Compressing Black Powder

[eastwoodshooter]

I think impatience is a major factor (for sure with me ) busting up the pucks is a lot of work - one day I will make a crusher for that - yeah seems like lots of dust and FFFFgrade (not so bad when you weigh it all) - I put the dust back in the next batch of meal and have a buddy with a Colt lightning 357 mag for his wife - he just loves the FFFFg - so he gets what we dont use for flinter priming.

Yeah there is some impatience lol. I can burn it allot faster than I can make it. What are you currently using to bust up your pucks? I am looking into getting a coffee grinder and see if that works any better than mortar and pestle.

[swamp]

To break up pucks a tile nipper or the cutter notch on pliers works. I use a ceramic burr coffee grinder to grind. My screens are a set of 20, 50, 100 mesh. I have the grinder adjusted so the majority stays on the 50 mesh. It is very close to Goex 3f in size. Close enough for me. Took awhile to get the grinder adjusted but it is worth it.

swamp

[swamp]

Forgot to add. The 100 mesh screen is what I use to screen my charcoal. The little bit that sifts out goes back into the ball mill with the next batch.
swamp.

[indian joe]

Yeah there is some impatience lol. I can burn it allot faster than I can make it. What are you currently using to bust up your pucks? I am looking into getting a coffee grinder and see if that works any better than mortar and pestle.

The coffee grinder is great for the grinding once you get it set right - less fines than the mortar and pestle - still gotta bust the pucks up small enough for the grinder tho - thats where thin pucks with a plastic divider between is better I reckon - if we can get the pucks down to quarter inch thick then they bust up easy and most of it will go in the coffee grinder - but half inch thick puck? you got hard chunks the size of a marble - too big for the grinder - tedious work cutting them with nippers or such. I set my coffee grinder up in a jig on the workbench so I didnt have to hold it while I cranked - that made it heaps easier to work.
My dream machine puckbuster is the brass gears (or stainless) out of an old gear pump - spaced out and driven with an electric motor - but they are hiding on someone elses rubbish dump at the moment - one gear and a solid roller would probably work.

[OverMax]

Additives added other than the three major chem's. Slows the burn speed. Dextrin & tree bark charcoal are both additives. Either will slow burn speed.

[indian joe]

Additives added other than the three major chem's. Slows the burn speed. Dextrin & tree bark charcoal are both additives. Either will slow burn speed.

Yeah - got that - but burn speed not a problem .......ignition is good, velocity per grain weight is good, shot to shot is good, clean burn is super good, ......density in pressed powder is not so good...... If someone has done side by side tests that say for sure that dextrin in the mix is the problem with density .. I am all ears. Other than that I am inclined to just get on with life and this will probably sort itself out along the way. The 2% Dextrin is in the meal mix - cant get it out - and that meal is too good of a resource to light it off in the yard because its not quite perfect.

[OverMax]

I was informed years ago not to tap on a volume measure. Simply fill_level off_and pour. I not knowing apparently was observed by a much older and wiser traditional shooter who thought it best to correct my unusual habit.
If tapping powder is how density is being measured I would think the density from one batch to another all would differ. And again I've read the longer powder is milled the better it is and that may have something to do with powder density also? Since I reside in climate that has medium of 50 to 60% humidity most days in the warm months. I found my powder batches require at least 9 hours milling time. Other places & climates? I'm sure differ in milling time required.

[indian joe]

I was informed years ago not to tap on a volume measure. Simply fill_level off_and pour. I not knowing apparently was observed by a much older and wiser traditional shooter who thought it best to correct my unusual habit.
If tapping powder is how density is being measured I would think the density from one batch to another all would differ. And again I've read the longer powder is milled the better it is and that may have something to do with powder density also? Since I reside in climate that has medium of 50 to 60% humidity most days in the warm months. I found my powder batches require at least 9 hours milling time. Other places & climates? I'm sure differ in milling time required.

This all started out with me suggesting that our OP using a kitchen teaspoon to measure powder was likely a little suspect so I suggested he grab a boolit shell - two reasons for that 1) convenience, its likely one was close handy 2) it would hold more so the margin for error decreases ---- from my experience homemade powder does not pour like commercial - for starters its not graphited - so there is a good chance it can bridge in a measure on occasions (a bullet shell shaped measure anyways) - at this point I wished I never opened my mouth on this, but I did so looks like I am stuck with the result of that - all I say to the naysayers is go test it - take a 45/70 case, fill it up, tap it twelve times refill, and level off, wiegh the contents, do that 10 times, be consistent with the tapping -, same number - same intensity record the results - if that is any LESS consistent then come back and tell me and you get an apology - the only caveat is do it with ungraphited homemade powder........ that old guy that told you not to tap the measure maybe was right - if the measure was cut for scoop filling and you tap it down you would increase the charge by maybe ten percent.