ounce of powder

[Frank Rathmell]

Don't want to sound like too much of a Noob but on some videos and websites I see refrence to powder being measured by the ounce.   Are they refering to the ounce  as  1/16 of a pound or the  ounce as 1/8 of a cup? I was under the impression that BP was always mesured in volume not weight.
Frank

[Cannon Cocker]

That's a good question, not a Noob question.  For most muzzleloaders who shoot small arms, the powder is measured in volume.  Using a powder measure or "horn", you can easily and quickly reload rifles and pistols.  It's understood though, that a certain granulation is being used, and this is the area where measuring by volume can be an issue.  Black powder comes in different grain sizes denoted by the number of Fs for sporting grade powder.  FFFFg is very fine and Fg is very coarse.  The same volume of FFFFg is much more powerful than the same volume of Fg.  The safest thing to do is to determine the grain size that should be used, and the weight of the powder that should be used.  Once that has been established, the volume of that weighed amount can be found, and a suitable measure can be used to make duplication of that load easier than weighing. 

[bluez]

But as weight goes, i thought that an oz always was 1/16 pound (1 Pound = 16 Ounces = 437.5 grains). A film canister contains around 500 grains of powder, but in the case of cannon grade powder. I think a 35mm film canister will contain around 1oz of powder. So i think one film cannister sometimes is refered to as 1oz.

[flagman1776]

We may use dippers & other volume measures for convenience but powder is measured & sold by weight.  The volume measure is adjusted by weighing the volume of a certain powder contained in the measure on a powder scale (balance).  There are adjustable volume measures for muzzleloading arms or fixed measures adjusted by lathe turning, drilling, or filing.   

[Double D]

A film canister is not a device for measuring black powder it is for holding film.

Black powder is often expressed as a volume  but it is a weight.  It is the volume of a specific weight of a powder.

A measuring  cup is for baking cookies.

If you are going to play this game for safety sake get the right tools.  The first step in using volumetric powder measuring tool is to weight your specific charge of preferred powder on a scale, the adjust you measure to hold that volume.

[GGaskill]

Not to throw too much confusion on the issue but there are different kinds of ounces and different kinds of pounds and the common unit between them is actually the grain.  Larger charges are commonly quoted in ounces (av., 1/16 of the pound (av.), 437.5 grains) for convenience of the smaller numbers, and for really big bore guns, the charges can be pounds.

Volumetric measures are convenient and commonly used but should be calibrated for correct charge weight with an accurate scale.