The Mad Monk Files

[17nut]

If anyone is interested i got all the original Mad Monk pdf files on the holy black and put them here for download: http://www.filedropper.com/madmonkfilescomplete

The site http://www.laflinandrand.com/page2.html died some three years ago

[MrWolf]

I tried twice to download. First time took me to Allivet pet site. Second time an advertisement came up looking for me to join for a fee. Just sayin. Maybe doesn't like an old IPad.

[Etienne Brule]

Your download site does not work for me ...

[JBinMN]

Thanks! I downloaded it around the time you posted, but was unable to reply until today.

I have not yet tried to open it, but plan to sometime in the near future.

Thanks again for your efforts to share!

[17nut]

Is this better?

https://gofile.io/?c=7AT9qD

[RustyReel]

Is this better?

https://gofile.io/?c=7AT9qD

Maybe not, my Norton blocked it.

[Hogdaddy]

Maybe not, my Norton blocked it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mine too ; )
H/D

[Minerat]

No problem hit download file button in middle of page and it stared just now. 98.8 mb .rar archived file maybe why Norton blocked it. ".rar" is like a zip file.

[Etienne Brule]

Is this better?

https://gofile.io/?c=7AT9qD

Just fine !

Thanks

[MrWolf]

Gonna have to try it on a real computer. With the IPad I get about a quarter of a circle just spinning. Been like that since yesterday. Tried it again just now and same thing.

[John Boy]

The download file has an 'rar' extension and can opened with WinZip

https://srv-file6.gofile.io/download...20complete.rar

[John Boy]

