My homemade black powder

[Boz330]

Greg you could increase the speed of your powder by using a different charcoal. I tested aspen charcoal & was not impressed. There are many
faster charcoals to be had.
Fly

Like Tree of heaven. Making CC from dried wood might be preferable but I have used fresh cut wood with no problems. I sure wouldn't wait for it if I needed to make powder. You can always put some back for later.

Bob

[Wolfmanjack]

Working on this homemade black powder accuracy. 100 yds with 100gr by volume homemade black powder.

[Wolfmanjack]

Minute of deer at this point. My last outing with the homemade stuff I couldn't even hit the target at 50yds.

[fishingsetx]

Minute of deer at this point. My last outing with the homemade stuff I couldn't even hit the target at 50yds.

What did you change?

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

[Wolfmanjack]

I upgraded the ignition system on the ole Remington 700ml. I opted for the badgerridge 209 bolt nose kit. Federal 209A primers seem to be more accurate than the Winchester primers. I also added another screen and sifted out some of the larger grains of powder. Finally I let the barrel cool off more between shots. A warm barrel definitely compromises the sabot. Still a work in progress. I was about ready to give up on the homemade stuff.

[fishingsetx]

I upgraded the ignition system on the ole Remington 700ml. I opted for the badgerridge 209 bolt nose kit. Federal 209A primers seem to be more accurate than the Winchester primers. I also added another screen and sifted out some of the larger grains of powder. Finally I let the barrel cool off more between shots. A warm barrel definitely compromises the sabot. Still a work in progress. I was about ready to give up on the homemade stuff.

I was wondering if you had changed anything with the powder. What screen size are you using? I'm getting extremely consistent results using cedar charcoal and sifting through a 20 mesh, then a 30,keeping anything in between, regrinding the larger stuff and repressing the smaller stuff. My rifle already uses the 209A

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

[Wolfmanjack]

I think my powder is good. I use black willow charcoal, it grows everywhere near my home in south La. I don't have a chronograph so I can't tell velocity but poi with 100gr by volume is the same as 100gr pyrodex rs. 100gr by volume of my homemade weighs 83grains. Do I need more force when Corning?

[fishingsetx]

I think my powder is good. I use black willow charcoal, it grows everywhere near my home in south La. I don't have a chronograph so I can't tell velocity but poi with 100gr by volume is the same as 100gr pyrodex rs. 100gr by volume of my homemade weighs 83grains. Do I need more force when Corning?

I'm no expert by a long shot, but my powder is "hotter" than pyrodex or 777 by volume. I load 85 gr by volume (max spec using loose pyrodex FFFg by my manual). I have never have weighed it but going off POI (all things the same,) mine hits about 1.5" higher at 100 yds. I just got a new tripod for my chronograph (old one was too short) so hopefully I can be a little more scientific next range trip. I use a homemade 6 ton press and I use FLY'S press die. I press till I can't get anymore pressure, wait a min holding pressure and press again till I can't get anymore on it. Don't know if it's the higher corning pressure or if it has more to do with grain size.

I have plenty of black willow around me (South East Texas), but never have harvested any. It was much easier to just buy red cedar pet bed shavings in a bag at the time. Small bag made almost 3 lbs of powder so it'll be a little while till I need anymore.

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

[Boz330]

My best accuracy was with 3F, what passed the 20 screen and held on the 30. It easily shoots minute of deer, in fact 2, one with a BPCR and one with a 58 Hawken.

Bob

[Fly]

Bob what loads do you shoot in your guns? Just wondering?

Fly

[Boz330]

Bob what loads do you shoot in your guns? Just wondering?

Fly

85gr by weight in the 58 Hawken, 95 by volume. In the 40-65 I fill the case and compress to fit overall length with boolit used. That works out to about 52 or 53 gr by weight.

Bob

[indian joe]

Hey Wolfman - you probably got this sorted by now but I am inclined to think you have underestimated your powder and overdosing your rifle - 100grains weight of hot homemade powder is a helluva dose for a 50 cal - back that load off to 80gr and see what happens?
Joe

[Wolfmanjack]

Joe,
i took a few shots Tuesday afternoon with the homemade stuff. I took 3 shots each with 100gr and 110gr by volume. 100gr by volume of my homemade weighs 83gr. Bother the 110 and 100 loads printed nearly identical targets. Now the groups aren't stellar by any stretch of the imagination. They measure about 3" at 100yds. I can get 1.5" groups with pyrodex rs. I'm having fun experimenting with the homemade. Maybe I'll try reducing my loads on the next range trip. Anyone ever try tupelo gum for bp charcoal?

