[Southpaw]

This is confusing and has me wondering, again. I guess the calculators make allowances for modern powders but they don't actually tell you which allowance for which powder. They just use the black powder equivalency, on some. Unless the calculators have fine print to allow for modern powder in weight then should it really make a difference if black powder yields are the standard? I can see if reloading you need to convert the drams of black powder to the right modern powder weight due to its efficiency. However aren't the yields suppose to be the same based on the properties of black powder.

So if say I have a load that is suppose to be 3 drams of black powder equivalent then 1 dram is suppose be 27 grains of explosive yield for black powder times 3. So if black powder equivalency is the standard then that is all is necessary to use the calculators. They are not reloading to black powder coefficient calculators, telling you how much to drop it down to modern loads equivalency or are they. Hence I understand when using Drew's link to a calculator they already make the allowance and plop 18 grains in unless you change it yourself. Others don't.

However, I strongly agree that when reloading the black powder conversion to smokeless powders you need to account for it and then about 6 to 7 grains of modern smokeless powder is equal to the standard and reference black powder equivalent of 1 dram of black powder. Whether is 6 to 7 grains actually used for modern powder it is suppose to produce the same result as 27 grains of black powder, Right?

Anyway this is much harder than it needs to be just to figure out recoil but obviously you need to know which variables to use and how each are defined. I have a feeling there is a violent agreement in there somewhere. Its an apples to oranges comparing to apples discussion.