My homemade black powder

[Hossfly]

oh man dont waste primers are you kidding? Go to 22reloader.com and get primall and the cap maker. it a heckofalot cheaper and easy to make.

https://22lrreloader.com/

Thanks, I ordered the #10 cap maker and the chemicals to make them. Tested the vinyl tube also with a small pistol primer, and it shot well also. So there is that way to shoot even if you cant find the caps.

It’s frustrating to buy something and not able to fire it.

[almar]

Thanks, I ordered the #10 cap maker and the chemicals to make them. Tested the vinyl tube also with a small pistol primer, and it shot well also. So there is that way to shoot even if you cant find the caps.

It’s frustrating to buy something and not able to fire it.

For sure. You will find that making these are quite satisfying because you become more self reliant. There are a few threads about how to make these with tips and tricks. I wont extend this reply too much as it will get off topic but a 0.005 brass sheet from hobby lobby makes a better cup than coke cans. Also a drop of 50/50 acetone and duco cement mix will seal up that compound very well. Duco cement is nitrocellulose based and burns fast. Or if you prefer, mix a small amount of smokeless powder in acetone overnight, it will form a paste that you can add acetone to dilute and make the same compound. One last tip, don't add too much compound (primall) to the cup, it will cushion the hammer blow and make them less reliable. I ordered the #11 cap maker and it works great for all my percussion pistols.

[Vettepilot]

Thanks, I ordered the #10 cap maker and the chemicals to make them. Tested the vinyl tube also with a small pistol primer, and it shot well also. So there is that way to shoot even if you cant find the caps.

It’s frustrating to buy something and not able to fire it.

I believe I saw something whereby they found increased velocity when using primers in place of caps like that. Did you see any evidence of that?

Also, anyone using that Prime-All mix, please note that it is corrosive, so clean your entire pistol/gun quite well with soap and water.

Vettepilot

[HamGunner]

I have not found a good source for the Antimony Trisulfide that is used in most percussion cap formulas, so I just recently ordered two more packets of the Prime All powders. I think weighing the ingredients by weight is much better than by volume as per their directions. Both ways have worked for me, but I now measure by weight. Compression of the powder into the primer cups is very important, as is making certain that the powder mixture stays in place. Even a small circle of paper can help to secure it in place. My punched out circle of toy pistol caps increased my percussion caps to right at 100 % reliability compared to just using a sealant on the bare powder mixture. Experiment with a few in different ways until you come up with reliable ignition.

[Hossfly]

I believe I saw something whereby they found increased velocity when using primers in place of caps like that. Did you see any evidence of that?

Also, anyone using that Prime-All mix, please note that it is corrosive, so clean your entire pistol/gun quite well with soap and water.

Vettepilot

I only loaded 2 spp into the tubes and placed onto 2 of the nipples and they fired with good report. Did not fire any with black power, or boolit in place. Was just trying to see if the hammer would set them off, and it did.

Haven’t shot it yet cause am waiting on a nipple wrench so can clean this after a shooting session.

[Vettepilot]

The store bought nipple wrenches often break. I made a cool one out of a grade 8 bolt, but then I have the use of a lathe and mill. I have seen them made out of a 1/4" drive socket with the end ground to fit the nipple with a dremel though...

Vettepilot

[HamGunner]

The store bought nipple wrenches often break. I made a cool one out of a grade 8 bolt, but then I have the use of a lathe and mill. I have seen them made out of a 1/4" drive socket with the end ground to fit the nipple with a dremel though...

Vettepilot

I had to chuckle, I also made a nipple wrench out of a short grade 8 bolt and inserted and glued the head of the short bolt into a small wooden handle with some bedding compound. I could not find the proper diameter bolt in my collection of odds and ends except for the grade 8. Unlike you, I used my drill press, a file, and emery cloth to hone it to the proper dimensions to fit my Replica 1851 Colt Navy. It was more work than I wanted, but I 'got er done".

