Originally Posted by
HamGunner
I agree with your assessment, and Jake's, if one is muzzle loading, but only to a certain degree even there. I am sure we most all agree that crushed powder will not give as consistent a pressure from shot to shot as denser powder that is much harder to crush. Perhaps 1.5g/cc is plenty hard enough not to crush under normal muzzle loading procedures, and in that case, then perhaps Jake is correct, at least for his type of use. And cleanliness is certainly very desirable if the other factors are good as well, but if accuracy was more desirable, I could live with the need for a bit more cleaning along the way if denser powder helped with accuracy.
I like Jake's videos, although I do not always agree with everything he does or says. For the most part, he seems to be fairly accurate in his assessments for making the powder as well as for muzzle loading, but I shoot probably 90% of my Black Powder in revolvers. Most of that in Cap n Ball revolvers, with a small amount in cartridge revolvers, but only around 10% in muzzle loaders. Jake's assessments therefore only fit my needs part way. I need as much density as I can get so I can more completely fill my chambers or cartridge cases and get as little resulting pressure variation as possible, and the cleanliness is not quite as important to me, even if his assessment about that is correct.
I do not believe that I am wasting MY time by striving for the higher densities. For other's needs, you are perhaps very correct and it is not nearly such an important factor.