My homemade black powder

[Boz330]

So, to ask again, and request again, is there some quick way to download this entire 38 page thread into 1 file on a computer???? One can then filter out the "me toos" and worthless replies and then consolidate this whole string into 1 coherent and perhaps saveable file for reference??

I would hope there is a way to do this. All this valuable info is otherwise, this labor of love is doomed......................

Mods?? Owner?? Improved software should make this possible?????? Thanks ..... Lee

Lee, I know this is a long thread and there really is some good info here. I have read it all. There is a lower sticky that lists where to get components if that helps. Once you make your first batch you will figure out what works for you. I have bookmarked anything that I might want to go back to. You can figure out pretty quick if you want to read any particular post.

Bob

[Hotfxr]

While hesitant to show my ignorance, I have a couple of questions for y'all. First off and Fly will most likely want this one, when damping the powder with a 10% dextrin mix before screening or corning, if you put too much liquid on the powder will that slow down the burn rate? Second, I picked up this cool pocket scale that measures in grains. I measured out 45 grains of Goex 3f and it only weighed 34 grains. Is this normal or should I have tamped down the powder in the measure? So I guess that I am also asking if you measure out the loads with commercial BP, when using homemade do I weigh out an equivalent amount to match the commercial weight or do I weigh out the powder load to match the recommendation for the firearm?

[Lee]

No, no, not remotely suggesting the Mods do this. Just a shame that we can put a man on the moon and a rover on Mars, but have to stoop to "cut and paste" to accomplish what I was asking. I was hoping that the new software might have that provision, but, alas, looks like I'll be spending the rest of the winter cutting and pasting.....



P.S. Feel free to delete this "Me Too" or move it and my (above) original question to a more appropriate section.....

[Faret]

While hesitant to show my ignorance, I have a couple of questions for y'all. First off and Fly will most likely want this one, when damping the powder with a 10% dextrin mix before screening or corning, if you put too much liquid on the powder will that slow down the burn rate? Second, I picked up this cool pocket scale that measures in grains. I measured out 45 grains of Goex 3f and it only weighed 34 grains. Is this normal or should I have tamped down the powder in the measure? So I guess that I am also asking if you measure out the loads with commercial BP, when using homemade do I weigh out an equivalent amount to match the commercial weight or do I weigh out the powder load to match the recommendation for the firearm?

Are we measuring by volume or by weight? I think is the ? we would like to know?

[Hotfxr]

I first measured the Goex by volume with one of my small powder measures to get 45 grains. Then I weighed the measured amount and it weighed 34 grains. I have been weighing my homemade since I started on this adventure, but if the commercial differs between measure and weight, then I have to rethink my methods. I am striving for consistancy in my homemade and would like to reach a point where there is no difference between commercial and homemade when using the same amount by weight.

Are we measuring by volume or by weight? I think is the ? we would like to know?

[Faret]

I may be wrong but I think we will have to measure by weight not by volume. Have not tested mine yet but I am thinking the homemade will be lighter by volume than by commercial.

[Fly]

I may be wrong but I think we will have to measure by weight not by volume. Have not tested mine yet but I am thinking the homemade will be lighter by volume than by commercial.

Screened will always be lighter than commercial.Corned, (compressed) to 1.7 grams per cc (get out your math books and figure out the quantities needed),
will be the same as commercial.
Fly

[Boz330]

I only did 1 test of 2 of my HM powders 1 corned and 1 screened and compared it against Kik. All charges were weighed and the difference in velocity was very little. The difference in volume was something altogether different though. The screened as Fly pointed out was the lightest. My corned powder is heavier but nothing close to 1.7grams.

Bob

[Nobade]

It takes some serious compression to get it that heavy. My powder is very close to that number, but I am using a 20 ton press, hanging my 185lb. body weight off the handle, and letting it sit under pressure for 5 minutes for each puck.

[rngun]

I have made black powder at home, I used 1 lb potassiumnitrate 1.8 oz willow chrcoal 1.6 oz sulfer, there are a variety of combinations. I then filled my brass tumbler 3/4 full of marbles and let it run for 2 days. added a little stale urine to firm it up pressed the piss out of it into to cakes let it dry. wear gloves, grate it, and load my cannon. works great. and costs about 3$ a pound to make. bought all supplies from ebay.

[hatcreek]

WOW, Brass, marbles, static BOOM

[waksupi]

WOW, Brass, marbles, static BOOM

Static won't set it off.

[Nobade]

But sparks will. And glass can make sparks. Best to use lead balls in your ball mill instead of marbles. Besides, you can then run it for four hours or so instead of two days.

[Milsurp Junkie]

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

The best (and coolest plunger) that I have seen for pressing black powder cakes consisted of mason's sand and either polyester or epoxy resin. The inside of the PVC was coated with release agent, the sand/resin mixed to peanut butter consistancy, poured in and let set. The one thing the gent stated is that you had to be very sure of your length, as you were not going to cut down the plunger with anything short of a diamond tile saw!

[Boz330]

The best (and coolest plunger) that I have seen for pressing black powder cakes consisted of mason's sand and either polyester or epoxy resin. The inside of the PVC was coated with release agent, the sand/resin mixed to peanut butter consistancy, poured in and let set. The one thing the gent stated is that you had to be very sure of your length, as you were not going to cut down the plunger with anything short of a diamond tile saw!

