Lets go back to pressure versus velocity. They are not directly related. Velocity is the product of the "Work Performed" or maybe a better understanding would be pressure over time. If you had a graph of pressure on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal, the area under the pressure curve from time the primer exploded until the shot exited the muzzle would be the representation of work. Smokeless powder tends to have a very high sharp peak relatively early in the the ignition but it is so brief as to make little difference in total area under the curve. Black powder, without the very sharp spike and just a very small bit wider, although lower, peak makes up the difference and they are thereafter virtually identical all the way down the bore. Re read what Sherman Bell is telling you in the latest article. Black is not second best, just makes smoke and stink and is a little more dangerous to handle since it is an explosive versus smokeless which is an inflamable. It also requires much greater space for powder in most applications other than larger guage shotgun shells.
