My totally useful if not the best black powder

[dtknowles]

Following on from my post on Drop Tubing. I loaded 10 450 PBE cartridges with my homemade black powder. 120 gr. by volume, less than 100 gr. by weight. 350 gr. bullet. fired in my 30" barreled double rifle with Henry rifling.

120 gr. fff Goex ~ 1750 fps
120 gr. my powder ~ 1600 fps

Velocities are 25 feet from the muzzle and not adjusted. They are approximations base on a small number of shots sort of averaged in my head that is why the very round numbers. Precise numbers are not required. The shooting told me what I needed to know. I can be happy using my homemade powder just as it is and I don't need to fuss any more about my process.

350 gr. bullet as 1600 fps is going to be just fine for hogs, bear, deer, etc.

I do need to see now if both barrels will shoot to the sights at longer ranges. I did this testing at 25 ft. with the backstop and target only a foot behind the chronograph. Don't recommend people follow my example but I was shooting offhand. That is a good way to shoot your chrony. I used the right barrel for all the testing and it was shooting high and to the right but only a little.

Tim

[perotter]

Was the Goex 120 gr. by weight? Or was it 100 gr.(or some other weight) like your homemade?

Congrats on getting your powder making process to the point where you've had complete success.

[dtknowles]

Was the Goex 120 gr. by weight? Or was it 100 gr.(or some other weight) like your homemade?

Congrats on getting your powder making process to the point where you've had complete success.

The Goex and my powder were both measured volume 120 gr. I assume the Goex weighed 120 gr. but I did not check. I have checked my powder against Goex in the past but I did not save the data. It is in the homemade powder thread (very long thread). The load is pretty much all I can get in the case with a drop tube with each powder. My powder measures largest setting is 120.
Tim

[dtknowles]

Was the Goex 120 gr. by weight? Or was it 100 gr.(or some other weight) like your homemade?

Congrats on getting your powder making process to the point where you've had complete success.

Lets just call it adequate success. Others make much better powder.

Tim

[Gobeyond]

Add a little fast burning smokeless to increase velocity and regulate you barrels too. Duplex load type.

[dtknowles]

Add a little fast burning smokeless to increase velocity and regulate you barrels too. Duplex load type.

Yeah, if I need to, we will have to see.
Tim

[rancher1913]

the charcol you use could make that up. tree of heaven is supposed to be the best but all i have is willow and like you its good enough for my use

[indian joe]

Following on from my post on Drop Tubing. I loaded 10 450 PBE cartridges with my homemade black powder. 120 gr. by volume, less than 100 gr. by weight. 350 gr. bullet. fired in my 30" barreled double rifle with Henry rifling.

120 gr. fff Goex ~ 1750 fps
120 gr. my powder ~ 1600 fps

Velocities are 25 feet from the muzzle and not adjusted. They are approximations base on a small number of shots sort of averaged in my head that is why the very round numbers. Precise numbers are not required. The shooting told me what I needed to know. I can be happy using my homemade powder just as it is and I don't need to fuss any more about my process.

350 gr. bullet as 1600 fps is going to be just fine for hogs, bear, deer, etc.

I do need to see now if both barrels will shoot to the sights at longer ranges. I did this testing at 25 ft. with the backstop and target only a foot behind the chronograph. Don't recommend people follow my example but I was shooting offhand. That is a good way to shoot your chrony. I used the right barrel for all the testing and it was shooting high and to the right but only a little.

Tim

Is this screened powder or corned (pressed pucks) ??
All thats lacking here is density - you are already ahead of goex on a grain for grain weight basis.

you might say not the best but I say pretty darn good !!!!!!

[dtknowles]

Is this screened powder or corned (pressed pucks) ??
All thats lacking here is density - you are already ahead of goex on a grain for grain weight basis.

you might say not the best but I say pretty darn good !!!!!!

I press pucks in a vise. I don't have a hydraulic press. My density might be a bit better than I am claiming. I don't keep good notes. I am about to press another batch. I will keep better notes this time. I am using cedar charcoal.

Tim

[Gobeyond]

Yeah, if I need to, we will have to see.
Tim

Sounds like some powerful stuff.

[dtknowles]

Sounds like some powerful stuff.

I pucked and corned a new lot of powder, my 120 gr. vol. charge weighed, 89.7 gr., a 120 gr. vol. charge of GOEX weighed 118.4 gr. I am pretty sure my last batch of corned powder was a bit more dense, I dried this in an oven and I think I might have overdone it. I don't know how much moisture should be left in the powder.

Yeah, my previous batch of is gr. for gr. more powerful than GOEX but less dense so in my case I can get 95 percent of the GOEX velocity with less powder.

