed.

GrandLakeHunter · Nov 18, 2022

Pietro said:
Most flasks have a removable nozzle that can be cut to a length that will accept powder charges.

There are several different nozzle lengths available, if the one on your flask isn't long enough.

In use, the thumb is placed to block the nozzle, with the nozzle pointed down - the valve is then activated to drop powder into the nozzle, then closed so the powder charge can be transferred into the muzzle, downbore.

I never thought it was wise to use the integral measure attached to the flask except for the tiny priming flasks for flintlocks. Placing several ounces of powder over the muzzle while dumping powder into it can get very exciting very quickly.

Stantheman86 · Nov 19, 2022

Urban Coyote said:
I don't believe it's a good idea to load a long gun directly from a flask or horn. I've never seen it happen but if a hot ember were to ignite a charge being poured down the barrel it would set off the whole flask or horn. If you check common safety rules for shooting muzzleloaders you'll find loading directly from a flask or horn is not recommended.

+1 that off chance you get a hot ember and you're holding a hand grenade , no way

Stantheman86 · Nov 19, 2022

I use an empty .303 British case for my Parker-Hale P53. It holds about 50 or so grains. I have other measures but it feels cool to use it and it happens to be a perfect target load .

I just don't always like the adjustable measures, I like to have a fixed measure for each rifle

I also buy cheap glass bottles made for party favors, and use them as premeasured charges.

SwanShot · Nov 19, 2022

Urban Coyote said:
I don't believe it's a good idea to load a long gun directly from a flask or horn. I've never seen it happen but if a hot ember were to ignite a charge being poured down the barrel it would set off the whole flask or horn. If you check common safety rules for shooting muzzleloaders you'll find loading directly from a flask or horn is not recommended.

The club I shoot with absolutely banns the charging of any muzzle loader from any bulk container. It's one of the things that will get the miscreant ordered off the range.

josie wales · Nov 19, 2022

For hunting I weigh out each charge with an OHAUS 10-10 powder scale. Hunting live critters I try and reduce all the variables. Also I only use real black powder. I carry 10 tubes of pre-measured, 100 grains of black plus one in the .54 Renegade.

Buckskinquin · Nov 19, 2022

TDM said:
You can never have too many accoutrements. And this is an old photo.

Thanks for the early smile and laugh!

French Colonial · Nov 19, 2022

A little eye candy, I have posted before bur some may not have seen this one.

French Colonial · Nov 19, 2022

And here is an early attempt by James Dixon and Sons to separate the measured charge from the flask, so it appears that the danger of loading directly from the flask was known back in the day.

SciAggie · Nov 19, 2022

French Colonial said:
And here is an early attempt by James Dixon and Sons to separate the measured charge from the flask, so it appears that the danger of loading directly from the flask was known back in the day.

View attachment 176545

That is way cool.

Snake Pleskin · Nov 19, 2022

deerstalkert said:
just as a cautionary tale. I am not trying to scare you away from this hobby/lifestyle/addiction but am going to post a friends post from another forum in an attempt to give you some idea of a don't do this.
A friend had a very bad accident at his shooting range this past weekend. First off, he is a very careful man in all of his shooting pursuits, seriously, but sometimes it's the little things that are our (his) undoing.

While shooting a new-to-him .54 Hawken percussion gun, a can of blackpowder exploded at less than arms length. A spark from the gun ignited the powder. It was standing open on the bench because he was charging his powder measure directly from the can for each shot, his protocol being to close the can after each charging. He dropped the can lid on the ground, but went ahead and fired the freshly prepped charge before bending down to retrieve it, leaving the container stand open. "I'll pick it up after this shot."

How can a percussion gun dispense such sparkage so as to cause the explosion?

Evidently, upon thorough investigation after the fact the gun was found to have its hammer at full cock. Hmmm, that shouldn't be, it should've been down in the fired position resting on the spent cap. Upon removing the nipple for cleaning the why-for became obvious - its vent hole had been reamed out to a very large diameter by a previous owner. The resultant magnified venting allowed an excessive amount of back-blast to channel back out into the atmosphere, throwing lots of hot flotsam and jetsam out and causing the hammer to fly back into full cock. One tiny bit of something, or a spark, made a perfect dive into the powder can. Boom.

