Schiessbaumwolle

The Swiss German name for early experimental propellant which means: "shooting cotton" or common guncotton. We are experiencing a shortage of propellants used to reload our cartridges. The common rifle, pistol and shotgun propellants have become very expensive. Companies have tripled and quadrupled their prices. Why???? Was watching several videos of the manufacturing of gun cotton. It is quite simple. The U-tubers use common Stump Remover like Spectracide Stump Remover (Potassium Nitrate) and Zep Drain Cleaner (sulphuric acid) to treat common cotton balls to make gun cotton. It is interesting to watch. Gun Cotton was discovered by a Swiss Professor at the University of Basil, Switzerland in 1846. Professor Schonbein found the stuff is 4X's more powerful than black powder. Later it was found that the nitro cellulose could be dissolved, extruded and cut into flakes, rods and spheres that could be used for driving projectiles. It is my belief that a few very enterprising individuals will start manufacturing smokeless powders because of this shortage. Usually government hinders manufacturing in this country. Obama turned the EPA into one of the biggest inhibiters of modern manufacturing in this country. We do not mine lead or process it in this country. Batteries have become very expensive. Our lead is imported. My hobby is recreational shooting. Supplies of primers, powder, and lead have dwindled. Prices have gone up. Just food for thought. Wanted to share with my "Boolit Buddies" !!

The English used cotton cord cut in strips: Cordite

The SAFE, PRACTICAL, and ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN manufacture of nitrocellulose is roughly as complicated as making a cake from scratch. Except for the ATFE dragging their feet in permits & authorizations, there's no reason the U.S. arms industry couldn't be SWIMMING in nitrocellulose within 6 months.

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Originally Posted by Rockindaddy

Our lead is imported.

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Our lead is mostly recycled. There's so much of it in circulation, it's WAY cheaper than mining it or importing it.

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Originally Posted by Hick

The English used cotton cord cut in strips: Cordite

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Angry spaghetti.

Drying of nitrocellulose is very dangerous.

Is it true that cellulose ... grows on trees ?

Gary

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Originally Posted by gwpercle

Is it true that cellulose ... grows on trees ?

Gary

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My wife used to work in a pulp mill in Ketchikan. Their two main customers were Alliant Energetics and the food industry. It makes great gunpowder, and diet food.

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Originally Posted by Kosh75287

The SAFE, PRACTICAL, and ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN manufacture of nitrocellulose is roughly as complicated as making a cake from scratch. Except for the ATFE dragging their feet in permits & authorizations, there's no reason the U.S. arms industry couldn't be SWIMMING in nitrocellulose within 6 months.

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It is not as complicated as making a cake. With modern chemical metering and weighing nitrocellulose and gun powder can be made extremely inexpensively. Federal rules made by politicians and bureaucrats who do not understand chemistry or industrial chemical synthesis hinder and block the manufacture of nitrocellulose and the associated powders that it can be transformed into. Gun powder is more benign to manufacture than gasoline. A pound of gasoline can push 4000 pounds 1 mile or more. A pound of gun powder can push a pound of lead bullets about 1.5 miles. Gasoline ignites easily, Nitrocellulose and gun powder not so much.

Bringing the nitrating acids up to full strength is not a simple procedure. Nitric acid as produced is typically 55%, and needs to be 100% for the nitration reaction. Sulfuric acid is more easily gotten at 100%, but it still has to be shipped, and the hazards associated with this add plenty to the nominal cost at origin. Mixing them properly generates a lot of heat, which must be controlled. Dealing with the spent acids and the acidic wash water is an expensive environmental nightmare.

Then you have the ether-and-alcohol mixture that colloids the nitrated cellulose and allows it to be extruded or otherwise treated so it burns on the surface, rather than detonating. The solvents can be distilled off and recovered (most of them) but managing the VOCs that will manage to escape into the atmosphere despite all precautions is expensive.

The people able to do this stuff right do not work cheap, nor can they be found waiting for a job in the Lowe’s parking lot.

And, of course, processing, blending, testing and storage (as a flammable solid or whatever) also adds to the expense.

If all this is as easy as making a cake, the cake must be that one the baker made for the Godfather’s daughter’s wedding for getting his son-in-law American citizenship.

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Originally Posted by Bent Ramrod

Bringing the nitrating acids up to full strength is not a simple procedure. Nitric acid as produced is typically 55%, and needs to be 100% for the nitration reaction. Sulfuric acid is more easily gotten at 100%, but it still has to be shipped, and the hazards associated with this add plenty to the nominal cost at origin. Mixing them properly generates a lot of heat, which must be controlled. Dealing with the spent acids and the acidic wash water is an expensive environmental nightmare.

Then you have the ether-and-alcohol mixture that colloids the nitrated cellulose and allows it to be extruded or otherwise treated so it burns on the surface, rather than detonating. The solvents can be distilled off and recovered (most of them) but managing the VOCs that will manage to escape into the atmosphere despite all precautions is expensive.

The people able to do this stuff right do not work cheap, nor can they be found waiting for a job in the Lowe’s parking lot.

And, of course, processing, blending, testing and storage (as a flammable solid or whatever) also adds to the expense.

If all this is as easy as making a cake, the cake must be that one the baker made for the Godfather’s daughter’s wedding for getting his son-in-law American citizenship.

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It is as easy as making a cake. The hard part in doing it exactly the same 1,000's of times in a row. Even if you do that, you still don't get the same end product every time.