17Nut ... send me your email address. I have all of Bill's file in 'wpd' format that can be converted to 'doc'. In addition I have all of my private conversations with Bill ... The Mad Monk
Example:
GOEX CTG Powder
After 20 years of having the U.S. black powder market to itself suddenly in 1993
Goex was looking at two foreign produced powders coming onto the U.S. market. Those
being the 1993 shipment of WANO and the 1993 shipment of Elephant.
At the same time the black powder cartridge shooters and the single-shot rifle
shooters had been on something of a nostalgia kick. There was a good bit of discussion
of the old Curtis and Harvey #6 powder that was mentioned in late 19th century writings
by shooters of that time period. Discussions on grain sizing, moist burn and little bore
fouling. Most of what was discussed was pure conjecture fortified by a few who had shot
more recent C&H production made prior to 1970. Small amounts of which found its way
into the U.S. by way of Canada.
Late in 1994 there were rumors that Goex was working on a black powder
produced specifically for cartridge shooters. Entering the market early in 1995.
The following article appeared in Blackpowder Hunting magazine.
Blackpowder Hunting
Spring Issue, 1995
Pages 32 & 33
Traditions in-line rifle and GOEX cartridge blackpowder
Check out the new Traditions in-line with GOEX cartridge blackpowder for a winning
combination.
By John Goodwin
2
I’ve been wanting to try some of the new Goex Cartridge blackpowder and
decided to wring out the Traditions in-line with this new powder. I contacted Mick
Fahringer at Goex to find out what makes the new powder different from standard grade
blackpowder. He told me that for years Goex has been in the process of developing a
new generation of blackpowder and the new cartridge powder was the first introduction
of things to come. Mick said that special additives have been included in the new powder
and it showed less and softer fouling, adding more shots between cleaning and making for
easier cleaning. The velocities were slightly higher without increased pressure. A feature
the blackpowder cartridge shooters are raving about.
The granulation size is, for the lack of a better term, 2-1/2 G and seems to have a
bit more luster to it.
Mick went on to say that before long all Goex blackpowders will have the new
additives, but could not give any definite date when they will be available to the public.
At this point in time Mick Fahringer had been at Goex’s Moosic, PA black
powder plant since 1993. His father, Frank Fahringer had been running the plant for
close to 20 years. His health was beginning to fail so he brought his son Mick into the
operation with the idea of retiring in a few years.
We are looking at a point in where the fast-buck artists were starting to take over
portions off the black powder shooting market. The idea being that the inclusion of hightech
additives could change a product and all of the problems normally associated with
that product would be in the past.
The author of the magazine article states, based on his contact with Goex, that this
new cartridge powder has special additives to give reduced fouling and soft fouling. That
eventually all Goex powders would use this new technology that Goex had worked on for
some years.
The author of this paper had been investigating black powder for about 10 years at
the time Goex introduced the cartridge (CTG) powder. Looking at potassium nitrate
purity and its effect on the finished powder along with various types of charcoal. Making
small batches of charcoal and looking at charcoal properties versus what was required in
different types of black powder. Working along with Ron Grosvenor who lives in
Australia.
Late 19th century writings on small-arms black powders described some powders
as being “moist-burning”. In German writings it is seen as “Nass Brand”.
3
Nothing in the writings described how this moist-burning property was produced
in the powders cited as being moist-burning.
How this moist-burning property is produced in a powder was a great mystery.
Then this author stumbled onto the “secret” while running solvent extractions on charcoal
samples prepared in a laboratory. The mystery component of the charcoal being found
during an acetone extraction of a batch of Black Alder charcoal. This mystery component
then being identified as creosote.
When wood is charred the phenolic-structured lignin is broken down into a series
of phenolic-structured chemicals. The most abundant in the charcoal being wood
creosote. Readily soluble in acetone.
As long as the charring temperature is not allowed to rise above 320 degrees
Centigrade the creosote will be held in the charcoal. As the charring temperature rises
above 320 C the creosote will be flashed off and carried out the vent with gases leaving
the charring vessel. By 350 C all of the creosote will have been driven out of the char.
Laboratory work showed that when charred under the ideal conditions Black
Alder wood would produce about 8% of creosote by weight of char. Maple wood when
charred would yield about 6% of creosote by weight of char.
When you burn a solid form of carbon there is almost no water produced during
the combustion of the charcoal in the powder. When liquid hydrocarbons burn they
usually produce some water as a product of combustion.
To prove or disprove this theory, creosote was extracted from samples of
charcoal. Added to powders and shot in a gun. Without the addition of the creosote the
powders produced a dry fouling. With creosote added to the same powder the bore
fouling would feel moist and oily.
When the Swiss powder arrived on the U.S. market some of it was extracted with
acetone and shot in a gun along with un-extracted powder. Velocities were identical. But
the acetone extracted powder sample gave a dry fouling in the bore while the un-extracted
powder gave the desired moist-oily fouling.
While the author was working on this aspect of charcoal properties he passed the
results on to a man who was a curator at the Hagley Museum And Library. Who also
doubled as a technical advisor to Goex as long as Goex continued to operate the Moosic,
PA black powder plant formerly owned by duPont. Technical backing from the Hagley
Museum And Library was part of the sales agreement when Gearhart-Owen purchased the
business from duPont. The Hagley Museum And Library having been set up by duPont.
In passing my work on to the gentleman at Hagley there were no restrictions
placed on who he could pass the information onto.
4
So around 1990-91 the information on the creosote in the charcoal being the key,
or secret, to a moist-burning black powder was passed onto Goex at Moosic.
When the first production run of the CTG was released to the public it drew a
number of comments. Some from those in black powder shooting that I had also shared
my findings with. When one opened a can of the CTG powder and took a whiff of what
was in the can the nose was assailed with a strong odor of creosote. But not the type of
creosote produced by the burning or charring of wood. The type of creosote used as a
wood preservative that is derived from petroleum.
As one buckskin clad grizzled buckskinner was heard to comment. “What are you
guys using for charcoal these days, old railroad ties?”
Whereas the creosote obtained from wood distillation is a bonus in charcoal
destined for use in black powder the petroleum derived creosote has something of an
opposite effect. It will not promote moist-burning in a powder and will contribute to a
tar-like bore residue in the gun.
Goex quickly pulled the creosote out of subsequent production runs.
That ended the idea of any high-tech magic additives in black powder.
Then there were also claims regarding a new grain coating that would act to
improve the accuracy of the powder when shot in a gun.
A quick look at powder grains under the microscope showed that the CTG powder
actually had two coatings of graphite on the grains. To look back at the magazine article
quoted in the opening of this paper. “The granulation size is, for the lack of a better term,
2-1/2 G and seems to have a bit more luster to it.
This two items sort of go hand in hand.
One part of the author’s project involved looking at powder grain edge round and
grain surface smoothness. How well a black powder is “polished” will promote better
accuracy. That is not to say that a poorly polished powder cannot be made to shoot
accurately. Just that the shooter has to work harder at getting the powder to shoot
accurately.
5
When one looks at a can of black powder, at the grain size designation, there will
be a small “g” behind the letters F.
Some will tell that this “g” stands for graphite, or graphite coated grains. Another
person will tell you that it stands for “glazed” powder. But then they will also think that
the graphite coating on the powder grains is the glaze.
The glaze forms on black powder grains when they are dried and polished in a
polishing barrel. A large mass of grained powder tumbling in a rotating barrel. Pressure
and friction rounds the grains’ edges in addition to smoothing and compacting the
surfaces of the grains. This thin skin, or glaze, that is formed on the surfaces of the grains
influences the rate at which the charge ignites. Heavier glazes giving slower more
uniform flame spreading through the charge.
So the high-tech grain coating that was also claimed for the CTG powder is
nothing more than a second coating of graphite applied during a second trip through the
polishing barrel.
Graphite coatings are used to keep powder grains free flowing. Without any
graphite on the surfaces the grains will begin to slowly bond together during storage even
when the powder is dry.
In looking at various lots of CTG from the Moosic plant the CTG was consistently
finer than the regular 2Fg production. If you passed them through a 20 mesh screen you
normally saw about 5% more of the CTG passing through the 20 mesh screen. In
addition, under the microscope, the CTG would be more rounded and with smoother
grain surfaces. This suggested that CTG was nothing more than regular 2Fg place back
into the polishing barrel for a bit of extra rounding of grain edges and smoothing of grain
surfaces and then a second coating of graphite applied. The first coating of graphite is
somewhat dull in appearance while the second coat takes on a silvery sheen.
What we see in the original claims made for the CTG powder is a powder
manufacturer that does not understand the technology of the product they are producing.
This is typical of the black powder manufacturers around the world. They produce
powder the way they have done for long periods of time. But lack a basic understanding
of the finer points in powder manufacturing. Shooters think that the various black
powder manufacturers have a good understanding of the technology of black powder
manufacturing which is simply not true.
CTG sells for a dollar a pound more than the regular production powder and think
they are getting a premium powder. The CTG never really took over the market for black
powder cartridge shooting.


