My homemade black powder

[.454]

hey guys, had some very good results using grapevine as the wood for charcoal, for the use in bp. found a super old article in a book awhile back. it said a premium bp could be achieved by using grapevine or pine cones if willow or balsa couldnt be obtained. just thought i would mention it for it has been a very good source for me. i have found through testing that it seems to be a bit better than spruce. alot less dense than goex. 35 grains by volume just weighed .9 grams were the same volume of goex weighed 1.7 grams. so this can be a low charge power wise if loaded in a bp pistol. pressing pucks is a great idea to increase density.

[Fly]

I have a friend in my fireworks club that uses some. But how dirty does it burn? It is not always how fast
powder burns. We all tend to get caught up on just that. But if it burns dirty accuracy goes out the window.
This is a whole other topic in it,s self.
Fly

[Whiterabbit]

I don't doubt it can be its own topic. My initial tests seem to show that my powder burns DIRTY! But it's so soft and I swab between shots that it is a non issue. It would kill me on a trail walk though.

Next step is probably to corn it at a much higher pressure, see if I can do more with less. I'm sure there are fifty ways to effect burn cleanliness.

[LynC2]

I don't doubt it can be its own topic. My initial tests seem to show that my powder burns DIRTY! But it's so soft and I swab between shots that it is a non issue. It would kill me on a trail walk though.

Next step is probably to corn it at a much higher pressure, see if I can do more with less. I'm sure there are fifty ways to effect burn cleanliness.

I was thinking the same thing. Just today I sent an email to Nobade about the same thing as he tried cottonwood and said it was good, but dirty. I haven't made any powder yet as I'm still in the process of gathering all the necessary items, but getting close!

[Fly]

Nonbade is right on about cotton wood. It is fast but that has to be the dirtiest **** I have
ever used next to white pine. I make some from time to time for my lift powder for
my fireworks. Being dirty make no difference with fireworks but not guns.

Fly

[.454]

I have noticed it does burn alot cleaner than spruce, i get about 12 shots out of my pietta 1858 before i have to do a break down do to poor accuracy. i know there are cleaner bp substitutes on the market,but their is something special about making your own. i personally get a sense of satisfaction making my own powder,caps and casting. i was a little reluctant about making the caps,but with the capmaker it made it super easy,just takes alittle time. To be honest i probably wouldnt use pyrodex if someone gave it to me as long as i was making black. not knocking pyrodex really, i just find it highly corrosive for one amoung other things. im just a old timer and tend to stick with the old ways. and too i can shoot half a day for less than $4 a big plus in my book. i do agree with ya though fly about accuracy but i know a guy who tried a harder wood for charcoal and he was gettin boolits hung about 4 inches down the barrel because of the slower burn rate. he wound up feeding the rest of it to his cannon. lol. but like said i do know were your coming from. thanks for all the info. guys!!!!!!!!

[Fly]

.454 I,m right there with you bud on making my own. I would quit shooting BP guns
if I had to use pyrodex,or something as that. I shoot these because the history behind
them. The only reason I started making my own BP, was I could not find it in gun stores.

I already made it for my fireworks & tried some a few times but it was sooooooo dirty
I quit messing with it. But when BP powder got hard to fine I knew I had to do something.
I kept reading about how most company's used blackwillow charcoal. Well we have plenty
of it here in Okla & the rest is history. God knows I have tried a lot of different woods in my
day. There is many out there, but not all grow in my area.

The problem I see most with new BP makers, they get caught up in just making there powder fast.
But what good is that when accuracy falls off. Nope black willow has been used for way before the
civil war & is proven. I tell folks none of my powder goes to waste because if it is dirty it works in
my fire works. I keep the black willow for my guns (wink).
Fly

[.454]

Right on fly!!!! just got done screening about a pound of black just a little while ago. got dat smell of sulfur reaking from my hand/clothes. lol. by the way are you the gentleman that has the powder compressing tool that brushhippie done a video on? im looking to make something similar, that will fit into the jaws of a large vise. i shoot alot out of my 1858 wheel guns and kinda getting tired craming the cylinders to get the weight. it would be nice to do more with less bulk. yea if ya ever get a chance and you want to try a new charcoal give grapevine a try, i would like to know what you think about it. it has mostly water running through the vascular cells were alot of tree wood has a sap. i think alot of the mess is derived from the sap in the wood. this is from my personal observations, not proven but it would make some since. ive often wondered what the skills of a individual that could make a good bp would be worth if things hit the fan?????? i would imagine we wouldnt have to hard of a time finding a buddie!! keep the lead flying friend!!

[smilin jack]

Video games? We had super-fun activities like hauling hay or clearing dead-wood from the orchards...

Long ago we occasionally made our own fireworks but, when I was a kid, it was easier to just go down to the hardware store and buy dynamite and electric caps.

