Double French powder/shot measure

[Swamppanther]

Hi
Anyone know anything about this measure I just bought on EBay? It's French and got in  mail from there.
Seems to be in very good  shape.  [ Invalid Attachment ]  [ Invalid Attachment ]  [ Invalid Attachment ]  [ Invalid Attachment ]  [ Invalid Attachment ]  [ Invalid Attachment ]

[Nessmuk]

Don't know anything except it's way cool. Nice buy!

[LongWalker]

The majority of these date from the early cartridge era.  They were sold individually, or as part of a kit of tools that included a primer punch, priming tool, and often a sizing die (for brass cases) or a tool that looks like an old-fashioned apple-peeler for crimping paper shells.  ML shotgunners typically metered powder from a flask with an adjustable head (usually marked in drams), and shot from bags or flasks with adjustable Irish or English heads. 

And reproductions have been made since at least the '50s, usually of the oddball-makers (I've seen one marked "Durs Egg, Liege".  Durs Egg worked in England, with ML guns) or for the prestige names (I think I've still got one marked "Rigby London", and I know I've got a couple originals marked Bridgeport Gun and Parker).  The originals and many of the repros will be marked in ounces for shot, and drams for powder; the ones marked in grains all seem to be repros. 

Whether original or repro, they are a handy tool for shotguns.  They don't carry well in a bag, a bit prone to self-adjusting, and the handles break off easily in the mess of a shooting bag, but in a range box or for setting up fixed measures at home they work fine. 

[KDubs]

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Cool I have one also but it's steel and I had Fab a new indicator for it.
 You can peruse the web and find info on them.
Circa Late 1880s as IIRC.
 Kevin

[Winter Hawk]

Two measures, one for powder (Poudre) and the other for shot (plomb, or lead).  Shot calibrated in grams, I can't make out what the powder is, decigrams (1/10th gram) maybe?.  Cool find. As Longwalker said, I don't think it would be too handy in a shooting pouch but would go well in a range box.  The conversion from grains to grams is 15.45 grains/gram

Here you go:

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So 30 grams of shot would be 463 grains (or 463/437.5 gr/oz = 1.06 ounce). 3.5 grams of powder (if it's calibrated in decigrams) becomes 3.5 X 15.45 = 54 grains.