[Fly]

Wolf please do not try to reinvent the best charcoal. We all do it at some point & time. It is the nature of the beast (man).
But if you have Black Willow excess you are not going to do much better.

Fly

[Wolfmanjack]

We have tupelo that grows here in the cypress swamps. It is a very lightweight wood that is prized for decoy carving. Once upon a time I ventured into decoy carving but my kid and school get in the way of that hobby. I have some beautiful tupelo slabs that I harvested those years ago and was just curious if anyone had used it? I have read that balsa makes super fast powder. On one of the pyro websites someone made mention that tupelo made good bp charcoal.

[indian joe]

I been off here for a good while - came back yesterday and spent hours reading up all the new pages (62 onwards) lots of good info and a bit of fun watching a couple of fellers figure things out (would say to Flashman - slow down mate and you'll get there faster!)

This forum and one of the pyro forums really got me going two years ago - so just saying thank you to all who contribute - I have won a few things and shot some other good scores shooting powder I made and until you done it .. well there is a huge level of satisfaction in that (or putting a deer in the freezer or whatever) -- so powder ? I have mostly made screen grained stuff for the front loaders - (I am into easy any time I can make it work - call me lazy if you like - it fits ok) I made a good ball mill (essential - no way out of that) run it about 8 hours - Greenhouse grade KNO3 - 99% pure yellow sulphur - hybrid willow charcoal - I am inclined to undercook my coal I think - 1% homemade Dextrin (I started out using 5% Dex as per the pyro guys, all I can say about that is the guy that wrote that bit didnt cook his cornstarch properly 5% decent dextrin makes black glue!!!!) - I make dough balls and push it through a 6 mesh stainless screen onto butcher paper sheets - sun dried a little while and as it dries I go back through a window gauze screen - do this while the mix is still soft - that way you got the grains made while the stuff is still easy to work - then let it dry properly in the sun - with a fan on as well if theres no breeze - I am very thorough with the screening I shake those screens till they all done - above 12 mesh gets mashed up till it passes the screen, 12 to 20 is my FF, - 20 to 30 I call FFF, 30 to 40 I call Cartridge No 3 and gets used in our 44/40's and pistols , 40 to 100mesh is ffff/priming some of that goes back in the mill with the dust - results in the muzzle loaders is good, we have a chronygraph and worked the ML loads up to same velocity as commercial powder we were using -- so far so good -- using this screen grained powder in brass cases looked like a problem but we seem to be getting away with it - because it is softer grained it will take a lot more compression in a case and you can get almost the same (weight) load in


so a 44/40 with 39 grains (weight) Cartridge No 3 and a Lee 200grain bullet got 1340 fps (this is just full case compressed then add 3cc measure and seat)


in my 45/75 Uberti '76 - carefully loaded - weighed and drop tubed then compressed 68 grains FF got 1460fps with a 350 grain LEE bullet - several strings with that rifle that day had shot to shot dispersion under ten FPS (amazing!)

----- this is still with that window screen grain, dexrin handicapped powder (pulverone the pyro guys say I think? - I call it dough ball mix). I have tried press cake - lack of patience and poor equipment - didnt do a good job of that - but it improved the velocity some - lots more work though!!! Also tried water alcohol mix for damping it - that didnt work for me - increased velocity but lots more variation
I have a made a good puck die and plastic dividers for it so next move is make a press stand for my big hydraulic jack - I ordered a coffee grinder today - the ultimate challenge here is powder good enough to shoot 500yards in my sharps.

If there is one takeaway message from all my foolin round its this ""If you think its dry - you wrong - it aint"" ..... thats across the spectrum, ingredients to finished powder. When I pre dried all my ingredients properly there was zero clumping in the mill - without the pre drying always clumping - we live in a dry environment - but I am sure these componenta all take up some moisture from the air and thats what mill clumping is all about (just an opinion if ya dont believe me try it) The major encouraging factor in all of this has been this powder shoots sooo clean - its the least fouling black powder I have shot! That is a BIG deal!

