How hard do you pack your powder & seat your ball?

[atlatl]

How hard do you pack your powder and seat your ball down? I've heard some types of black powder don't like compression while others do. I shoot pyrodex and I've never thought about it much. I know my traditions hawken doesn't like it when I pack the load real tight.

 

[musketman]

I have never packed my powder...

I dump the pre-measured powder in the barrel and then seat the ball/patch on top of it snug...

That's it, this system works for me.

 

[No Powder]

I have seen bench gun shooters with spring loaded ramrods so that each round is packed the same.

 

[Claude Mathis]

The modern spring loaded ram rods and such sound great, but since I reenact a 1757 hunter/scout, I can't use anything like that. There were no "T" ramrods, short starters etc. back then.

After seating the ball on the powder, I give the ball a few good taps with the rod, trying to be as consistent as possible.

 

[roundball]

I also compress my powder charges until I hear it 'scrunch' as I believe that consistency in loading from shot to shot is the single most important activity you can do.

It is recommended that Pyrodex be compressed and I compressed it heavily in 3 different calibers of ML rifles over 10 years, all very accurate.

I've been using flintlocks and Goex for the past couple years in 3 different calibers of ML rifles
and compress it exactly the same way as I did Pyrodex, all are very accurate.

To me, nothing's more important than consistency.

 

[Randy]

We can learn a thing or two from the black powder cartridge shooters about packing powder. To them consistancy in packing is very important and is affected by the amount of powder you put in the shell and the depth you seat the bullet. Same holds for a front-end loader except we make our shells one at a time and the barrel is the shell. I've seen target shooters loading with the butt on a bathroom scale. They push on the ramrod until the scale reads about 40#. You can also buy a neat little tool that does the same thing. It is attached to the ramrod and has a let-off at a certain prescribed weight. (Kind of like a torque wrench, but in linear rather than circular dimension). Kadooty something or other was one of these tools.
I believe the important thing is black powder performs best under some amount of packing, but not too much. And, consistancy in packing will result in potentially smaller groups at the target. I would expect the amount of packing for optimum performance would vary from one brand to another. I've no clue about pyrodex, but the pelleted form would surely reduce that varriable.
I do know that packing smokeless powder is not as critical as packing black powder, and that's due to the speed of ignition.
Now you've got my curiosity sparked, I may have to find out from some manufacturers like Goex and Elephant Brand what they reccomend. Maybe some reader already knows. HAPPY 4th to all.

Horse Dr.

 

[Randy]

In answer to the original question I seat the ball on the powder then with one extra push on the ramrod (which is equipped with a T-handle or a wooden ball) I lean on it untill I feel the powder "crunch" . On the bathroom scale this usually reads 35-40 #. I don't use the scale while shooting I just try to do it the same each time.

Horse Dr.

 

[prospector]

I like to compress my load so that the projectile is not deformed, easy on the ramrod.

Jim D.

 

[tg]

I have to go with Mr Mathis... I try to do it the way it might have been done in the past I seat it firmly with a wooden rod, hopefully with some degree of consistancy. go to the range and fire some groups with different degrees of compaction and see how/if it effects your accuracy then you will know what your needs are,there are so many variables that every gun/load must be evaluated on its own merit.