I would like to ask is there another method to
load the cartridge with out a drop tube? I don't have a tube...How did the buffalo hunters of years ago do it
while in the wild hunting..Did they have the tube?
I think there has got to be another way to do it..Why can't one just do a slow pour through a small funnel?

Thanks for any ideas you may have..John Alpine NY

you can gently tap the side of the filled case with a pencil,  try 5 taps or 10 taps it will settle the powder for consistent burn.  art

Breech seating at the range drop tubes are not convenient. I throw the BP charge then tap the case with a small brass rod. Powder settles nicely.

Friend of mine who is a very good long range black powder cartridge shooter gave me the method. He never drop tubes

Boats

Quote:

John, the answer is yes.  Vibrate the powder to settle it.  The choice of a vibrating mechanical device is your choice    I use a hand messager and an old model Sonicare toothbrush.  Drop tubes in my opinion are a pain in the backside

There was an article in the Blackpowder Cartridge News a few years back comparing the powder column heights between a drop tube and a vibrator.  The difference was less than 0.01

So, Alpine, NY is your home.  There was a woodchuck on a farm in Alpine that know the sound of our old 52 Dodge 4 door sedan and would boogy to his den before we could get up the road.  Maybe because the Dodge needed a new muffler.  Anyway, I walked in over a mile one afternoon, he was feeding along the wood line on the ridge - the 220 Swift was his demise
Also, used to trout fish below the falls in Newfield - we hitchhiked to go trout fishing before any of us had a driver's license. Robert H Treman State Park was another favorite.  Another day, caught a native 19" brown trout from under a bank above the mill.  Used to also camp on the island below the 3rd falls - bull frogs in the evening - legs in the morning with the eggs and potatoes
I had some great times up that neck of the woods... I was born and raised in Elmira

Joe and I do everything alike.

Boats