[LAGS]

I made a nipple wrench out of a 1/4" drive socket because the nipples I was working on were rusted into the cylinders on two of a friend's revolvers.
I have made others out of grade 8 bolts using my Poor Man's Lathe ( drill motor and a file )
Some of the bolts were too hard to get to cut or drill easily.
So I just heated them up with my Mapp gas torch to cherry red and let them cool down slowly.
When the fabrication was done , I heated them back up again , then quenched the red hot metal in motor oil to re temper it.

[Vettepilot]

As you likely know, it's best to quench harden like that, then temper so that it's not brittle. Clean the item to bare, shiny steel, then carefully heat until it turns a straw color.

Another little tip is that when heating in the first stage to quench, the steel has become hot enough when a magnet will no longer stick to it. Then you quench it.

Just sharing tips...

Vettepilot

[Linstrum]

The last time I got antimony trisulfide, I found it at a ceramic supply place. It is used for making metallic black paint and glazes for pottery. A few other firearms-related chemicals can be obtained from ceramic and pottery supply places.

I have used the Frankford Arsenal Number 2 primer mixture, which was used by the U.S. military until about 1953 when General Julian Hatcher's 35 years of screaming into the Army's deaf ears to use non-corrosive primers was finally heard.

There is nothing sacred about the Frankford Arsenal Number 2 primer mixture (its recipe is listed in Hatcher's Notebook and some other places), use whatever primer formula does the job! The one just posted recently, and how it is used, sure sounds like a winner to me!

I have used smokeless powder dissolved in acetone and/or lacquer thinner for various things. Great stuff and works well. Remember that double-base smokeless powders contain somewhere around 30% nitroglycerin, which is also a commonly used medication to RAPIDLY lower blood pressure. Be very careful about getting any double-base smokeless powder dissolved in acetone or lacquer thinner on your skin! Nitroglycerine goes right through your skin, meaning fingertips and any other place on your body, and it doesn't take much to have a physiological effect. A strong cup of coffee somewhat counters the effect that nitroglycerine has on lowering blood pressure, but nitroglycerine poisoning is no joke. The first thing you may notice is a headache that is so bad it might send you to the emergency room! Once there with the worst headache of your life, you just may be given a CAT scan looking for a brain aneurism, since the sudden onset and intense pain resembles that deadly condition. Hopefully your very low blood pressure will be noticed by then. My dad's maternal grandfather was a hard rock miner in the Old West, in such places that included Tombstone, Arizona; Park City, Utah; Silverton, Colorado; and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, from the early 1870s until about 1905. His specialty was working with dynamite (he made it to 90 years of age), and he told my dad about the dreaded "nitro headache" and how to avoid it by not coming in contact with even the tiniest amount of nitroglycerin - the dirtiest of dirty tricks was to contaminate a doorknob of someone "who done you wrong" with some "nitro". But back to smokeless powder dissolved in acetone and using it to glue stuff, yep, it works darned good! Just don't get any on your skin is all. Nitroglycerin is not soluble in water, so rinsing with plain water won't work, rinse off with 91% isopropyl alcohol, Dawn dish detergent, mechanic's hand cleaner, whatever.

Have fun!

[indian joe]

The store bought nipple wrenches often break. I made a cool one out of a grade 8 bolt, but then I have the use of a lathe and mill. I have seen them made out of a 1/4" drive socket with the end ground to fit the nipple with a dremel though...

Vettepilot

that grade 8 bolt is the best nipple wrench I have had in my life.

[maillemaker]

Or if you prefer, mix a small amount of smokeless powder in acetone overnight, it will form a paste that you can add acetone to dilute and make the same compound.

Are you saying this makes a priming compound?

[almar]

Are you saying this makes a priming compound?

No, it is the sealing compound that keeps it together and moisture proof. I use the H48 mix or prime all and like hamgunner, i measure the components by weight. I also add a small amount of aluminum powder to give extra sparks.
1- make the cup
2-add some priming compound
3-press it down using a punch or small dowel
4-add one drop of smokeless acetone mix
5-wait 24 hours

Thank you for the heads up Linstrum.

