Powder horn ?

[rebs]

How does a powder horn work, I mean how do you know how much powder you are dumping ?

 

[Brokennock]

How does a powder horn work, I mean how do you know how much powder you are dumping ?

You, carefully, pour it into a powder measure, then pour it from the measure into the gun.
Powder is measured by volume. The designation makes it sound like weight, but, it is grains by volume, not grains by weight.
Most start off with an adjustable measure until they determine best powder charge for the gun. Then, a fixed measure, also called a charger by some, for that volume of powder can be made. These are most often made of antler, cane/bamboo, bone, or a softer metal such as brass or copper.


The adjustable measure on the left is used for load development, then is used while the fixed measures/chargers are being built.
Note, cane/bamboo is already hollow and has a natural stop for one end. Just needs length adjusted for correct volume then some refinement and finishing. The two tied together, and the one that has different lengths left on each side of the node, give me powder and shot chargers of appropriate volume ratios to eachother.

 

[Brokennock]

Oh, the safety committee people wanted me to put in that post, probably several time because they think we are all idiots,,,,
Never, Ever, pour powder directly from your horn or flask into the muzzle of your gun.
Said another way to try to keep them at bay,
Do NOT pour powder directly from a horn, flask, or bottle/can, into your gun.
ALWAYS pour your desired charge into something else first and from their into the gun.

Be prepared to read this repeated in several more responses.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Good answer, @Brokennock , in your first response. And comments in your second response needed to be said.

Notchy Bob

 

[Brokennock]

Good answer, @Brokennock !

Notchy Bob

Thanks. 3 cups of coffee and some venison hot&sweet sausage has my brain almost functional, lol.

 

[Crow-Feather]

How does a powder horn work, I mean how do you know how much powder you are dumping ?

Now that you know, comes the big question. How do you know how much powder you have in your horn? I pour mine out and visually see the amount or weigh the horn (knowing the empty weight).

 

[Brokennock]

Now that you know, comes the big question. How do you know how much powder you have in your horn? I pour mine out and visually see the amount or weigh the horn (knowing the empty weight).

I've done my darker horns by weight. Comparing empty weight to full weight.
On many lighter colored horns one can hold them next to a very bright light and see the shadow of the powder inside.

If you really want to get into a tedious process, empty your horn and from another source (different horn, pour spout attached to can of powder, flask) fill your charger/fixed measure and pour it into the empty horn, count how many it takes to fill the horn.
Now have a drink of scotch and reevaluate your life and how you use your time, lol.

 

[S.Kenton]

I have a couple of horns that will hold exactly one pound of powder when completely full. A couple others hold around 1/2 or a little more than that. Normally.. I can tell by tilting it from end to end as to how much I have left. I have a couple that are really thin.. I can see the powder level if I hold it up to a light source.

 

[tenngun]

How does a powder horn work, I mean how do you know how much powder you are dumping ?

You see the powder measures and I don’t know if you heard anything about not ever pouring directly from the horn.
Powder measures were sometimes called chargers back in the day. We also read them pouring In to the palm of the hand. An old saw was the right charge was the amount of powder it took to cover the ball laid in your hand. Most guns shoot somewhere around 70 grains of powder unless they are small caliber. And you can learn what that looks like in the palm of your hand. It’s not best and you can still get a lot of variation but it works

 

[MSW]

most of my horns hold between half a pound to three quarters of a pound, so (at 7000 grains to a pound), that's 50 shots for the smaller horn if i shoot 70 grain charges (which is in the ballpark for my .50 cal.)

that's at the upper end of a day's shooting for me, so i just refill the horn when i get back from the range.

after i clean the rifle, of course.

because i love to tinker with stuff, and make things (this is the guy version of the grandmother "knitting little things" for your grandkids), i have pretty much made up a complete kit for each of my flintlocks - bag, horn, measure, etc. So when the opportunity presents, i can just grab up the whole mess and head off to the range ... all the stuff i need to shoot that particular rifle is already in the bag which goes with the gun.

i would say that if you go to the range with a full horn, you will most probably have enough powder for a full day of shooting ...

one guy's opinion: free and doubtless well worth the price

 

[mooman76]

I just tilt the horn back and forth a couple times and I can pretty much tell, and by how heavy it is. If there is any doubt, I just top it off.

 

[French Colonial]

Did you ever shake your Christmas presents the week before?
Shake the horn and tilt it back and forth as Mooman suggests, you can tell how much is in there.

 

[user 48679]

There's two different ways to drop a powder charge from a horn.

If the horn (or flask) has a plain/open spout, carry on as above.

If the horn (or flask) has a brass valve on the spout, the length of the spout's discharge tube determines the charge thrown.

In use, once the charge/tube length has been set (the tube cut to the correct length for the charge wanted), one puts a finger/thumb tip on the end of the empty spout tube, the horn (or flask) upended to dump the charge from the horn (or flask) into the tube, then the valve shut off - which will allow dumping the charge w/o getting extra powder from the horn (or flask).

Most powder flasks will have the valve, some horns do - but most horns don't.

I chose to build this horn with the valve. (YMMV)

This is a powder flask, with a valve spout