red powder?

[tommag]

Sometime back, I remember reading an article in backwoodsman about grandma's old muzzleloader. It mentioned her homemade powder. Called red powder, if I recall right.
Anyone know about this?

[drhall762]

There have various "colored" powders through the recent past. If you search this forum you will find some. I have no personal knowledge grandma's old propellant but it sounds like it may have been one of the "improvised" powders as store bought black was not available. I have read Potassium Chlorate and Sugar were used as an improvised propellant and that adding Ferric Oxide to it improved the burn characteristics. Years ago I experimented with a 3:2 mix of KClO3 and sugar as a propellant in a .45Colt revolver. Worked but messy and I would rather have BP. Never tried to add Fe2O3. Maybe that was my failing.

All in all, good stuff to stay away from. Almost as easy to make decent BP.

[tommag]

Ferric oxide would make sense, given the red powder name. Iron only rusts when we don't want it to, so it would be a good thing to know in a Mad Max world, but not much utility in the present.

[Boz330]

I believe that you can do the same with KNO3 and sugar with the Ferric oxide added, which is the first thing that I thought of. I got the impression that it was supposed to be quite a bit more energetic than BP and in the TM it said not to use it in pistols IIRC.

Bob

[dondiego]

Potassium nitrate and sugar with a pinch of ferric oxide is a known formula for making rockets so it would seem suitable for launching pb projectiles. BP is also a known rocket fuel.

[hatcreek]

She used chicken manure to make her KN03, sugar, and rust that she would scrape off anything iron, that article inspired me to start making my own black powder, the name of the article was Grandma's breakfast and homemade black powder... HC

[tommag]

Thanks, everyone. Still can buy everything I need,just trying to think outside the lock.
Found the info in an old tm, seems a bit more energetic than commercial bp.