My homemade black powder

[Fly]

I told you to only lightly spray, it. When pressing, if you see any water squeezing out the bottom you got to much.

My that's a first, (wink) Fly

[Fly]

Let's talk this water thing again. Why use so little water? When we ball mill everything we grind it as fine as possible.
KNO-3 is very water soluble. When it dissolves & when the water evaporates it turns to crystals. That defeats our
process of grinding so fine. I have a friend in Fla, that makes fireworks for a living & has for got more than I will
ever know.

He tells me with the high humidity he has there, he does not even mist his. Just thought I would share this
bit of info with you guys. Have a GREAT THANKSGIVING! Fly

[Hotfxr]

I told you to only lightly spray, it. When pressing, if you see any water squeezing out the bottom you got to much.

My that's a first, (wink) Fly

Yes I did use too much water on this ultra small batch. It was about 2 1/4 ounces and I squirted it once with my little but manly spray bottle and forgot and sprayed it again. I reality, I should have not sprayed it at all since it was raining outside and it was already just a bit clumpy. But as I said, the little ears sparked right up so it must have dried out ok.

[LynC2]

With my first batch I overdid the water too, but by just a little. I had just a tiny bit extrude out and dried to a white powder at the base of the die. Not a good way to make good powder by losing the nitrate in the mix. I reduced it on subsequent batches and haven't had it reoccur. The last batch I made, I decided to get more precise and weighted out 30 grains of water per 1000 grs of powder which pressed into nice hard pucks. Probably overkill to weigh it out, but I will blame that on my German ancestors.

[Huvius]

Nobade and I are trying out some different wood for our next batch of powder. In this part of the world (the SW) we are limited by what woods are available that can make a decent powder. I managed to get a bit of desert willow and gave Nobade some too. We both have made a batch of BP using it and are just waiting for the pucks to dry out and to find the time to shoot it. I also made a smaller compression die that should increase the powder density over my larger die. Hopefully in the near future we will have some numbers on it if the weather cooperates.

I am just starting out and am using Tree of Heaven, which I mistakenly have been calling Sumac all my life.
My first batch is promising as tested just screened and not corned. I dissolved my KNO3 in water and added the milled charcoal and sulphur making a slurry. Squeezed the excess water out and screened it moist. Dried overnight and thats it.
Is there anything to be learned in testing the raw powder this way? Is this any indicator that a corned powder will ignite better?
see if this video works (about a tablespoon of powder):

[Fly]

Well if you want to test the speed do this. Pour it in a line about 6 to 8 inches long & about
a 1/2 wide. If it is fast powder it should go poof. If it is slow it will burn down the line. Best way
I can explain it. OK this video will give you a idea what I,m saying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVv4-wlv39I

Fly

[Avenger442]

I looked back through the group of articles that I have compiled on making charcoal but could not find what I'm looking for. We have a lot of privet and mimosa trees in our area. They are considered invasive species here. Has anyone seen any testing done with these two trees? Of course, wondering about cleanliness of burn and speed.

[Fly]

I have always wanted to try mimosa, but have not yet. I ask many of my fireworks buddys & can't
find anyone as yet. I,m going to test some different woods, after Christmas & shoot them threw
my chrono. I will be glad to post the results. If you do indeed try it before me, please post the results.

Fly

[Avenger442]

I don't know about where you are, but around here they will almost cut it for you to get rid of it. I don't think you could use my testing as a gauge since I'm still working on getting started. I have everything but the coal.

[chopdoc]

Hello everyone, Im new to Cast Boolits forum but been reading a good bit. This thread on making Black powder is great and so far I am about half way thru it. After reading a bunch and watching many youtube video's I gave making black powder a try. I been mixing it up at 75g Kno3, 15g willow black powder and 10g sulphur in a ball drum for 6 hours and then add a level teaspoon of home made dextrin. The first few batches ended up being like a mortar at the bottom of the drum and I would take this and break it up then screen it, add the dextrin and put it back on the tumbler for 20 minutes, then break it up again and put it thru the screen again, wet it down with water and granulate it. The powder came out less than satisfactory with a slow burn rate but it did shoot thru my Dragoon. Nothing impressive.
Then I ordered a different supply of Kno3 and willow charcoal and tried it again. I made two batches last night. One with the new Kno3 and the sulphur and black willow that I had and a second batch with the new Kno3 and the new black willow charcoal and the sulpher I had. The fist batch I put the Dextrin in and the second batch I didnt. Both batches flash burned faster than the earlier attempts with the one without the Dextrin burning the fastest.
Time to try it out. I loaded one cylinder of my Pietta conf navy 44 with 30 grains of powder, took it out and it hang fired on me. Replace the cap and it fired but something didnt sound right. Checked it and the ball didnt go but maybe one inch down the barrel and then stopped. Took the barrel off and pushed the ball out of it, then reloaded it and tried it again. Second shot sounded weak so too a rod down the barrel and sure enough, another ball stuck in it. Took it apart again and removed the ball. Reloaded with batch B and gave it a try. Same thing, the bullet is not exiting the barrel. Tried it one more time with 35 grains and exact same results.
I got out the dragoon, loaded 40 grains of batch A and fired it. It had a small kick to it and the bullet hit the target. Tried batch B and same results. Both shots sounded weak but no bullet hang in the barrel.
Presently I have a mixture of 100g Kno3, 18 grams charcoal and 16 grams sulpher in the ball drum (recipe i found on line) and I plan on making some atom73 way thats on page 3 here tonight. I dont have anyway of making pucks (yet) but I measured out 40 grains of Pyrodex and it weighed 1.27 grams while what I mixed weighed 1.05 grams so maybe I need to go up to 40 grains on the 1851 in order to have enough charge for the bullet to be able to exit the barrel, yet they say dont go over 30 grains for that revolver.