I worked for a logging company just out of high school back in the sixties. Placed an order for dynamite and caps for the boss at the local logging store and was surprised they didn't want my ID. They just delivered it to the job site in two separate trucks. We were blowing stumps to build USFS logging roads. Safety first in that case.

Dave

[LynC2]

Well I made my first batch a couple of weeks ago and it turned out pretty well IMO. I made the charcoal out of a cedar fence board and ground it up in an old fashioned meat grinder. I tumbled it all together for about 8 hours in my Thumbler's tumbler with some 56 cal lead balls.
I loaded up some 45-70 paper patch loads using 70 grs of the home brew and also 70 grs of Olde Eynsford 1 1/2 f. In my Browning BPCR, the home made was 70 fps slower than the OE. It did group (100yds) at the same point of impact and about the same group size which surprised me. The fouling seemed ok, but need to do some more testing to see how it really is.

Edited to add: I pressed it in my 12 ton Harbor Freight press using a home made compression die.

[Fly]

I have used eastern cedar & its not to bad. It,s not as good as black willow, but if that's
what you have it works.
Fly

[Whiterabbit]

OK, I need help.

I bought an awesome caplock from a good member of this forum. Since it's a new gun, I didn;t bother running goex through it. Only homemade from the get-go. I now have a fully qualified rifle that can shoot a 5 round 50-score with a couple X's from the bench at 50 yards (100y falls apart, but that's a project for another day. 50 yards means it is competition ready.)

So it's time to kick the BP production into high gear. I have 1/4 pound batches measured and waiting for ball mill time. I have the awesome pressing puck. I'll probably bite the bullet and buy the HF 6 ton press.

But grinding pucks even just pressed in my bench vise to FFF grains is TERRIBLE. Time consuming and yields poor uniformity. Yield rate is too slow too.

So how to grind so I can get to the end game faster? What tool to use? Mortar and pestle just isn't gonna cut it.

[Nobade]

I beat up the pucks in a coffee can with the end of a baseball bat, then run them through this:
http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-...coffee+grinder

Way easier than anything else I have tried and it gives very consistent size grains. Run that through screens and re-grind the big ones and re-press the dust.

-Nobade

[Boz330]

Nobade nailed it, you need the screens for uniformity. There is always going to be fines that will need to be pressed and run again.
From what you said it sounds like you are breaking the pucks up immediately after pressing. If that is the case you need to let them dry out first. This time of year I put them out in the sun to dry. At the end of a day in the sun they are harder than the hinges of hell.

Bob

[Whiterabbit]

This small press works great for corning. It only stands 3 ft tall, so it can be stored in a closet.
I know several guys using this press for corning. Cheap also. http://www.harborfreight.com/6-ton-a...ress-1666.html

Fly

Yea your right on. Hell it,s cheaper & more fun shooting your home made. Now if I,m shooting comps
Swizz is the way to go. But I truly think we can make our powder as good. I,m just to dam lazy to go
that extra mile. I will explain later. But ours shoots as good as Goex & the rest.

God I love this hobby, Fly

I beat up the pucks in a coffee can with the end of a baseball bat, then run them through this:
http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-...coffee+grinder

Way easier than anything else I have tried and it gives very consistent size grains. Run that through screens and re-grind the big ones and re-press the dust.

-Nobade

OK guys, next question. Again, I got some amazing performance from my caplock (pic above is my flintlock group). Time for experimentation is done. Time to go into production here.

I got the 6 ton press. Retired my bench vise.
I got the coffee grinder. Retired my mortar and pestle.
I already have grading screens for F, 2F, 3F, and 4F. Good to go.

So I have 3 pounds of pucks pressed, split into quarters, and going through final drying. As far as I can feel, they are basically ready to grind up. How long do you guys wait for your pucks to dry before going at it with the grinder? During proof of concept, I let them go for 2 weeks before crunching them up. Seems overkill.

So how much dry time do YOU use?

[Nobade]

Typically a few months. I know they'll be dry way before then, but I will normally make a batch of powder and press it into pucks quite a long time before I run low on ready to use powder. That way they just set and dry, ready to grind up whenever I get in the mood to deal with it.

-Nobade

[Whiterabbit]

Nobade, you are not helping me get out shooting on thursday.

[LynC2]

Nobade, you are not helping me get out shooting on Thursday.

Nobody (Nobade) is that way. He is also a very bad influence! He keeps me trying out all sorts of different things that are both costly and time consuming. Be aware of this before starting up any conversations with him.

[Nobade]

Nobody (Nobade) is that way. He is also a very bad influence! He keeps me trying out all sorts of different things that are both costly and time consuming. Be aware of this before starting up any conversations with him.

hehehehe.....

[Boz330]

As I said above, set them out in the sun. I have processed them the next day after doing that with no problems. I have also let them set for a couple weeks. I sure can't tell any difference. If you are using a 6 ton press there isn't going to be much moisture left in them. I'm still using a bench vice, but then I just use my powder for hunting and the practice leading up to season not all of my shooting needs.

Bob