Known as serpentine (in allusion to an early type of ordnance) or meal early gunpowder possessed several faults; firstly, jolting during transport caused the ingredients to separate, the heaviest ending up on the bottom of the barrel, the lightest at the top. The ingredients were therefore often carried separately and mixed on the gun position, creating in the process a highly explosive dust easily ignited by spark or friction.

Serpentine also absorbed moisture from the air to a degree which greatly reduced its efficiency, or in bad cases rendered it useless.

Loading presented more problems. To load, the Gunner simply filled a ladle with powder - hoping to put the same amount into it each time - inserted it into the gun, turned it over, then withdrew it, probably spilling some of its contents along the way. His assistant then rammed wad and shot. Now if these were rammed too hard, the powder was compressed, thus slowing the rate of burning. On the other hand, if they were rammed lightly the powder burned faster. Obviously any consistency in the shooting was purely a matter of luck.

Fouling, ie the residue consisting of unburnt or partially burnt powder, was excessive and made loading difficult. It was one of the reasons for the windage of a quarter inch (6.35mm) allowed in all natures of early British ordnance.