Static electricity and gunpowder

[utk]

An interesting article on static electricity and gunpowder:

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/mlexperiments/sparks/sparks.html

Urban

[BruceB]

Fascinating.

It's always (like, for hundreds of years?) been an "accepted truth" that black powder WILL easily ignite from grounding a static-electricity charge through it.

A lot of effort has been exerted and precautions taken to avoid this "easy ignition". Look at Lyman's black-powder measure, for example, with its brass reservoir to avoid the static problem, and many other people or organisations who have created various methods of "grounding" equipment used for handling blackpowder.

It's also an established precaution that one should NEVER say "never", so I'll continue to hold the possibility of ignition in my mind, but I'll do so with considerably more peace of mind than I did before seeing this article.

Thanks for posting the link! A photo truly is worth a thousand words (as long as no computer whiz has worked his photo-shopping skills on it).

[utk]

Sometimes I wonder if not Lyman or Hornady simply are making money out of peoples believes or fears....

Besides static electricity I've read about steel against steel can cause sparks, but for that to happen I would say that a lot of force would be required to strike sparks, like a grinding wheel.

One thing though, I think black powder "might" cause rust in cast steel powder measures due to the hygroscopic effects of potassium nitrate. An aluminium hopper and a brass insert would not be affected.
If so, I hope those measures have no exposed steel surfaces.

Urban

[1Shirt]

UTK, Always glad to see postings like this one. Any day that you don't learn something is a day wasted. If what you learn relates to pushing lead out the front of a rifled tube that is really a bonus.
1Shirt

[waksupi]

Very interesting. I've always been concerned about the static electricity, especially in the winter months. Thanks for finding this.

[swheeler]

UTK; glad you posted this, very interesting! There was a discussion with Linstrum a year or so ago about static electricity and pouring powder, using a metal ice scoop, metal funnel and a one gallon glass"rootbeer" jug, all this during our arrid winter air- "certain death"-NOT.

[utk]

There is another aspect of static electricity: clinging powder kernels, clinging to powder hoppers and powder funnels.
I noted that the problem gradually disappeared with my RCBS Uniflow measure, probably a result of graphite from the powder "impregnating" the plastic hopper.
Often it is said that washing the hopper/funnel with dishwater + detergent and letting it dry without rinsing, or using a dryer sheet will eliminate the static electricity. But detergent and dryer sheets are "foreign substances" to me.
So, I took a clean, unused wool mop, wrapped it in some tissue paper and impregnated it with powdered graphite and rubbed the inside of a Redding hopper.
Instant gratification - not a single kernel clung (?) to the inside. Haven't tried it much though, as I don't use the Redding that often.

Urban

[Ricochet]

Yeah, that sure is interesting! Thanks for posting the link!

[Ed Barrett]

I guess this is why Ben Franklin's patant for a rifle ignition system which used a kite on a wire never made a lot of money.

[Linstrum]

Years ago I bought some government contract IMR4895 from a friend who had two 50-pound kegs of the stuff that he had purchased as surplus after the Korean War. He kept it in a cool dark room and by the time we got the lid off of one keg my eyes had become dark acclimated. I used a polyethylene funnel to transfer it into an empty pound Dupont IMR4895 can and when I began to see some little blue-white sparkles running through the graphite-coated powder I about had a heart attack! I thought sure that we were about to get incinerated but my old buddy said not to worry because that was the way it was handled in the ammo factory he had worked in at one time. That still didn’t make me feel very safe about handling powder back at the time, but this article does now!

[shooter575]

I saw that a few years ago.I thought I posted it on one of the old boards.[CRS] Anyway I have been using Lee plastic measure,55,Pacific and I even picked up a Hornady BP measure.I have used them all for BP with out a hitch. They will sieze up id you dont clean them though. Except the plastic Lees though.
I do love the Hornady.Throws the most accurate charge of all.But dont let it set 2 days before cleaning.YUCK. goes solid on ya.
Yup,Lots of shooting and reloading myths live on forever.Tough to be a heretic.