Made Black Powder

[Wilkie]

So I followed the sticky on making BP.(Took me two days to read) Funny story, years ago when I was still in the lab, we had a big stash of mercury. We all learned in our chemistry theory that Gold is less dense than mercury. So, stupid me, I put my wedding band on the liquid metal to watch it float. Sure enough it floated....but, I forgot that gold has high, high affinity for mercury.(Gold miners sometimes used mercury to extract gold) I now had a beautiful SILVER ring. Flash forward to me making a batch of BP. I forgot Sulfur loves metal. And loves to eat metal at an alarming rate. I always wear a wedding band and a silver ring from Mexico. In my excitement to make the BP, I forgot to take my rings off. I was even wearing latex gloves! Now my rings have a nice dark tint to them thanks to the sulfur bonding with the gold and silver!.....note to self, take all rings off..... at least I remember how to reverse the process with boiling water, foil and baking soda.

So I am going to try this BP out today with my chrony and see just what I have made. I was surprised how easy it was. I started small, only about a half pound of Powder. I made loose grains and pellets using the hull of of .45 shell. I made a small pile to see if it would burn. Sure enough, typical flash up with rotten egg smell. How lovely! My 14 year old son kept begging me to get a bigger pile of powder to light.....to his disappointment, I didn't.....yet. I don't think I will have this worked up and ready for the Elk hunt next week, but next year I will be ready for the deer hunt.

Something about making the powder and casting the bullet is very seductive....

[dondiego]

It is good to be self sufficient!

[Fly]

Something about making the powder and casting the bullet is very seductive.... !Ha, Ha, welcome to the dark side my friend.
There is NO going back.(WINK)
Fly

[Crytes]

so does anybody have instructions for making their own caps without using the paper toy caps?

[super6]

Wilkie, Smelling the smoke was a mistake, As Fly said, Now you can never go back..

[Wilkie]

Wilkie, Smelling the smoke was a mistake, As Fly said, Now you can never go back..

I smelled the smoke....Shot the cast bullet.....now I'm hooked! I was able to get out and try it out. I used a Lee .452 300 grain that I cast in addition to a Lee REAL 250 grain (Thanks Kenjuudo) sent to me by a guy here. I worked up slowly. I was able to load 150 grains with each eventually. I was only able to get 1300 fps so I need to work on the powder more. But, I did hit a small pumpkin at 100 yards! I was surprised how mild the recoil was. Also, the REAL Lee cast does a good job of cleaning the bore on its way out. I also tried some J-words and they worked just fine too. For a first time effort I was very pleased. What a rush!

I forgot to take my rings off again though....back to the baking Soda and foil to take the sulfur off.....

[IROCZ]

Way Cool! I need to try that sometime! Congrats!

[Boz330]

I smelled the smoke....Shot the cast bullet.....now I'm hooked! I was able to get out and try it out. I used a Lee .452 300 grain that I cast in addition to a Lee REAL 250 grain (Thanks Kenjuudo) sent to me by a guy here. I worked up slowly. I was able to load 150 grains with each eventually. I was only able to get 1300 fps so I need to work on the powder more. But, I did hit a small pumpkin at 100 yards! I was surprised how mild the recoil was. Also, the REAL Lee cast does a good job of cleaning the bore on its way out. I also tried some J-words and they worked just fine too. For a first time effort I was very pleased. What a rush!

I forgot to take my rings off again though....back to the baking Soda and foil to take the sulfur off.....


1300fps isn't that bad. You aren't dealing with smokeless powder or Pyrodex. I venture that you wouldn't get much over 1400fps with store bought BP. Did you weigh the powder or did you just use one of the brass volume measures? With screened powder there is a vast difference in density of the powder. It is very fluffy compared to commercial.
I compared screened, corned, and commercial in my 58cal Hawken with a 300gr round ball. All charges were weighed and there was less than 50fps difference in all 3 for the same weight. IIRC the velocity was in the 1400fps category and I believe that the powder charge was 100gr. You get very little gain for massive increases above 100gr.

Bob

[Fly]

Bobs right ,your not that far off.There is no reason you can't exseed commercial powder
in how fast it burns.If you have good charcoal & ball mill it as find as you can, it should
be fine.Make sure your ball mill is half full of balls.

Biggest mistake people make is not fill the drum with enough balls or not grinding long enough.

Have fun Fly

[OverMax]

Yup. Another convert. I wonder how long it will be till this guy burns his fingertips too._:bigsmyl2:

[Fly]

Yup. Another convert. I wonder how long it will be till this guy burns his fingertips too._:bigsmyl2:

Ha,Ha, I have burnt worst than that!DON"T ask?,Heee heee.

Fly

[waksupi]

so does anybody have instructions for making their own caps without using the paper toy caps?

There are some primer compound formulas here on the forum. Just got to dig for them!

