Rev,
I had an interesting experience while working up the powder charge for my Pennsylvania rifle.
I was trying to work up the load like you do with modern propellants...half-grain increments...and it was taking forever. It was the only way I knew.
Then an old-timer (90 years old) shooting buddy helped me out.
He said, "Start with a charge that equals the caliber, and work up in 5 grain increments until you hear the bullet 'crack' when you fire. That's the ball going supersonic."
"That's gonna be close", he said.
"Then start there and work up and down, looking for small groups."
So I started at 45 grains (FFF) and worked up. At 70 grains I heard that distinctive "crack" when I fired.
Then I started working up in 1-grain increments, and sure enough, at 73 grains I started getting "Tim Murphy" accuracy.
