My homemade black powder

[Hotfxr]

quick sulfur question for you experts. can you use the garden sulfur that is 90% sulfur and 10% "other" for the recipe, don't know what the "other" is and don't know how it would affect the final recipe.

Don't really know, there are folks here who do I am sure, but I never wanted to take the chance of buggering up the powder. That said, I got 99.8% pure sulfur, 10 pounds for $6 at a local chemical company, ahh for my fruit trees. They also sell the same stuff at commercial ag centers. Every square inch of dirt in this county is covered with grape vines so we have a good number of places to buy most any agriculture based chemicals.

[18Z4X]

I've made a batch using "garden sulfur" that had about 10% garden clay in it. There were no problems with ignition, and it shot fine. It seems that it did leave quite a bit of fouling, and I had to swab the bore out, every few shots.

If you think of it, the sulfur is only 10% of the ingredients (+ or -, depending on your particular formulation), and the sulfur is 90% pure. So 90% purity of 10% of the total ingredients is only 1% contamination of the total Black Powder.

I expect that it's at least as good as George Washington had at Valley Forge.

[Whiterabbit]

I've used it. had to use over 120 grains of powder for what 90 of commercial will do. fouled like CRAZY too. you almost didn;t need to wet patches, it was so hydroscopic.

I gave up on that stuff right quick.

It DOES ball grind up very very nice.

You can have 1% in your mix, it still burns. Heck, if you use dextrin as a binder you are using 2% of that anyways. It DOES affect the powder, and not in a good way.

So I gave up on it. Sulfur is like $3.50 a pound online. 2 lb is good for 20-25 lb of black.

[Fly]

Well I agree with Whiterabbit, sulfur is the cheapest chemical we use & also the smallest amount.

Fly

[Whiterabbit]

do you guys know what contributes most to fouling? Any way to tailor powder to burn cleaner? or is it simply a matter of making it as powerful as possible so I can use less of it, and reduce fouling by just lowering volume?

[Avenger442]

do you guys know what contributes most to fouling? Any way to tailor powder to burn cleaner? or is it simply a matter of making it as powerful as possible so I can use less of it, and reduce fouling by just lowering volume?

I would like to know the answer to this one, too. Plan on loading cartridges when I get a suitable powder.

Read an interesting article about putting wad or cream of wheat on top of the powder charge in the cartridge then a very small amount of Crisco mixed with bees wax behind the bullet. It was supposed to keep the fowling down and make it easier to remove. Obviously need to take care to keep from contaminating the powder with the grease.

[18Z4X]

For over 40 years, I have put yellow corn meal over my powder charge. I use half the volume of the powder. Ex: If I throw a measure for 100 grains of powder, then I throw a "50 grain measure" of corn meal over it.

I have been told the following (and it seems to bear out).

1. The corn meal helps to keep the powder fouling down by a bit of a "scrubbing" action.

2. It tends to act as a bit of a "gas check", giving more consistent velocities.

3. It keeps the grease on the bullet from contaminating the powder. If I am going to hunt, and may keep the same load in the gun all day, I ALWAYS put the throw of corn meal over the powder.

I had/have a Trail Arms Kodiak .50 cal, and I got it to shoot 3 1/2" groups at 100 yards, alternating barrels, with this load. Call me a liar, if you wish. I won't feel offended.

Insofar as cartridge guns, I don't see why it wouldn't be fine in a single-shot. I would be concerned in a repeating gun, because it may tend to throw out more particulate matter that could gum up your action.

Oh also, instead of getting that puffy, cloud of grey-white smoke, it will have a definite "golden" tint when using the corn meal.

[Whiterabbit]

additives on the main charge will not prevent fouling where the main charge sits.

The only thing that can change the fouling where the main charge sits is the quality of the powder itself. I don't mean good quality or bad quality, I mean the attributes of the powder.

And we know we can modulate fouling in that area with recipe. For example, no corning and impurities increase fouling in that area significantly.

So how to decrease it? is that something we have control over besides corning and impurities?

[Traffer]

Anyone trying to make their own black powder will have a hard time convincing me that they can make a satisfactory product by just mixing the moist ingredients together and granulating by pushing it through a coffee strainer. Real black powder is made by milling the moist ingredients in edge runner incorporating mills. A 50 pound batch is placed in the mill, the two circular runner wheels weigh from 3 to 4 tons each, and are from 4 to 7 feet in diameter. At 8 rpm, it requires 3 1/2 hours of incorporating to produce cannon grade powder. Small arms (dogwood) powder requires 5 1/2 hours of incorporation. The "soft cake" must next be converted to "hard cake" by being pressed between copper plates under hydraulic pressure. Then there is "granulation", "grading", "glazing", and "Drying". In the past many factories blew up, and they still do. John

Thanks for those FACTS. I too have made black powder when I was a kid. Can't even remember if I was successful. Certainly the process to make it consistent and functional for the real world is intensive. There may be ways that a person could somewhat mimic the manufacturing process but, it looks really difficult. I would think that it would be just as easy to produce smokeless powder.