The beauty is that you can always cut down the PVC to get the right length. You only need about a 1/4" thick puck.

Bob

[Agent1187]

So this thread inspired me to go ahead and make my own black powder, as the real stuff is unavailable within a 150 (Or more) mile radius, I don't go through enough to justify paying mail order shipping, and $25 for BP substitute isn't terribly appetizing. That, and I've wanted to try this for years.
Anyway, between the OP's nice writeup, and the tutorial from Skylighter, I had enough information to be dangerous.
Ordered my Sulfur and KNO3 from ebay for pretty reasonable prices, and made my own charcoal. By the third batch, I was sufficiently comfortable to go ahead and give everyone else some pretty pictures to look at.
Photo 1 is my pine base wood (just some split white pine 2x4's).
Pictures 2 is the can going into the woodstove since I might as well heat my house while making charcoal!
Picture 3 is my nice charcoal after an hour and change in the stove. It's really light and brittle at this point.
Picture 4 is the charcoal thrown in the ball mill drum with the 50 cal lead balls (probably 3 or 4 pounds worth of lead). I shook it for 30 seconds and that basically destroyed 80% of the charcoal just like that. An hour or two in the tumbler reduces the chunks to a super puffy powder.
Picture 5 is an 8 oz batch of black powder components ready for the milling. I let it mill around for two hours or so (doesn't seem to do much past that point).
Picture 6 is the nice gray color of black powder!
Picture 7 is after sifting out the lead balls and putting it in a bowl that the wife didn't know went missing
Picture 8 is me adding boiling hot water to the mix to turn it into a dough ball to scrape through a screen and make the granules.
Picture 9 is my failure by adding wayyyy too much water and getting some goopy ploppy stuff to come out. Fortunately, once it dries it'll bust apart to be nice grains (which are surprisingly hard considering that there isn't a dextrin binder at all.)
And picture 10 is the finished product after being crushed and forced through my screen after it was dry, since the grains were way too big from the original screening.

I took it to trials a few days later, and it seems to work as well as I'd expect out of black powder. 50 ish grains (I weighed a 2.2cc Lee dipper out to be about 22 grains after tapping and refilling) will certainly drive a Maxi-Ball to the 50 yard line in a hurry, with 75 grains being a good all around load, and 100 grains letting you know there's some oomph there.

So far my only complaint with the homemade black powder is that is FILTHY!!!
With low (50-75 grain) loads, I need to swab alot just to keep the maxi-ball from getting stuck midway down the barrel, and clear the nipple now and then, but I can only shoot a handful of 100 grain loads before something completely plugs the nipple to the point where I can't even pick it clear.
I need to try this powder with patch 'n ball later this weekend.

Long story short - this is a great way to get cheap recreational grade black powder!

[Hotfxr]

Now that I seem to have fairly conistant quality for the last 4 batches that I have made, it's time to use for something other than laying out the powder on the ground and having burn races. What has happened with the reproduction muzzleloader market. I picked up an Ardessa Hawken a few weeks ago, payed almost $200 for the thing with shipping. It was old and abused. Wound up taking it apart to the tinest pieces, cleaned all the rust off everything, honed the barrel and spent two days refinishing the outside of the barrel. It actually looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I have been following the auctions on Gun Broker and am amazed at how much people are asking for this stuff and also amazed at the number of people that haven't got a clue as to what they have. I just checked and there were 641 listings using my search filter. There were only 36 items that had bids and 11 of those were obviously fake bids. That leaves only 25 real rifles being bid on. That is less than 5% of the listed items that will most likely sell. What are people thinking. Why are a lot of ads for beat up used guns asking a lot more than you can still buy them new? Anyway, going tosight in the new looking 50 cal this weekend. Using only my personal, home made BP.

[Boz330]

Agent 1187,
The only 2 things that I can suggest is give some willow CC a try. Also your grains of BP look huge in that picture. I found that the finer powder gave me a cleaner and more efficient burn. Velocity extreme spreads were also much less. I tried F,FF, and FFF and the 3F worked best in almost everything I shoot it in.
I didn't see where you mentioned the caliber of your ML but in my 40 cal I can shoot multiple rounds with no problems. My 58cal is another issue altogether. About 3 shots is all that I can get but it isn't much better with Swiss. Since it is primarily a hunting rifle I clean after the 2nd shot anyway to more realistically simulate a hunting situation regardless of powder.

Bob

[Rojelio]

Hotfxr, how can you determine a real bid from a fake bid on gunbroker. I watch gunbroker a lot and would like to learn something new.

[Hotfxr]

When the item is first listed and there is a starting bid price that is way too high, and there is 1 bid for that price almost the instant that the ad is placed, then it is usually a straw bid just get some action going on the item. An old carny trick like having a "ringer" at a midway booth to show that it is easy to win the prize, or like salting a tip jar to make it look like someone has been tipping. I'm sure that it's not true every single time, but it pays to keep your eyes open, especially when there are ads for used firearms asking twice what they sell for new.

Hotfxr, how can you determine a real bid from a fake bid on gunbroker. I watch gunbroker a lot and would like to learn something new.