If a hacker like me can make useful powder then almost anyone can.

Tim

[dtknowles]

Weather permitting, I am going to test my latest batch of powder tomorrow. I loaded some in Bell 50-70 brass to fire in my Swedish Rolling Block (12.7x44R). I am going to bring along some older reloads that used Pyrodex with the same bullets. All ammo was loaded with 70 gr. by volume. The charges of my powder weighed 59 gr. I don't have a record of what the Pyrodex weighed. I used 470 gr. RNFP, 370 gr. RNFP and 335 gr. LEE REAL bullets.

Tim

[dtknowles]

Ok, the testing did not turn out as expected.

The older reloads that used Pyrodex with the REAL bullet were 200 fps slower than my black powder (1000 fps vs. 1200 fps). The 370 gr. RNFP Pyrodex loads were 75 fps faster than my black powder (1200 fps vs. 1125 fps) I did not have Pyrodex loads for the 470 gr. RNFP but with my black powder the shot just as fast as the 370 gr. RNFP 1125 fps.

Looks like my black powder will work just fine in the rolling block too. Pretty close to original ammo ballistics.

Tim

[perotter]

Thanks for the report of your good results.

[dtknowles]

I went back and reviewed some old notes. I loaded the Pyrodex/REAL bullet rounds with only 60 gr. vol. I guess I was worried or had problems with compression.

Tim

[Boz330]

I have an 8MM Swede that I converted to 40-65 and have taken several deer with it and home made black. I use a vice as well but Tree of Heaven which gives me more velocity than willow. I leave it in the vice for 10 min. before removing the puck, it seems to help a little. My powder gr for gr is more powerful than Swiss, but the density is not equivalent.
What I do is use a case extender which allows me to add more powder than the case will hold and then compress it. In my early testing I found that the powder by weight gave pretty consistent velocity's between HM and Goex, the difference being the density.
I have used duplex loads with my HM but mostly to avoid cleaning as much while practicing.

Bob

[indian joe]

I have an 8MM Swede that I converted to 40-65 and have taken several deer with it and home made black. I use a vice as well but Tree of Heaven which gives me more velocity than willow. I leave it in the vice for 10 min. before removing the puck, it seems to help a little. My powder gr for gr is more powerful than Swiss, but the density is not equivalent.
What I do is use a case extender which allows me to add more powder than the case will hold and then compress it. In my early testing I found that the powder by weight gave pretty consistent velocity's between HM and Goex, the difference being the density.
I have used duplex loads with my HM but mostly to avoid cleaning as much while practicing.

Bob

Clever and so simple!
I have found like you that homemade will take a lot more depth of compression than commercial - I backcheck this by testing with a digital luggage scale rigged on the handle of the little simplex press I use with my compression dies --- I figure if we use the same amount of effort then we get pretty close to same density in the charged case. It might surprise you how much the volume of a HM charge will reduce to get to equal scale reading. Needs a simple action press to do this - a strong compound press like a rockchucker etc has too much leverage - cant feel anything!!

[Boz330]

Clever and so simple!
I have found like you that homemade will take a lot more depth of compression than commercial - I backcheck this by testing with a digital luggage scale rigged on the handle of the little simplex press I use with my compression dies --- I figure if we use the same amount of effort then we get pretty close to same density in the charged case. It might surprise you how much the volume of a HM charge will reduce to get to equal scale reading. Needs a simple action press to do this - a strong compound press like a rockchucker etc has too much leverage - cant feel anything!!

I noticed right away that the HM seems to be fluffier than commercial so you can get much more compression, easier. To get more in the case I tried filling the case and compressing and then putting in more powder and compressing again, but accuracy went to hell in a hand basket doing it that way for some reason.

Bob

[Gobeyond]

I pucked and corned a new lot of powder, my 120 gr. vol. charge weighed, 89.7 gr., a 120 gr. vol. charge of GOEX weighed 118.4 gr. I am pretty sure my last batch of corned powder was a bit more dense, I dried this in an oven and I think I might have overdone it. I don't know how much moisture should be left in the powder.

Yeah, my previous batch of is gr. for gr. more powerful than GOEX but less dense so in my case I can get 95 percent of the GOEX velocity with less powder.

If a hacker like me can make useful powder then almost anyone can.

Tim

Are you adding dextrin. Wouldn’t that increase density? Thanks. Just a suggestion.

[dtknowles]

Are you adding dextrin. Wouldn’t that increase density? Thanks. Just a suggestion.

This batch does not have dextrin. I have used it and I don't think it adds density. I saw no benefit in corned powder.
Tim