Indian Joe

[Fly]

Joe it sounds like you got the screened down very well. But being a Pyro guy myself I learned making black powder threw
my pyro endeavors. But even so, Pyro powder makers don't deal with what we do in terms of consistency or clean burning.

In Pyro it is about lift, & exploding the effect. We don't care about the other things that gun powder guys do. You really need
to explore corning. It won't make your powder faster, but it will increase accuracy. It also burns much cleaner & the weight
is much closer to the volume. If those things are not that important then have fun with it the way it is my friend.


Fly

[indian joe]

Fly
Thanks for the reply -- was coming back with a question for you - I got my puck press built this afternoon - even gave it a coat of paint !! - so maybe tomorrow make some discs in it (I have plenty of meal waiting to be processed). I have a 20ton hydraulic jack and the press frame will stand all it can give - my die is just a neat fit aluminium cylinder into 3"HD PVC pipe - and I have plastic dividers made to go in so it makes separate discs about 3/8th to 1/2 inch thick (dont know if the PVC will stand the extra pressure but thats fixable if it dont. Now my question ---- can I break those pucks up into say inch size chips before they dry out fully ? - it would seem like a lot easier than doing it when they rock hard - I have a coffee grinder coming, and intending to make the pucks and let dry for at least a month before I go to work grinding. Appreciate your advice on this ......


Appreciate your comments on the pyro side - we have always battled for consistent supply of powder down here - I was buying 5Fa Goex in bulk for a long time - real good powder (that was from the Moosic plant ages ago) then Moosic blew up and around the same time Howards had a big blowup at the pyro factory and by time that all settled down all we could get for a few years was chinese pyro powder or Wano (I never liked Wano) the chinese stuff was ok at the start but the second lot we got was real dirty burn - plenty of oomp but foul a gun up real quick - I saved my Goex for serious matches and used chinese elswhere - Swiss came along a few years back but man its pricey - I had always inteded to try making powder so that pyro forum got me started - I made a ball mill and we have willows growing on the farm .......... Weight for volume and consistency is what I am after now -- if it burns cleaner than what I have made so far I wont even need to clean my gun )-(

[Fly]

Well Joe first of all I would not make your pucks over 3/8 thick. I make mine less than that. Also
I never stack my pucks when pressing. One at a time. Also let your pucks dry fully before pressing.
I bust mine up in a stainless steel bowel to the size of beans with a wood baseball bat. Hope I helped.

Fly PS Your pucks should dry in a day if left in the sun this time of year!

[indian joe]

Fly
Progress report
30 pressed - 100 gram each - 3" by 3/8th inch (maybe a tad fatter but close) -
first batch 100ml water misted into 1200grams dry meal - it looked way too dry - I pressed it - the pucks were spotty after they started to dry = not mixed well enough - these might go back in the mill yet but I will try a bit of it and see
second batch - 150 ml of water - 1200grams dry meal - after I stirred this lot I pushed it all through the window gauze screen to get it properly mixed then pressed it - much better mix - but borderline moisture - dang! it is so easy to get this stuff too wet!!! - my press die is bulging some when I really lean on it so gonna change that
Third batch - 60 ml water in 600 gram dry meal - through the window screen (that works good for thorough mixing so will keep it as part of the process) moisture looks ideal this time - have reinforced the PVC die with a steel outer (amazing what my junk pile will yield if I think long and hard about it) so I can give that hydraulic jack everything its got now - I split this batch of mix - three pucks pressed and held for a couple of minutes .
now three more go in - pressed up full weight on the handle - the phone rings - (yeah got a extension in the workshop so the telemarketers can harass me all day!!!)- this'll make a good experiment - came back to this lot after about an hour and cranked it up again (some little bit of moisture has leaked out the top of the die !!)
So I will report back later - the ones I pressed yesterday middday are drying some but its gonna take several days I reckon - no sign of any crystallation on the outside - a few pucks have got little hairline cracks straight out of the press and at this point I am stacking them 4 per press - am thinking I make some more dividers and then could do twice as many, half size, dry much quicker. Still looking for anything that will make this easier - figuring out my process here - if I stuff up at this point its easy to remill stuff - the grinding bit has me bothered some and screening is time consuming. When I get my coffee grinder I will do one puck from each lot, weigh careful loads and shoot over the chrony. Back later.