My homemade black powder

[Doughty]

Well I must confess to putting out some bad info. Last night I talked to a friend that I shoot with who is a professor at the University of Montana. His specialty being wood products. After telling him of my great discovery about finding some of the famed black willow, he kindly informed me that the scientific name for "black willow" is salix nigra whereas what I had, Scouler's Willow is salix scouleriana. So, not the holy grail of willow, but still makes some very usable charcoal.

[LAGS]

It is nice that your friend gave you the proper Latin name for your wood.
But it is all Greek to me

[RoyEllis]

Hay guys.
I think I found something else to try for tumbling media that lessens exposed lead.
I am going to half fill some 9mm casings with lead.
Then I will press and roll crimp a .38/357 Copper Gas Check into the casing to cap it off and cover the exposed lead in the casing.
If it works , I may make some out of old brass .45 acp casings for larger heavier tumbling media.
Not all of you cast and load for center-fire guns.
But there are enough of us that may be able to make up and supply you with thing you want.

Hmmm.
I wonder if you can find gas checks that would fit snugly in a section of copper tubing to cap off both ends and cover up your exposed lead in your copper tumbling media.

Hey Larry, Fly and I talked about this several years ago. I decided to give it a try, and found 45acp brass works great. Pour the casings about 75% max full, the lead will anneal them well enough you can use a round nose seater die to to crimp the mouth of the cases shut. Makes darn good CHEAP tumbling media. Being a cheap **** is why I came upon the idea (so I didn't spend $$ on copper pipe lol).

[LAGS]

It will make Cheap Media.
But with the ammo shortage finding old casings can be a little hard.
People are hoarding them.
But I do have a fair amount of spare casings that I won't reload like some brass .45 cases with small pistol primers pockets.

[Vettepilot]

It will make Cheap Media.
But with the ammo shortage finding old casings can be a little hard.
People are hoarding them.
But I do have a fair amount of spare casings that I won't reload like some brass .45 cases with small pistol primers pockets.

I like your idea. As long as the gas checks stay in place. Maybe a drop of thin super glue on them after they're pressed together?

I think the reason the copper tube + lead media works so well is that you have impact going on while tumbling, just like using balls, but the sharp tubing edges provide a shearing action as well. The combo makes for very efficient milling. Your idea of using .45 cal brass, filled with lead and capped with a gas check should have these qualities as well. Personally, I would install the gas checks with the concave towards the inside, to maintain that sharp edge on the assembly. (They would be a heck of a lot easier to mate this way as well...)

Edit to add: My brain is already storming on how to make these. They would be better than my copper tube media in my small test tumbler I believe... In order to easily fill each cartridge case with the correct amount of lead, I'm going to braze a handle on a .45 acp case, making a perfect size scoop/lead ladle. I think using the bottom pour lead pot would result in a lot of over and under fills of the brass cases with lead. Squeeze a little pour spout into the "cartridge ladle", oh yeah, this could work well. You can use cheap, pure lead too. If anyone has access to lead wire or rod, they could just cut to length and not even have to cast the lead!

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

Whoa!! As I said, "brainstorming" here. According to Wikipedia, guess what size 3/8" type "m" copper tubing is in internal diameter. .450"!!

So we don't need brass cartridge cases! Cut this above mentioned tubing to length, install a .45 acp gas check, pour in the lead, install another gas check to cap it off, and you're good to go!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_tubing

Vettepilot

[LAGS]

Brainstorming is why we are here.
It is great

[Vettepilot]

Hmmm... regardless of what Wikipedia says, I'm having a hard time finding that size. However, Online Metals shows .5" od copper pipe with a .035" wall. This has an id of .430", which should work with 44 magnum gas checks.

https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/...hoCUsMQAvD_BwE

My common 1/2" copper pipe, bought at Lowes, measures .573" id. Not a very common gas check size. But the above combo using 44 mag checks should work...

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

It's not cheap though. Better to use the .45 acp, 10mm, 44 mag, etc., cases if you can find them.

Vettepilot

[ChrisPer]

For the suggestion of Plaster of Paris molds, I wish to suggest not using that.

In the art school, they teach a basic art casting with 'pewter' which has a nice low melting point - scrounged old pewter mugs and vases at up to $10 a pop from antique shops - and the molds are plaster, it has to be baked for four hours or so to remove water of crystallisation so the steam doesn't damage the casting or worse cause an explosion.