[BlackPowderBen]

[QUOTE= There may be ways that a person could somewhat mimic the manufacturing process but, it looks really difficult. I would think that it would be just as easy to produce smokeless powder.[/QUOTE]


It really isn't that difficult. Mix the ingredients in a ball mill, spray it with water until it starts to clump, and if you compress it, which I havent done yet but have the tools for it, compress the powder with a small shop press or with a floor jack, grind it up in a ceramic grain grinder, you have powder that can be compared to store bought black powder.

[Avenger442]

additives on the main charge will not prevent fouling where the main charge sits.

The only thing that can change the fouling where the main charge sits is the quality of the powder itself. I don't mean good quality or bad quality, I mean the attributes of the powder.

And we know we can modulate fouling in that area with recipe. For example, no corning and impurities increase fouling in that area significantly.

So how to decrease it? is that something we have control over besides corning and impurities?

So the question is what is the formula that gives you the best performance with the least amount of fouling? I'll bet that there will be a lot of opinions on that question.

Right now I have 8 pucks made with willow charcoal 99% purity sulfur and potassium in the classic 75-15-10 recipe. And the mix for 8 more sitting in the ball mill. Would like to know if modification can give me performance and clean burn.

[Nobade]

Hey Black Powder Ben, you need to clear out your inbox.

Right on with the gunpowder, it's not hard to make good powder yourself. See my recent post in black powder cartridges about the Marlin 1894.

-Nobade

[vinny1892]

making Bp is easy to make but getting it hot is another thing. I personally use a ball mill mill it for about 4 hrs out side. this is my recipe
75% kno3 (potassium nitrate) 25% willow charcoal 5% sulfur 2% red gum there is another binder its escaping me at the moment.
Note you might have to play around with the above recipe. I had to anyway. Ive used it to lift 4 inch shells no problem as well as burst.
yes i am licenced to work with pyrotechnics as well.

[Freightman]

making Bp is easy to make but getting it hot is another thing. I personally use a ball mill mill it for about 4 hrs out side. this is my recipe
75% kno3 (potassium nitrate) 25% willow charcoal 5% sulfur 2% red gum there is another binder its escaping me at the moment.
Note you might have to play around with the above recipe. I had to anyway. Ive used it to lift 4 inch shells no problem as well as burst.
yes i am licenced to work with pyrotechnics as well.

Not disagreeing just need clarification, 75-25-5-2 comes up to 107% ??? I do use my BP in BPCR cartridges with good results and have been for several years but I am no expert and can always learn something.

[BlackPowderBen]

[QUOTE=Nobade;3554909]Hey Black Powder Ben, you need to clear out your inbox.

Right on with the gunpowder, it's not hard to make good powder yourself. See my recent post in black powder cartridges about the Marlin 1894.


I'm confused, my inbox isn't full

[BlackPowderBen]

Hey Black Powder Ben, you need to clear out your inbox.

Right on with the gunpowder, it's not hard to make good powder yourself. See my recent post in black powder cartridges about the Marlin 1894.

-Nobade

I'm confused, my inbox isn't full

[Whiterabbit]

Not disagreeing just need clarification, 75-25-5-2 comes up to 107% ??? I do use my BP in BPCR cartridges with good results and have been for several years but I am no expert and can always learn something.

My bet is 3 measures full of kno3, one measure full of charcoal, then whatever that weight is, he puts in 5% of that in sulfur and 2% in red gum.

That's just what I'm betting on.

[Hotfxr]

Finally got a chance to do a head to head comparison of my homemade against Goex. My homemade was the clear winner. In a CVA mountain rifle, .45 caliber, 55 grains by volume, patched lead round ball, 5 shot average, Goex= 1702fps, homemade 1776fps. With my process refined the weight per volume is virtually identical. Just wanted to put this out there.

[Nobade]

I'm confused, my inbox isn't full

I dunno - I tried to PM you the answer to your question and it told me your inbox was full and couldn't accept any more messages.

-Nobade

[BlackPowderBen]

I cleared my inbox, should be ok now