So I need to know why my powder is so weak and any idea's on what I can do to make it stronger. I am open to all suggestions. From what I read the charcoal is key to good black powder. Anyone have any suggestions where I can order good black powder charcoal?

[Whiterabbit]

I never got good results using dextrin. I suspect that is your issue.

[Fly]

You say you are mixing it 100 grams Kno-3 15 grams coal & 10g Sulphur. Well first your mix is not right. It should be 75g kno-3 15g coal 10g sulfur.
At that mix I would only use 5g dextrin. How do you know you have black willow charcoal? Air float charcoal that is sold is not black willow. It can
be anything. Do not start trying different mix. Stay with 75% kno-3 15% willow charcoal & 10% Sulphur . That mix WORKS.

Fly

[chopdoc]

I typed it wrong, all batches, excpt one have been 75 g Kno3, 15 g coal and 10g Sulpher. Sorry for the confusion. The charcoal I am using is off Ebay. It is Black Powder Grade Powdered Airfloat Charcoal. I searched ebay for black williow charcoal and thats what came up but now see that it is airfloat but not black williow like I believed and probably is the problem.

[Texantothecore]

Most likely issue is the charcoal. It is probably hardwood and it may work with rockets but not with guns. I think Skylighter.com has willow charcoal and it should work quite well.

[chopdoc]

Most gun black powder mixes (airfloat) I am seeing are mixed from hardwoods. Skylighter says the same thing.

Mixed up a batch last night from a recipe I got off of http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/recipe.html Its 100g saltpeter, 18g charcoal and 16g sulpher. So far that is the best batch i made yet. I mixed it dry in the tumbler for 12 hours, then wet it down and granulated it. No dextrin in it. The flash burn was almost instant and barely burnt the card the powder was on. 50 grains of it in the Dragoon and it was back to firing like a hand cannon with a nice kick to it.

One of the most worrysome problems I been having is with the Pietta 1851 Conf Navy .44 I have. Most all of the powder I made has been able to shoot with the dragoon, but with the 1851 I had a bunch of shots where the ball barely entered the barrel. I would shoot it and it sounded weak, check the barrel and sure enough the ball was wedged maybe a quarter of the way down the barrel. Now that gun is a brass frame and its not suppose to have heavy loads in it. I usually shoot 24 grains pyrodex in it and the charges i been trying with my own mixtures have been mainly 30 grains and a few up to 40 grains with the ball always doing the same thing, getting stuck. I just tried a 6 shots of this new recipe batch at 35 grains and the shot went off with no problems. Now I am going to start cutting it down and see how it does. If its reliable at 24 grains, I will be happy.

[Texantothecore]

I had that problem in two guns. The answer is to run a wet patch between cylinder loads and it goes away.
I also use ground walnut filler which keeps the barrel cleaner. I use 24 screen filler from harbor freight. It can be measured accurately just like 2fg. I have found that my navis,.36 cal, are very sensitive to changes in bp weight as well as filler weight. I hopefully will be getting a better handle on this aspect over the next year.

[Fly]

You keep saying 100g of KNO-3? We can't help if you don't post the wright amounts. Check the amount you posted last.

Fly (plus you keep changing you mix, So I can't be of help, sorry)

[chopdoc]

Thanks for the help Fly. Presently I am using the recipe from here. http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/recipe.html Its 100g saltpeter, 18g charcoal and 16g sulphur. That is where the 100g of Kno3 comes from.

Today I ran about 24 rounds thru the Dragoon and close to the same thru the Conf Navy. The navy I was able to cut the load down to 25 grains and still had a pleasant buck in my hand when it fired, a good report on all shots and not one single ball stuck in the barrel. I also shot the 1859 Sharps 54 cal I have with this mixture. It kicks with 80 grains of this powder.

It is not the typical %75 Kno3 / %15 Coal / %10 sulphur recipe but it is working real well for me. I have 800g of it in the tumbler now and hopefully tomorrow I will have a couple pounds of this powder put up in my gun safe.

Using the recipe yall use, %75 saltpeter (Kno3) %15 charcoal and %10 sulpher I cant seem to get a decent batch from. I am fairly sure using those ratio's makes the charcoal more critical.

[chopdoc]

Last night I mixed up a batch of 100g saltpeter, 18g charcoal and 16g sulpher and gave it 12 hours in the tumbler. This morning I grained it, let it dry under a fan and when it was dry, gave it a try. I ran around four 6 shot rounds thru the gun without any problems. Didnt have to swab it between loading or anything. I started with 35 grains which is way too much for a brass frame gun and worked my way down to 25 grains. If the weather holds tomorrow I want to try it at 20 grains.
I wouldnt mind trying some walnut filler in some shots. I use borebutter or crisco, but a few rounds with walnut filler might help. Cleaning the guns tonight are actually not that bad, I was surprised.

[Fly]

Then you are talking 74.6 % kno 13.4% coal & 12% sulfur. Well that is really not much difference. The US government
& other have tested gun powder for years. 90% of the world BP powder manufactures use 75-15-10 mix. The mix is not your problem.

We have hundreds if not over a thousand people on this site making powder close or as fast as any powder produced in the world.
You have some other problem. The biggest problem I see on newbies is trying to reinvent the wheel. I,m not trying to degrade you in
any way. I,m not that type of person. My only reason in posting is for helping people on this form. But I will never argue. Discuss
yes, but never argue.

Do what works for you, but the rest have the traditional way that works for them. No reason to confuse the newbies
coming in to our hobby. Fly