My homemade black powder

[Fly]

Well I have been making this stuff for many years now.I think it is more about using common sense.Keep away
from flame, heat, & sparks.If you do that, then it's as safe as bread flower.

JMOHOP Fly

[Throttleman]

I have made a few batches and the powder works well. I balled milled my ingredients and washed them in 8 oz of Denatured alcohol with .2 OZ of Dextrin added. I screened the wet mix into an appropriate sized screen and allowed it to dry for 2 days.

The powder remains the consistancy it was when out of the ball mill. Confectioners sugar or Flour.

What do I need to do to get the powder into harder flakes that will not blow away with a puff of air.

I read the entire post, and have enjoyed making my own powder.

Thanks all.

JB

[Fly]

Well first, forget the alcohol.Dexstrin does not disolve in alky.If you insist on using alky then change
your binder to redgum.But in using dexstrin, you must use water.Look back on my post in mixing
10% dexstrin to water, & spraying that mix on you meal powder.

It really makes hard grains & fast powder.Other wise just mix 5% dex in you mix & add just enough water to make it stick together
in a closed fist, & screen.Let it dry over night & BOOM.
Fly

[Throttleman]

Well first, forget the alcohol.Dexstrin does not disolve (IN?) the alky.If you insist on using alky then change
your binder to redgum.But in using dexstrin, you must use water.Look back on my post in mixing
10% dexstrin to water, & spraying that mix on you meal powder.

It really makes hard grains & fast powder.Other wise just mix 5% dex in you mix & add just enough water to make it stick together
in a closed fist, & screen.Let it dry over night & BOOM.
Fly

OK so my new plan is %10 Dextrin in a quart spray bottle. Spray the previously alc*****d mixture, lightly, then knead threw my wire mesh. Correct? Thanks.

[Fly]

Yes & no.If you already have 5% dexstrin in your meal powder, then just spray plain water.
If not, Make up the 10% dex to water mix & spray it with that.It takes some mixing to disolve
it, but it will.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.The predisolved mix will keep a while in the fredge a
few months, to use another day.
Fly

[Throttleman]

Thanks again, off to steal/borrow more of my wifes kitchen stuff.

[Fly]

Thanks again, off to steal/borrow more of my wifes kitchen stuff.

O my!I know all about that.My wife is much more danger than any powder I have ever made.

Fly

[Throttleman]

Wow that is some hot powder. I made a batch using the CIA method and a batch just ball milling / mixing the ingredients and using a touch of Dxtrin. I will quantify the test results later by weighing out some Goex 3f and my two new powders.

Am I allowed to post pictures here being a Newb?

Edit:Looks like I can.

Back in a while.

[waksupi]

I'm going to have to try something different. My powder seems to work okay, but I have a large weight/volume variation. It takes a 145gr. measure of homemade to equal 65 gr. weight of Schutzen. I used the method shown in the video clip in this thread. Any suggestions?

[Throttleman]

Interesting results. The Goex was the best, followed by the straight ball mill / add Dextrin, follwed lastley by the CIA/Alc method. I may retest the CIA powder shortly. Here are my unscientific results. (25 grains of powder, 126 grain round ball, 45 caliber pistol.)

[Fly]

I'm going to have to try something different. My powder seems to work okay, but I have a large weight/volume variation. It takes a 145gr. measure of homemade to equal 65 gr. weight of Schutzen. I used the method shown in the video clip in this thread. Any suggestions?

Yea it seems your powder is way slow.My screened powder by weight of 70 grains comes to 115 by volume, for my muzzle loader.It is as
fast or faster then the best Swiss.Now PLEASE LISTEN for this is very, very important & i have posted it before.

The biggest problem I find is people don't load there ball mill with enough balls.YOU MUST fill your ball mill jar 1/2 full
of balls.I know thats alot, but people who don't are not grinding there powder fine enough, most likely.

A Harbor Frieght ball mill with 1/2 full jar of balls will take about 6 hours to grind the powder.Then fill the rest of the jar only with 1/4
meal powder & leave the other 1/4 for air space so the balls can fall freely.That's why I made me a big ball mill in my shop.
so it can grind bigger loads & in just 2 hours.But that's for another post.

But that is the #1 problem most make, when finding there powder is slow.Hope this helps.

Fly (Hippie forgot to mention that in his video.)

