Corned powder, considered upon its introduction to be 30% more powerful than serpentine, was said to have been first produced by the French in 1429. It was first used only in small arms, and does not appear to have been used in ordnance much until later, c1560 in England, by which time guns were strong enough to stand it.

Still using rule of thumb, Gunners continued to make charge weight the same as shot weight - with some very rude shocks when a number of the older guns blew up! Charges of corned powder were therefore reduced to two-thirds those of serpentine with further reductions to about half, especially with the heavier pieces. As experiments with proportions of ingredients and improvements in manufacture proceeded it was found charges could be still further reduced to produce the desired effect. Thus at the end of the smooth bore era they were down to a third the shot weight.