My homemade Golden powder!

[Sandro_ventania]

Hello charcoal burners!
Just as the topic of black powder was successful, bringing a lot of knowledge and allowing many to be successful in producing their homemade black powder. A discussion began there about golden powder... a substitute for black powder, easier to make at home, much cleaner and even allows you to use common gun grease.
The basic recipe is just 60% potassium nitrate and 40% ascorbic acid (easily found on Amazon).
An increase of 5% iron oxide makes it still not strong... We call it crimson powder, because due to the oxide, it turns that color!
I ask friends who are testing golden powder to enrich the topic with photos, impressions about it and data.
Doubts? Just ask!

[owejia]

Started following the bp stickie this winter, have read the whole thing. The thread about the Golden Powder caught my interest. Simple recipe with good results. Am still gathering my stuff for making bp. Will use sassafras, willow and probably tp for my charcoal. Don't need to harvest wood and cook charcoal for the Golden Powder. Will be following this thread daily. Something simple for an old guy to make. Grandson started bp muzzle loading hunting this year so will need to learn all we can, hopefully the Golden Powder thread will create a large following as well.

[Nobade]

I'm in on this thread as well. The OP pointed me to this video:
https://youtu.be/nfGSVG3bhBY?si=Xk46SSK929664QNS
that clarified the technique used to make these propellants. I already had plenty of potassium nitrate from black powder making, and was able to source fairly cheap pure vitamin C powder on the jungle site. My first two batches didn't do much but once I realized how agressively it needs to be cooked, the third batch is quite useful. It is rather light weight compared to black powder, so in a revolver or cartridges it isn't going to be very powerful but in a muzzle loader you can add more. Per weight, it is close to the power of normal black powder. It just takes up a lot more space. This morning I tried it in a flintlock for two shots. The first was fairly normal but a little slow. The second took several attempts to get it to fire, but it finally did. It has been 100% reliable in caplock guns. This is certainly an interesting propellant to play with, and being able to make small batches of in the kitchen with no special equipment is a real bonus. I don't know how hard it would be to get it to ignite while being prepared, but i'm sure that is possible if you let it get too hot and dry. Use common sense here and keep a fire extinguisher handy just in case.

[Sandro_ventania]

The secret is to pay attention to the color... potassium nitrate and ascorbic acid are white... when dissolved in water and heated, as soon as the water dries they begin to fuse, the temperature begins to rise and the color changes. change to yellow, the hotter it gets, the darker it gets... until it reaches the ignition point, when the color should certainly be dark caramel. So the secret is to remove it from the heat when the color is just yellow. They say it's hygroscopic, but I've had golden powder stored for 1 year and it's still good, make small batches for use, when you're running out, make more... and everything will be perfect!

[Sandro_ventania]

golden powder (1 year storage) and Black powder.

[LAGS]

Thank you for starting this separate thread on this Golden Powder.
It isn't something I am going to be doing much with.
But having other options to play with is very nice.

[2TM101]

The optimal formula is this:

Potassium nitrate 64.3
Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) 32.1
Charcoal 1.8
Iron oxide (red) 1.8

Still charcoal in it, just not much. If you make it the way shown in the video you get the equivalent of riced BP where you are pushing a blob through a sieve. Chemically correct, but "fluffy"

You can also mix it dry using this same formula and puck and corn it just like BP. However as there is no Sulfur you will need a binder. A popular Binder is Dextrin - and you can make that yourself as well.

[Nobade]

Good info, thanks!

[HWooldridge]

Following.

[Swineherd]

Been watching all of your Golden powder activities with great interest.
I don't see a tremendous advantage in it, so far as the manufacture, BUT the ultra low fouling characteristics of golden powder are certainly interesting. Please keep sharing, all of you, and thanks.

[2TM101]

Been watching all of your Golden powder activities with great interest. I don't see a tremendous advantage in it, so far as the manufacture, BUT the ultra low fouling characteristics of golden powder are certainly interesting. Please keep sharing, all of you, and thanks.

If you already have the press and the ball mill to make regular black powder its a novelty. Many people do not live where they can run a ball mill, or have a garage they can set a hydraulic press up in. Or for that matter a place they can leave pucks drying for a week. How it can be made may be a bigger advantage than how it can be used.

For Golden Powder you need a pot and a stove. And if you want to make your own dextrin an oven, but the toaster oven I use for powder coating does that just fine

And since nobody has mentioned this yet, you may wonder why its not just called "Yellow Powder". The term already existed and its a fireworks composition you can't use in a gun.

[Sandro_ventania]

Nobade has proof that mixing the components alone does not give good results. Merging the two components is what makes it good. And to take advantage of the little dirt in this powder, I wouldn't add charcoal...(only if the intention is to imitate the appearance of BP). The biggest advantages of golden powder are the ease of manufacturing, cleaning and the ability to use petroleum-based greases and oils, common in weapons products.

[DoubleBuck]

Thanks, Sandro!
I'll be following the thread, as well.

[dtknowles]

Following.

[Richard66]

Ok I have a question . It seems you can do a dry mix for this powder so can it be milled in a ball mill tumbler and moistened with alcohol then pressed into pucks and finally ground This is how I do black powder

[MrWolf]

Very interesting and thanks for the info. I will be following this.

[Sandro_ventania]

Ok I have a question . It seems you can do a dry mix for this powder so can it be milled in a ball mill tumbler and moistened with alcohol then pressed into pucks and finally ground This is how I do black powder

You will only be complicating what is simple and you will still not achieve the same result. What is simpler than cooking the ingredients until they become a paste and once cold, they will be hard. Just grind and use!

[Richard66]

OK THX I was just wondering also what is the best formula for the mixture

[Swineherd]

If you already have the press and the ball mill to make regular black powder its a novelty. Many people do not live where they can run a ball mill, or have a garage they can set a hydraulic press up in. Or for that matter a place they can leave pucks drying for a week. How it can be made may be a bigger advantage than how it can be used.

For Golden Powder you need a pot and a stove. And if you want to make your own dextrin an oven, but the toaster oven I use for powder coating does that just fine

And since nobody has mentioned this yet, you may wonder why its not just called "Yellow Powder". The term already existed and its a fireworks composition you can't use in a gun.

Excellent point. When considering the manufacture I did take for granted a ball mill and press. I had really only considered availability of ingredients, which I think is actually better for BP.

[2TM101]

Excellent point. When considering the manufacture I did take for granted a ball mill and press. I had really only considered availability of ingredients, which I think is actually better for BP.

Sandro is right dry mixing produces inferior results with this stuff. I did this at first because I thought it to be safer but the ignition point on GP is actually pretty high so that was not needed.

I was originally very hesitant to put something intended to be an explosive on an actual stove. this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGSVG3bhBY is not in English and has no subtitles, but you can tell from watching it what the process is. Trick is to take it off heat when it actually is "Golden Powder" and not a darker color. He then breaks it up while it is hardening and then puts it in a coffee grinder, giving him a pile of 5F. I leave mine a blob and from that point on treat it like a puck of BP. I need to find me a teflon cupcake pan and remember not to make lead ingots with it so I can make actual GP pucks. Don't use a plain pan as it will stick.

The second formula he makes includes red iron oxide - better powder but only after you have a bit of experience making the 2 component version as this stuff is a dark red from the beginning and so is a lot harder to tell when it is ready. Not for beginners.

Make the 2 component stuff (3 parts KNO3, 2 parts Ascorbic) until you are very comfortable with how it feels when its correct. Then try the 4 part formula. It is slightly better but does not give you the visual clues as to when its ready.