[Vettepilot]

The last time I got antimony trisulfide, I found it at a ceramic supply place. It is used for making metallic black paint and glazes for pottery. A few other firearms-related chemicals can be obtained from ceramic and pottery supply places.

I have used the Frankford Arsenal Number 2 primer mixture, which was used by the U.S. military until about 1953 when General Julian Hatcher's 35 years of screaming into the Army's deaf ears to use non-corrosive primers was finally heard.

There is nothing sacred about the Frankford Arsenal Number 2 primer mixture (its recipe is listed in Hatcher's Notebook and some other places), use whatever primer formula does the job! The one just posted recently, and how it is used, sure sounds like a winner to me!

I have used smokeless powder dissolved in acetone and/or lacquer thinner for various things. Great stuff and works well. Remember that double-base smokeless powders contain somewhere around 30% nitroglycerin, which is also a commonly used medication to RAPIDLY lower blood pressure. Be very careful about getting any double-base smokeless powder dissolved in acetone or lacquer thinner on your skin! Nitroglycerine goes right through your skin, meaning fingertips and any other place on your body, and it doesn't take much to have a physiological effect. A strong cup of coffee somewhat counters the effect that nitroglycerine has on lowering blood pressure, but nitroglycerine poisoning is no joke. The first thing you may notice is a headache that is so bad it might send you to the emergency room! Once there with the worst headache of your life, you just may be given a CAT scan looking for a brain aneurism, since the sudden onset and intense pain resembles that deadly condition. Hopefully your very low blood pressure will be noticed by then. My dad's maternal grandfather was a hard rock miner in the Old West, in such places that included Tombstone, Arizona; Park City, Utah; Silverton, Colorado; and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, from the early 1870s until about 1905. His specialty was working with dynamite (he made it to 90 years of age), and he told my dad about the dreaded "nitro headache" and how to avoid it by not coming in contact with even the tiniest amount of nitroglycerin - the dirtiest of dirty tricks was to contaminate a doorknob of someone "who done you wrong" with some "nitro". But back to smokeless powder dissolved in acetone and using it to glue stuff, yep, it works darned good! Just don't get any on your skin is all. Nitroglycerin is not soluble in water, so rinsing with plain water won't work, rinse off with 91% isopropyl alcohol, Dawn dish detergent, mechanic's hand cleaner, whatever.

Have fun!

How interesting, and thank you! And I grew up near Tombstone. Spent 40 years traipsing that whole area. My family once ran the old General Store in the ghost town of Pearce, Az. There's the close together ghost towns of Pearce, Courtland, Gleeson, then Tombstone. I've explored all of them and the mines, many, many times. Fun memories. My parents are buried in Pearce. The first three are literal "ghost towns" now, though with the "back to the country" movement, people are moving back slowly. Tombstone is called "The town too tough to die" and has pretty much always had inhabitants. The once a year "Helldorado Days" held there are quite interesting to attend, with many re-created shootouts, etc.

Two questions: Can the nitro in some smokeless powders have the same deleterious effect you describe? (While still in powder form.)

Also, once dissolved, is there a shelf life? Is there any conditions that might make it become unstable?

Thanks!
Vettepilot

[jmh54738]

I was a state licensed blaster for 25 years and have had my share of nitro headaches. 50% straight nitro ditching dynamite was bad, the ammonia dynamites, less so. I have never had my head pound so badly.
BTW, Deft clear wood finish is nitrocellulose dissolved in 10 different solvents....check the msds
jmh54738

[Hossfly]

I made a nipple wrench out of a 1/4" drive socket because the nipples I was working on were rusted into the cylinders on two of a friend's revolvers.
I have made others out of grade 8 bolts using my Poor Man's Lathe ( drill motor and a file )
Some of the bolts were too hard to get to cut or drill easily.
So I just heated them up with my Mapp gas torch to cherry red and let them cool down slowly.
When the fabrication was done , I heated them back up again , then quenched the red hot metal in motor oil to re temper it.