[Wilkie]

1300fps isn't that bad. You aren't dealing with smokeless powder or Pyrodex. I venture that you wouldn't get much over 1400fps with store bought BP. Did you weigh the powder or did you just use one of the brass volume measures? With screened powder there is a vast difference in density of the powder. It is very fluffy compared to commercial.
I compared screened, corned, and commercial in my 58cal Hawken with a 300gr round ball. All charges were weighed and there was less than 50fps difference in all 3 for the same weight. IIRC the velocity was in the 1400fps category and I believe that the powder charge was 100gr. You get very little gain for massive increases above 100gr.

Bob

Bob I didn't think about weighing it. I did volumetric measurements. It did seem "fluffy". I'm not even sure how much it should weigh at full charge.

[Wilkie]

Bobs right ,your not that far off.There is no reason you can't exseed commercial powder
in how fast it burns.If you have good charcoal & ball mill it as find as you can, it should
be fine.Make sure your ball mill is half full of balls.

Biggest mistake people make is not fill the drum with enough balls or not grinding long enough.

Have fun Fly
Fly, I'm using the CIA method. I don't have a ball mill.

[Boz330]

Bob I didn't think about weighing it. I did volumetric measurements. It did seem "fluffy". I'm not even sure how much it should weigh at full charge.
Weight it, I think you will be surprised at the difference. In HM the weight is were the power is at.
I shoot my powder in a cartridge gun as well, 40-65 WW cases. A full case of Swiss 2 F weights in at 79gr, my corned powder at 52gr, and screened powder at 37gr. The respective velocities with a 400gr boolit were 1275fps, 1200fps and 1000fps. One note here the 79gr was a case full, but I only used 65gr of Swiss which was the best load in that gun. In actual velocity per grain of powder, my HM is actually a little more energetic than the Swiss.

Bob

[Fly]

Well yea if your using the CIA method your way light, from corned powder.Corned powder is pressed, so it is a lot denser
than screened or CIA method.If you weigh it with a powder grain scale you will be shocked.Lee make a nice cheap grain
scale for about $20.Get one.

Fly

[Wilkie]

Well yea if your using the CIA method your way light, from corned powder.Corned powder is pressed, so it is a lot denser
than screened or CIA method.If you weigh it with a powder grain scale you will be shocked.Lee make a nice cheap grain
scale for about $20.Get one.

Fly

I have a scale for my reloading. Would 60 grains be a good place to start?

[Boz330]

I have a scale for my reloading. Would 60 grains be a good place to start?

It shouldn't make much difference just throw a charge with the brass measure and then weigh it and see how much less it weighs. 100gr would make it easy in percentages. Most of the measures are pretty close with 2F commercial powder. 3F is usually heavier and 1F lighter in the volume measures.

Bob

[Wilkie]

It shouldn't make much difference just throw a charge with the brass measure and then weigh it and see how much less it weighs. 100gr would make it easy in percentages. Most of the measures are pretty close with 2F commercial powder. 3F is usually heavier and 1F lighter in the volume measures.

Bob

Perfect...that's what I will do. But, you should have cautioned me not to put the HM Black Powder flask into the container holding the Blackhorn.....That dang Blackhorn is too expensive to be ruining. [smilie=b: I hate it when I do stuff like that.

[Good Cheer]

Making powder? You won't even know what to be careful about until you are rather suddenly introduced to a mistake in your set up.
Be careful. Study what the material is before jumping in.
OK, I worried enough.

[Fly]

Making powder? You won't even know what to be careful about until you are rather suddenly introduced to a mistake in your set up.
Be careful. Study what the material is before jumping in.
OK, I worried enough.

And you should know right????

(smile) Fly

[Wilkie]

You haven't even seen my set up. I think sharing a mistake is a way for others to avoid a similar mistake. I tried using humor to lighten it up. I know exactly what material I am using. I am very careful in what I do. Frankly what I do with my reloading and muzzleloading is vastly safer than what I did in the lab for a living. I have studied all of this rather thoroughly. I understand the risks and what can happen should I screw up. I do appreciate your concern. This stuff is not to be taken lightly.

[Fly]

You haven't even seen my set up. I think sharing a mistake is a way for others to avoid a similar mistake. I tried using humor to lighten it up. I know exactly what material I am using. I am very careful in what I do. Frankly what I do with my reloading and muzzleloading is vastly safer than what I did in the lab for a living. I have studied all of this rather thoroughly. I understand the risks and what can happen should I screw up. I do appreciate your concern. This stuff is not to be taken lightly.

I could not agree more.
Fly Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Wilkie]

Fly,

Did you ever post your method of making Black Powder? I assume you are using a ball mill. I see how easy it is to get a ball mill. It seems like that method would be a lot less messy than the CIA method.

[Good Cheer]

Oooh, yeah!


And you should know right????

(smile) Fly

[Fly]

Fly,

Did you ever post your method of making Black Powder? I assume you are using a ball mill. I see how easy it is to get a ball mill. It seems like that method would be a lot less messy than the CIA method.

Yes Many,Many times in the thread at the very top of the form.I do use the ball mill method.I also make fireworks.I made a
two drum ball mill that grind my meal in about two hours time.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i384/Fly61/DSCN0523-1.jpg (http://s1091.photobucket.com/user/Fly61/media/DSCN0523-1.jpg.html)

Fly

[Wilkie]

Sweet! I clearly need to expand my garage!