Atom 73,
Great show & tell.
I'm not gonna do it but I'm glad you did!
It was better than when Captain Kirk shot the Gorn with diamonds.
CoopieClan
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Atom 73,
Great show & tell.
I'm not gonna do it but I'm glad you did!
It was better than when Captain Kirk shot the Gorn with diamonds.
CoopieClan
http://www.skylighter.com/mall/chemicals.asp?Sort=P
Potassium Nitrate, and other chemicals.
As far as doubting that BP was home made, Not everybody had a Dicks Sporting Goods , or even a drygoods nearby, when the nearest town might be over a hundred miles away.
Like everything else on the fronteer, you either produced it or did without. Many went for years depending solely on what they either made or grew.
If they grew cotton, spun yarn, made cloth, died it with natural colors, and sowed their clothes, why not make BP????
What does the gum do for the BP? Does it act like a binder? Water proofer?
Matt
well do have a question WHY water just asking . using denature and small amount of sugar will work. also have used what we call coal bloom in WV . Never tried in a gun but does go bang or boom depends on amount
Now, I have never heard of "coal bloom"- please elaborate. Where do you find it- in the mine?
If that is where it comes from, and were very common, I'd think the mine owners would blame explosions on it rather than half-ass employees, improper procedure, or total disregard for safety, etc. :groner:
KNO3 is water soluble- that means it's possible to disolve the entire amount of it into a solution and distribute it fairly evenly in it's finest, most pure form to the rest of the components.
Supersaturation comes from heating the water so that it can absorb more of the KNO3- water expands and leave more room for the KNO3 molecules between the H2O molecules, basically. Nearly, the same principle as heat treating boolits- same idea anyway, but here you are adding material, and there you are rearranging material/strucutre.
I don't think KNO3 is soluble in alcohol at all. The water is absorbed/displaced by the alcohol and speeds up the process of drying- if I understand everything correctly. Correct me if I am wrong.
A binder. Denser without having to use some sort of press to make it into a cake before grain.
http://www.skylighter.com/skylighter...sp?Item=115#BP
My experience with various types of sugars haven't proven to be worth the time. But I don't claim to that there in no benefit to there use, just better things.
My reason for wanting to make BP is to be able to have a source, if for some reason I could not get commerical anymore (which is happening).
I would also like to get by with needing as few components as possible to make a useful and effective product.
How hard could gum be (or become) to locate over sugar, or can it be easily made locally?
Now in the same sense, sugar could soon become cost prohibitive, if not just plain hard to find, but can be rendered from various trees as well.
BP isn't sold here & the city is 100,000 people in it. Sugar is easier to get than gum. I think the only place in the US where natural gum can be gotten in the SW dessert. The sugars that you can make from a tree don't work as a binder. White powder is only KNO3 & sugar. And, IMO, is greatly benefited with a binder.
I think that those interested in DIY powders should try various ones & methods. Cover all the bases. Sulfur may not be available ready to go & takes time to make. No one thing is the best for every moment in time.
One thing that I've never tried is the brown powders. Something to be said about a powder made from grass clippings & KNO3.
FWIW, I make my own powders because it's interesting & cheaper.
Made another batch today with my little girls. Pressed some of it into pellets that I will wrap in tissue paper 3 at a time so I can just dump the whole mess in the muzzle when loading. I used a 45acp with the web cut off (just a brass tube) and pressed it in. Then, pushed out the moist pellet with a pencil (eraser end) and let them dry. Burn test tomorrow.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0198.jpg
I think next year, three of these behind a saboted 45 cast with straight lead should kill me a deer.
Mike
Are you planning to mill them or just burn them as chunks?
Burn them as pellets just like pyrodex pellets. They take a little more work to make but will be more convenient than loose powder. Just trying stuff out.
IF they don't work well, set a few aside in a warm dry place for a month and try them again. It made all the difference in the world with my powder. Your process may normally dry faster than mine, but those pellets don't have the surface area of loose powder.
Did you use any kind of binder? (I think about 1% shellac would be interesting to try. It would be soluble in the alcohol)
Haven't used a binder yet. Need to order some dextrose, gum arabic, or shell and try it out. It works for the pyrodex pellets, I just wanted to see if it would work with my recipe.
I am guessing the pellets will burn like the cannon grade powder, and be pretty slow. Never can tell,though.