I found Goex Cartridge to be the best Goex FFg grade powder they ever made and cleaned out my supplier's conex of every can he had.

Also, Bill mentioned to me the C&H (Curtis's & Harvey) made it's way into the US. I struck a 'LARGE mother load purchase' of Meteor and did a very detailed analysis comparison of a given sample of C&H Rifle Powder to my Meteor FFg. And proved within 99% that Meteor powder is the last of the C&H powder made in Ardeer, Scotland. The analysis is posted on the ASSRA forum

[John Boy]

The download file has an 'rar' extension and can opened with WinZip

https://srv-file6.gofile.io/download...20complete.rar

[yulzari]

On my Mac it would not open the file as it is RAR but 'Unarchiver' did the trick when I had downloaded it. https://theunarchiver.com

[John Boy]

Bill Knight files from my computer sub directory. Open up the link below and let me know how the FireFox Download works ... 247 MB of files

https://send.firefox.com/api/download/79668b15a102ed16

Receive files

You don't need a Firefox Account or even Firefox to receive files using Firefox Send.

Click the link to download the files.
Enter a password if required. ... Is no password
Click the Download button.
I have not tested this capability so ... Good Luck

[fiberoptik]

My I-phone said unauthorized.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fiberoptik]

Maybe with laptop …


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fiberoptik]

Enjoyed reading about Goex above.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wayne Smith]

My iPad said 'unauthorized' as well.

[Surculus]

Thank you, John Boy. Your .rar link in post #13 worked fine for me, unpacked w/ 7Zip to 22 files [2 of which named L&R Smokeless were the same name, but of wildly differing file sizes.] I'm pretty certain I had saved those files on an old computer years ago when they were available from the L&R site that has since gone away, but that thing died and I never have gotten around to pulling out the hard drive and extracting anything of interest. What can I say? It's been a busy decade... Much obliged!