I tried plaster before I heard this, and my brass, and tin, castings in plaster molds were terrible.

For lost wax casting the commercial 'plaster' medium is called Cristobalite, it is fine ground silica(quartz?) with a plaster binder. You have to burn it out - ie melt out the wax model, then fire it at 600C for one or more hours to remove everything volatile that may compromise the finish of the casting.

I just tried casting pistons for my puck die, using the 'sharp sand' filled resin method. Perhaps plasterer's sand bound with plaster would make a more heat-stable mold than plaster itself?

[ChrisPer]

Also, I guessed 30% pore space in the sand, and that much resin made it a pretty dry-looking mix. I used a rammer and then it looked pretty solid in the thick aluminum tubes.
However, the catalyst may not have been adequately mixed; after a week, its not tough to touch. Oh well, try again with more catalyst. Its winter here, and things set slow.

[DoubleBuck]

Guys;
A little shout out, to HighUintas today. Yesterday he and his wife were gifted a new baby girl! Rosalind Dolores arrived healthy, 6 pounds and nearly 19". He said he might be slowing down on the testing and posts, etc., for a bit. I know I'm not alone in offering congratulations, and well wishes, to he and his family!

[Vettepilot]

CONGRATULATIONS HighUintas!!!

It's a FATHER'S DAY father day! Guess ya won't ever forget her birthday date!

;~)

Vettepilot

[HighUintas]

Thanks for the congratulations! She's more perfect than I thought possible

I managed to get some sassafras pucks pressed and graded, so hopefully I'll get to see how it does in my gun tomorrow!

[Vettepilot]

For the suggestion of Plaster of Paris molds, I wish to suggest not using that.

In the art school, they teach a basic art casting with 'pewter' which has a nice low melting point - scrounged old pewter mugs and vases at up to $10 a pop from antique shops - and the molds are plaster, it has to be baked for four hours or so to remove water of crystallisation so the steam doesn't damage the casting or worse cause an explosion.

I tried plaster before I heard this, and my brass, and tin, castings in plaster molds were terrible.

For lost wax casting the commercial 'plaster' medium is called Cristobalite, it is fine ground silica(quartz?) with a plaster binder. You have to burn it out - ie melt out the wax model, then fire it at 600C for one or more hours to remove everything volatile that may compromise the finish of the casting.

I just tried casting pistons for my puck die, using the 'sharp sand' filled resin method. Perhaps plasterer's sand bound with plaster would make a more heat-stable mold than plaster itself?

I don't go to yard sales and second hand stores frequently, but I do go sometimes. I've been searching for around 5 years now, and I've lucked into finding Pewter exactly ONE time!! And even then I didn't "score" it. It was a small stand for a pocket watch, and weighed about, maybe, 4 ounces. They wanted 5 bucks for it and I passed. I don't know how/where to find Pewter.

;~(

Vettepilot

[ChrisPer]

I don't go to yard sales and second hand stores frequently, but I do go sometimes. I've been searching for around 5 years now, and I've lucked into finding Pewter exactly ONE time!! And even then I didn't "score" it. It was a small stand for a pocket watch, and weighed about, maybe, 4 ounces. They wanted 5 bucks for it and I passed. I don't know how/where to find Pewter.

;~(

Vettepilot

There was a fashion for pewter mugs as presentations in the late 1970s so you can get a few around the places you are looking. The smaller scrap metal dealers end up with the bent ones that are not salable as antiques. Pewter in modern times I think is Britannia metal, no lead in it. Malaysia exports, or once did, a lot of tin as Selangor Pewter.
Google seems to find a lot... eBay...

[ogre]

I have been very lucky on my pewter scores as of late. I notice that some people are marking as "pewter" strange metals that are mostly made of aluminum. I don't know whether these are attempted scams or genuine ignorance on their part.

[Vettepilot]

I've kind of found, if you're not sure if it's pewter, it's probably not!

Vettepilot

[ChrisPer]

So what do you gentlemen use pewter for? I sought it for casting sculpture, or alloying boolits; its hard to remember why as for a long time I have only cast soft lead.

[ogre]

I use it for bullet alloy or rather I did. I have enough hard and soft lead to last my wife and me until the end of our days. The pewter that I find now I cast into ingots for my son to use when I am gone. I wouldn't mind making a pewter powder flask for my homemade black powder though. Also, it's fun, believe it or not, to make a good score. I don't melt down art but if it is dented, banged up, screwed up or scrap I am there.