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Thread: My homemade black powder

  1. #1581
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boz330 View Post
    I did what Fly recommended and it does a much better job of milling. I had a bunch of 1/2" scrap copper pipe from building my house that I filled with wheel weight lead.

    Bob
    scrounging for some scrap today.

    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  2. #1582
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    My homebuilt press is well on its way to being complete! Just need to build some feet, powder coat the parts and install the bottle jack!



    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  3. #1583
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Man, this is addicting! Got everythjng set up, and processed my first batch. I cant recommend fly's die setup enough!!!!

    Just some random pics while processing some powder.



















    A couple video of my first test run with my homeade black powder. pietta reproduction 1858 New model army .44 loaded with 35 grains of powder by volume.

    https://youtu.be/01OaszXd7uM

    https://youtu.be/jqLLAtB4nME

    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  4. #1584
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Looks like it works! Heck of a noise off that covered roof though. Congrats!

    Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

  5. #1585
    Boolit Master
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    Yep you getting it down. It,s fun for sure. Thanks for the pic,s & videos, I wish more people would share there
    info with pic's & videos. I know how to post pictures but not videos or I would.

    Thanks again my friend Fly

  6. #1586
    Boolit Bub
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    So I have made several batches of homemade black following all of your advice and expertise. The first two batches were with the CIA method and were pretty darn fast. I got my ball mill finished up and made several batches with it. These batches are even faster it seems. They all make my 50cal muzzleloader go boom. Oh yea I'm using black willow charcoal, sulfur and kno3 from dudadiesel. I corned the ball milled batches and screened the pieces. Does anyone have any tips on improving accuracy with this homemade black. My gun shoots 1.5" 100 yard groups with 100 gr of pyrodex rs. With the black I'm all over the target at 100 yds. Is it just a matter of powder inconsistency?

  7. #1587
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolfmanjack View Post
    So I have made several batches of homemade black following all of your advice and expertise. The first two batches were with the CIA method and were pretty darn fast. I got my ball mill finished up and made several batches with it. These batches are even faster it seems. They all make my 50cal muzzleloader go boom. Oh yea I'm using black willow charcoal, sulfur and kno3 from dudadiesel. I corned the ball milled batches and screened the pieces. Does anyone have any tips on improving accuracy with this homemade black. My gun shoots 1.5" 100 yard groups with 100 gr of pyrodex rs. With the black I'm all over the target at 100 yds. Is it just a matter of powder inconsistency?
    Are you pressing your powder or just wet corning it?

    Do you have the proper sized screens?

    Are you polishing the powder after corning and screening?

    Do you have a chronograph?

    Are the groups mainly up and down or just randomly all over the place?

    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  8. #1588
    Boolit Bub
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    Pressing using a 6ton jack with wood cutout and pvc pipe. The pucks are pretty tough. I have screens, maybe not proper size, my particles seem to be about the same size as my pyrodex rs which is 2f. if the size of the particle is consistent from shot to shot shouldn't you see some repeatability? No im not polishing. Groups are randomly all over, occasionally missing the whole target. If I put 100gr of the pyrodex in it comes right back on target. I'm swabbing between shots and letting the barrel cool.

  9. #1589
    Boolit Master




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    Try a finer powder. My guns shoot best with 3F. My 3F is what is held on a 30 mesh screen. This after it has passed a 16 mesh and 20 mesh.


    Bob
    GUNFIRE! The sound of Freedom!

  10. #1590
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    My guess would be powder inconsistency. I haven't carried mine out to 100 yds in a rifle, but at 25 yards from my pistol, it is more accurate than I am.

    How thick are you making the pucks and what is the diameter of your pipe? This will have a large effect on the density of your powder. I can't recommend the die I bought enough. It's 6160 aluminum, cheap ($27 shipped) and makes great pucks! I tried the pipe and wood and didn't have much luck with it. The wood compresses way too much and would be unusable (crushed and splintering) after 3 or 4 presses. It also won't give a uniform press. I press mine to the max pressure of the Jack, let it rest under pressure for a few mins then pump the press till it maxes out again and let it set for another few mins. I do this until I can't get any more pressure on it.

