I thought I'd share this with you guys . I use to belong to a similar club and got this from one of the members . I was using an 1851 in .44 cal. : lay a single large sheet of paper ( 4'x8' ) on the ground in front of your shooting position and holding your loaded gun normally above the near side of the sheet , let loose . What happens is that ANY excess powder in you gun is thrown out the barrel and fall on that sheet and you carefully collect that powder and weight it. Susbtracting that amount of unburned powder from your load will be your OPTIMUM LOAD. In my 1851 , my load was 23 gr of 3fffg Goex behind a 140 gr ball with corn meal on top of the powder and Crisco on top of the ball. I then cut the spout of my powder flask to get that amount every load. The gun shot at the POA at 25 yards free hand . I enjoy reading your posts, but I'm not in the loop anymore. Catch you later, Dan