Went down to my big shop and found donor 1/4” sockets, came back to gun room, vice and dremmel, made what I needed in about 15 mins. Ended up using 3/16” deep socket, worked perfect with a little filing. Reinstalled nipples with a little high temp anti-seize.

[ChrisPer]

ACME BLACK POWDER INSTRUCTIONS

INGREDIENTS:

1. Pure potassium nitrate milled very fine. - 75%
2. Pure sulphur milled very fine. - 10%
3. Charcoal milled very fine. - 15%

A. Black Willow
B. Sassafras
C. Red Cedar
D. Grape Vine
E. Others

Cook wood until charred. Beat, pound, grind, mill until fine powder.

Mix ingredients and ball mill for more than 3 hours but less than 2 days.

Do flash test. FUN! (Do away from other powder(s) for best outcome.)

Compress powder. (More than jumping up and down on it required.)

Beat, pound, grind, mill until required grains is made.

Screen grade.

Package and go shoot.

Patents pending.



Vettepilot

Excellent.

[DoubleBuck]

How interesting, and thank you! And I grew up near Tombstone. Spent 40 years traipsing that whole area. My family once ran the old General Store in the ghost town of Pearce, Az. There's the close together ghost towns of Pearce, Courtland, Gleeson, then Tombstone. I've explored all of them and the mines, many, many times. Fun memories. My parents are buried in Pearce. The first three are literal "ghost towns" now, though with the "back to the country" movement, people are moving back slowly. Tombstone is called "The town too tough to die" and has pretty much always had inhabitants. The once a year "Helldorado Days" held there are quite interesting to attend, with many re-created shootouts, etc.

Two questions: Can the nitro in some smokeless powders have the same deleterious effect you describe? (While still in powder form.)

Also, once dissolved, is there a shelf life? Is there any conditions that might make it become unstable?

Thanks!
Vettepilot

That's interesting! I was one of the last people to be born in Tombstone, when it had a hospital. It was the 'original' bank building, made into of all things, a Navy hospital, during and after World War 2. My dad worked for El Paso Natural Gas, and we lived in Benson. Mom's doctor worked there, but also traveled to Tombstone, to the hospital there. For the sake of history, or whatever, she went there, to have me. I was born on a Friday night, and mom told the story, that she was given a 'saddle block' and was numb, from the waist down. Late in the evening, she said she heard gun shots, in the hospital, and was flipped out over it. Sometime soon, a nurse came in the room and brought me from the nursery and said a drunk had come in the hospital and shot three shots. Here's the rub. Two doctors tackled him and disarmed him and they called the law and had him hauled off. They closed the hospital in 1953 just a couple of months after I was born there, in January.
A couple of people who have known me long enough and heard the story, have said, 'so now it all makes sense'. haha. Tombstone Arizona was a pretty wild place, even in 1953. It's pretty neat to be one of the very last people born in Tombstone, if they have not built a hospital since I last checked, a few years back.

[DoubleBuck]

I was a state licensed blaster for 25 years and have had my share of nitro headaches. 50% straight nitro ditching dynamite was bad, the ammonia dynamites, less so. I have never had my head pound so badly.
BTW, Deft clear wood finish is nitrocellulose dissolved in 10 different solvents....check the msds
jmh54738

I have had that headache! I worked for 9 months in the Allied Chemical Soda ash mine near Green River Wyoming. I worked for two months as a shot firer's helper, loading holes. They usually had a 1/4, to 1/2 pound of dynamite, with a cap rammed in the hole, and then blown full of Prell (Ammonium Nitrate and diesel fuel) with a rag in the hole. 52 holes, if I remember, on each shot of the face. 13 feet deep. Ringed with 0, then 00 caps and finally 000 caps, to get the wave produced in the rock. Underground a quarter of a mile and less than a hundred feet from the shot, is a REAL experience, to say the least. Something I won't forget soon. Nor the headache, if you were sweating and wiped your forehead with your gloved hand.

[maillemaker]

Interesting about the nitroglycerine!