    Are you dampening your powder and if so, with what? I read an article that said the minerals in tap water can have a effect on the burn rate, but not sure how accurate the article was. I use distilled water just to be safe. You want the powder just slightly damp. If you squeeze out water when pressing, it's too damp. Being too damp shouldn't hurt anything unless it's damp enough to start leaching kno3, but its messy. I use a 1.29 cc Lee dipper for each 2 heaping tablespoons of powder and it seems just about right.

    I mix the water in well using a spoon to compress it by pressing it with the back of the spoon, then scraping the compressed powder off the top a little at a time, remixing it and compressing it again. I do this until I don't see anymore dark (wet) spots in the powder.

    For FFG, you want everything that will pass through a 16 mesh screen but not a 30 mesh screen. I just figured out that my fffg should be 20 and 50. I've been using 20 and 30 mesh.

    Last thing is, buy you a small bottle of graphite powder from any hardware store (in the lube section used for locks). Once you have you powder corned and screened, place it in your tumbler without media and give it a couple squirts of graphite powder. Seal it up and tumble for a 3-4 hrs. Then rescreen it. This will knock off the sharp edges and coat the powder making it much more uniform and making it flow much better. It will also break up any grains that are too soft.



    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  11. #1591
    Boolit Bub
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    I used two inch pvc pipe, pucks are approx 1/2". They are very hard requiring quite a bit of effort to fracture them. I use about 3 cap fulls of bottled water in a 200 gram batch as it is very humid in south Louisiana. There is zero leakage when pressed. I plan to get a doe from fly in the near future. 130 gr by volume weighs 100-101 grains.

  12. #1592
    Boolit Bub
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    Boz330 says FFFg is held on a 30 mesh.

    Fishingsetx says FFg will not pass a 30 mesh.

    I do not have my screens yet but wondering which is it?

  13. #1593
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Sounds like the same thing to me.

    Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

  14. #1594
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by okshooter View Post
    Boz330 says FFFg is held on a 30 mesh.

    Fishingsetx says FFg will not pass a 30 mesh.

    I do not have my screens yet but wondering which is it?
    According to the three tables I checked off Google:

    FFG is 16-30 mesh
    FFFG is 20-50 mesh

    I said I ordered the wrong mesh and use 20-30 mesh for my FFFG. There is some overlap on grain sizes from 20 to 30 mesh good thing is, I should be able to use my powder as a replacement for either ffg or fffg, but reject a large amount due to being over/under sized.

    http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/...ize_Charts.asp

    This is a PDF link to goes specs.

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...bhVoSzcENjtOow



    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  15. #1595
    Boolit Master
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    Boy Fishingsetx has done his home work for sure. I can say this from reading above. If you have any water coming
    out when pressing you have over wet it. Another thing is making sure your grain are the same size. Some times in screening
    you need to do the same batch over. Fish doing the polishing does help. I don't cause I,m lazy (wink) but it does help.

    If you look at Swiss powder note they do polish there. Also look & see how uniform size wise there grains are compared
    to say Goex. I believe that why there powder is so accurate. They go that extra mile & it shows in Swiss accuracy. But
    they charge for it. I do think my puck press will help also. The more consistent your powder is the more accurate it will shoot.

    Fly
    Last edited by Fly; 03-03-2017 at 09:25 PM.

  16. #1596
    Boolit Master




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    I gaged my powder with store bought. You have to also remember that the thickness of the wire in the screens makes a difference. Thick wire and 30 mesh could mean 4F. Powder making is like skinning a cat there is more than one way to do it and they might all be right, if it works for you.
    I have shot my powder out to 500yd. It did reasonable at 300 but not so much at 500. But for hunting to 100 it shoots minute of deer and in a trade gun with shot, minute of squirrel.

    Bob
    GUNFIRE! The sound of Freedom!

  17. #1597
    Boolit Buddy
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    I really like your screens. Did you make those or buy them?
    I am the one your mom warned you about!

  18. #1598
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hotfxr View Post
    I really like your screens. Did you make those or buy them?
    I bought them off amazon. $15 a piece.

    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  19. #1599
    Boolit Buddy fishingsetx's Avatar
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    Here is a video showing the reason I take the time to Polish my powder after pressing and screening. It sure makes it easier to transfer between containers, powder flasks, and into the cylinders or bore.

    https://youtu.be/2UV22yfnGJ4

    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

  20. #1600
    Boolit Buddy
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    Help me out here guys, what is this polishing you speak of?

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check