[Boz330]

I'm going to have to try something different. My powder seems to work okay, but I have a large weight/volume variation. It takes a 145gr. measure of homemade to equal 65 gr. weight of Schutzen. I used the method shown in the video clip in this thread. Any suggestions?

Wow, that is a big difference. My screened powder is fluffy but not that bad usually in the 60% of what the volume measure says. My corned powder is in the 75% range. Your powder is like 45% of volume.
What I found was that the powder by weight gives pretty close to the same velocities but the volume is more than store bought. If you would like to try and press some I could loan you my press to try.

Bob

[Spud]

Have a question for you guys. If there's such a large "volume" difference, could you get enough in revolver cyls, such as 36 cal. Colt, to get any useful velocity? I asked this of the guy in Switzerland and didn't get a real answer. Can see how it (homemade BP)would work in rifles with longer barrels, though. Thanks.

[waksupi]

Wow, that is a big difference. My screened powder is fluffy but not that bad usually in the 60% of what the volume measure says. My corned powder is in the 75% range. Your powder is like 45% of volume.
What I found was that the powder by weight gives pretty close to the same velocities but the volume is more than store bought. If you would like to try and press some I could loan you my press to try.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I already came up with a press, using PVC, a wood plunger, and a handiman jack.

[Boz330]

The big hassle with the pressed powder is that you end up with a lot of fines. I just re-wet and press again.
@ Spud the corned powder is almost a necessity in limited case applications. It is denser than the screened and the energy comes from the weight. While it is sort of blasphemy here I mostly shoot my HM in a cartridge. Limited case capacity as in a C&B Revolver.
I shoot Swiss BP in competition and my corned powder yields more velocity per grain than the Swiss, BUT, the consistency for competition at long ranges isn't there. At 100yd though a whitetail doesn't stand a chance. The loads were 50 to 150 FPS slower than Swiss and they were just as dead.

Bob

[Spud]

Thanks, Bob. I've done some research on the web but have no idea what "corned" means. Will do some more. My interest in making BP is mainly in passing, but no one knows what the future holds. Doesn't hurt to know how. A couple of videos I've seen make it seem fairly easy (to make) and the guns go "bang" but usually no indication of accuracy, etc. Thanks, again.

[Nobade]

Keep an eye on Harbor Freight for when they put their 20 ton presses on sale. I got one for about half of the list price and it is wonderful for pressing powder. My die is 2 1/2 inches ID, and I press pucks about 3/4 inch thick. Once granulated the powder is just as heavy as commercial, far more useful in cartridges and revolvers than when I was making screened powder. It is easy to get just as much in a case as when using KIK or Swiss. Just has a lot more dust.

[Boz330]

Thanks, Bob. I've done some research on the web but have no idea what "corned" means. Will do some more. My interest in making BP is mainly in passing, but no one knows what the future holds. Doesn't hurt to know how. A couple of videos I've seen make it seem fairly easy (to make) and the guns go "bang" but usually no indication of accuracy, etc. Thanks, again.

Spud, this thread is extremely long but all of the info is here or links to give more insight. Basically the powder is wet down and then pressed into a hockey puck looking thing and dried. At the top of page 36 are pictures of my way of processing it. The press is a 2 inch PVC pipe with aluminum or wood inserts to allow pressing the wet powder into a puck. I use a vice to do mine but a hydraulic press like Nobade uses is also another way to skin that cat.
I have shot my powder out to 300 yrd in a match. While not on a level with Swiss I was more than tickled with the results. Twelve hits on a pig silhouette out of 20 shots with 2 misses no more than an inch off. All 20 shots would have dropped a deer at that distance, although I wouldn't attempt such a shot for ethical reasons.

Bob

[Spud]

Thanks for the help, Bob, I'll do some diggin'.

[Fly]

Spud you ask about using screened powder in a cap & ball revolver.Yes you can, but only a medium
load.I fill the cyilinder full.I then push it down with a wood dowel, not tight but snug & then more powder
to top off.

Then ram the ball home with the loading lever.Put wax over the ball & BOOM.I never worry about weight
with them done like this.I have weighed my loaded to see.A 44 cal Remmie loaded like that is like 30 grains
of pressed powder.A .36 Remmie shoots like 18 grains.

Like I said it works out like any medium load.That works for me.

Fly