Roscoe - interesting field study.
I think a little more field data is needed to make any assumption that pellets produce increased FPS vs loose.FPS is a relative term that may often equate to increased group size.

As sabotloader post mentioned,pellets can and do vary.

I would bet if you packed the Loose Charge tighter your FPS would equal or exceed pellets.

I like loose as it makes things interesting,challenging and measured charge is always uniform with the ability to develope and tweak charge in small increments until you get a key hole group. To me thats part of the fun in muzzleloading.

Hey - for the guys that use pellets, if it works and ain't broke leave it alone - But - if it breaks once - Go Loose