A simple cheap binder is egg whites.
hey charlie wonder if nitro gylcerine mixed in the black powder would make a bigger bang. nitro is easy and fun to make BIG exploding targets. . a 12ga shotgun shell full will make a BIG bang and a 12in X 6indeep hole in the ground
Absolutely nothing compared to what it can do for your living arrangements...
IMHO: (and my opinion is uniquely good in this case) making NG without a complete understanding of what your doing AND why you're doing it as well as the exact correct equipment is a one way ticket to "Red Goo" :violin:[smilie=f:
IMHO you are 100% correct. And my opinion comes from the fact that if red fumes start appearing, I can't run 30,000 fps.
FWIW If I ever had a great need to make some, the equipment would be remotely controlled. I'd stay far enough away to ponder what went wrong & decide if I wanted to buy new equipment.
perotter,
When you gonna give a detailed tutorial on primer compounds?
Matt
I've posted some on corrosives over at reloaderz.com. There is a reference to a non corrosive, but that one really only works in berdan primers. The other site that I have posted more at declared primer making a verboten topic.
It will be a little while before I will post anything about my current mixes that work in boxer primers. Because it is "green" it may have a commercial value & is - to the best of my knowledge - patentable. I have to make some a few more basic tests. Iif they prove good than I'll file the for a patent. A month or 2 should do it.
For those members who live outside the US, you can buy red phosphorous. Then making your own non corrosives is easy. A nitrate(lead, barium, potassium, etc) & red phosphorous will do. The US army used a barium nitrate/red phosphorous mix right after WW2. In the US, one can buy rp if they own a corp & get 6 corps to give a them a reference(really).
FWIW, these mixes are simple and don't need any type of special equipment.
So I decided to post a quick how to for making charcoal for those who haven't done it.
You will need; a metal tin (like a cookie tin, an old popcorn tin, etc) that has a tight lid and your wife wont miss. Punch a hole or two in the lid with a screwdriver. The heated wood releases gasses that will vent out of these holes.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0202.jpg
Start with freshly cut, green willow. Strip the bark, and make sure they will fit in your tin. Pack in tightly.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0203.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0207.jpg
Next, build a fire, get a good bed of coals going, place the tin packed with your willow in the center of the fire and build up wood around it.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0215.jpg
As the wood inside heats, it will off gas water and other components from the wood leaving behind only pure charcoal. The vents will flame up once the gasses get hot enough, if you look close you can see two flames coming out of the vents. Let the fire burn with the tin in until these flames go out. That signals the end of the off gassing and the only constituent left behind will be charcoal. If you leave it in too long the charcoal will begin to burn. Take the tin out, leave the lid on till it's cool. Once it is cool, open the lid (if you open it when it's too hot, the oxygen from the open air will ignite the superheated charcoal). You can now grind your proceeds into dust. I use an old meat grinder, screen the powder, regrind the larger screenings in a mortar and pestle. Use as needed.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0223.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...3/IMAG0224.jpg
Enjoy.
Mike
You have tried that, too? :veryconfu
That is what is added to modern double based powders, IIRC.
If I want those, then I will BUY them from a factory. I am NOT messing with NG, or TNT, for that matter. :veryconfu
I watched them make it on and episode of GUNSMOKE once- that wagon never made it to the mine! That is all I needed to see. :lol:
I'm in the US not Mexico so the federales aren't around. In the US it is legal for your own use. I talked to both the ATF & the DEA about it to make sure that I hadn't misread the law. The DEA because some chems that can be used in primers are on there "list" & I wanted to make sure that it was ok for me to buy them.
I like that using the meat grinder grinding the charcoal.
What about an old blender for the charcoal?
Matt
ooo good point, should have known better, I have lit dust on fire many times and work in the appliance motor industry, I'll just chalk it up to a brain fart. What else could one use to grind up the charcoal?
Matt
Blender, or some sort of Miracle Chopper, is what I was thinking, too.
They make those with lids that seal pretty good now.
Bash it with a hammer, to reduce size, and then ball mill?
A ball mill could definitely be doable. Could work for adding graphite to my homemade shot too and some brass tumbling too. Would the ball mill break up the charcoal chunks?
Matt
EVENTUALLY. :bigsmyl2:
That is why I said pound it with a hammer first.
My meat grinder makes pretty quick work of it. Of that whole batch I got about a cup and a half of screenings that had to be ran in my mortar and pestle. I tell you guys, its really great to have a sounding board to bounce ideas around. I started this project thinking I was a little odd for wanting to do it, glad to know I'm not the only one...