JGreen;
First, Troublesome is a matter of mind set. In comparsion to cranking out a 1,000 rds on a progressive loader then Yes, they are troublesome. For loading a smaller quanity of rounds for an older gun for limited use or for hunting, they can be loaded with virtually no expense for equipment, just a little time. My own first experience with loading shotshells was with all brass shells using then available DuPont Bulk smokeless some 50+ yrs ago. It was quite satisfactory at the time & I still load some all brass along for my Lefevers, to be used for hunting & find this not to be troubling at all.
2nd; A dram is a wt & is 1/16th of an ounce & does figure out to 82 grains for a 3 dram load, which can be weighed on a powder scale exactly as that, just like weighing smokeless. Personally, I have loaded BP for both breech & muzzle loaders & never weigh mine. I normally load an equal "Volume" of powder & shot so depending on the quanity I intend to load I will either use one of the little adjustable measures marked in oz of shot & drams of powder & set to the shot load I want & just dip away. If loading a few more shells I set up an old Lyman #55 powder measure & set to the desired drams & then use a single stage loader with powder hopper empty & flick the charge bar both ways to drop the shot. A check weigh to to be certain your measure is about right is of course good but no need to weigh individual loads for a shotgun or even to be concerned if the measure is ± a grain or so from the theoretical dram weight.
