Here is what I would suggest and this procedure has worked for me....
Fill up your crankcase with the perscribed quantity of
oil that the pan is rated for. In my case that was 8 quarts. Add one quart to this if you have a remote engine
oil cooler. Add 1/2 quart for your
oil filter. In my case this totals 8+1+1/2 = 9 1/2 quarts.
I ran the engine a while and then shut it down. After about 3 hours I then pulled the engine oil temperature sender which is mounted in at the top rear of one of the "T" wings of my Milodon oil pan. The oil temp bulb NEEDS to be wet in order to give a good reading.... so in pulling the bulb you have to make sure that the oil is indeed wetting the probe of the sender. If the oil temp sender is dry then you may have to add more oil to immerse it. However I did not have to do that.
Once this is done and buttoned back up, you can now assume that you have a full payload of oil. With a metal file, pull your oil dipstick and clean it off and then take a reading.
Scribe the high water line on the dipstick with the file. This should be your FULL line as actually measured.
On another note, my engine does not burn oil in a visibily noticeable way (smoke) nor does it leak. However, I find myself adding about 1/2 quart every 1000 or 1500 miles. I change my oil every 3000 so this is not a problem.
Hope this helps?