It blew his shooting box 20 feet away, and scattered everything else to hell-and-gone. He himself is a very very very lucky man - he sustained 1st&2nd degree, and some 3rd degree, burns over his head and upper body. All hair - poof, gone. Clothes on fire. Scary (but good) part was his shooting glasses looked like they were raked through the coals of a campfire and then shot with a shotgun - but his eyes were A-ok. Luckily there was somebody with him who got him squared away and a trip to the ER got him fixed up (kind of). He's home and on the mend, but really rattled as you might imagine. (The gun is perfectly ok.)

Moral of the story: don't drill out the hole in a percussion rifle nipple, even if you think it might aid ignition for some reason; and don't ever leave containers of gunpowder stand open on the shooting bench. If you're having ignition issues, resolve them by other means.

Thanks for sharing. It is always "Murphy" who shows up when you least expect it. People think they are somehow immune to ole Murphy because they are "experienced" etc. NO Way! Constant vigilance is required with any type of Firearm's. As a Fed/State/Local certified and NRA instructor I worked on many ranges, where 98% of the "accidents" were by "experienced" people! Never take anything for granted. Stay safe!!

Mikekj · Nov 19, 2022

springfield art said:
Yes, volume.

But the “volume” is actually based on “weight “.

SOLANCO · Nov 19, 2022

Snake Pleskin said:
Thanks for sharing. It is always "Murphy" who shows up when you least expect it. People think they are somehow immune to ole Murphy because they are "experienced" etc. NO Way! Constant vigilance is required with any type of Firearm's. As a Fed/State/Local certified and NRA instructor I worked on many ranges, where 98% of the "accidents" were by "experienced" people! Never take anything for granted. Stay safe!!

The other thing to know about Murphy is that he was an optimist.

Grenadier1758 · Nov 19, 2022

Mikekj said:
But the “volume” is actually based on “weight “.

Yes, the markings on the adjustable powder measures and the weights written on some carved measures will be the approximate weight of that volume of 2Fg black powder. The weight of that volume of 3Fg powder will be close too, about a grain or two of weight.

With practice, the weight of measured charges of black powder can be kept to about 1 grain from charge to charge. And that is good enough for most of our shooting needs.

smoothshooter · Nov 19, 2022

Joshua Hopkins said:
I've got a little brass flask for dispensing powder, but what should I use to actually measure it (it's a .54 so I'd say maybe 35 grains of GOEX FFF)? Are there devices for that or should I just get a small tube and start counting.

For everyone who was following my old thread about the antique rifle I found, it's not safe to shoot. It's making a lovely wall decoration next to my Hawken reproduction that I'm shooting this weekend.

Thanks a lot, really looking forward to getting shooting!

35 grains is a pretty light load for a .54.
But I would not go over 80 grains on the other end myself.

Omahkapi'si · Nov 19, 2022

I made various antler and goat horn measures.

Eutycus · Nov 19, 2022

You think maybe he dumped the 35 gr. measure twice as in 35×2=70?

Snake Pleskin · Nov 19, 2022

Eutycus said:
You think maybe he dumped the 35 gr. measure twice as in 35×2=70?

well, that would certainly work

Johnny Tremain · Nov 19, 2022

When I first shot the 1860 Army, the flask I have had kicking around for 2-3 decades had a 15gr tip on it. I just filled it twice. Yesterday my 30gr spout came in the mail, with a new cone wrench.

Stantheman86 · Nov 19, 2022

Snake Pleskin said:
Thanks for sharing. It is always "Murphy" who shows up when you least expect it. People think they are somehow immune to ole Murphy because they are "experienced" etc. NO Way! Constant vigilance is required with any type of Firearm's. As a Fed/State/Local certified and NRA instructor I worked on many ranges, where 98% of the "accidents" were by "experienced" people! Never take anything for granted. Stay safe!!

This is why I keep all "extra" containers of BP sealed in a leather range bag behind the firing line, I don't "wear" powder horns or flasks and if I do use paper cartridges, they are in a double flapped leather cartridge box slung behind my waist, with the flap closed.

I was shooting BP revolvers at dusk recently and it's easy to see all the sparks that come out all over the gun. You don't want anything open around all that.

What to use for a powder measure?

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