My homemade black powder

[HWooldridge]

For more volume, look at building a retort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBYaP5K0AkE

Blacksmiths (the ones who use charcoal) are always looking for high quality soft charcoal with low ash content - most soft woods will suffice.

[Richard66]

I have been following Cast Boolits for a while and joined today I have a question about sulfer for making blackpowder I made a batch with some ag sulfer and it was terrible next I used flowers of sulfer from drug store it is good but I would like to know what is the best and where to buy it thx in advance

[swamp]

I get mine from Duda diesel.

[Richard66]

I get mine from Duda diesel.

Thx are you happy with the quality of the powder it makes

[HamGunner]

Duda Diesel is where I get both my Sulfur and my Potassium Nitrate. I am happy with the powder that I have made with them. I bought the prilled Potassium Nitrate and it does require a bit more to grind it down, but I just use an electric coffee grinder and it does quite well. I screen it and regrind what does not pass until it all passes my screen. The Sulfur is good to go as is after I bust up a few clumps.

https://www.dudadiesel.com/sheets.php
https://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=sulfur
https://web.archive.org/web/20170821...er/sulfur.html

[swamp]

Yes. I also get my nitrate from them. I run the prills thru my powder grinder before milling.
swamp

[ChrisPer]

I went to my local big chain hardware's garden section for sulfur. Then I read the labels. Some has a lot of binder or filler mixed in. When I found one that said 99% Sulfur I bought it.

Edit to add: Apart from density, people testing my powder have found it close to Swiss in performance. If I could figure out how to make it as dense as Swiss I would be happy! But it seems dense DIY powder falls off the back of the performance curve.

[DoubleBuck]

I just looked on E-Bay and typed in 'Pure Sulfur', and it kicked out several. 5 pounds of Greenway '99.8%' pure, for $30, with free shipping.
I guess 10 pounds with free shipping for the $18 I gave for it don't happen any more. It appears to have doubled in price, since I last bought. BUT.....10 pounds of Sulfur will make 100 pounds of powder, too.
If you can get a good deal on 'wettable', or '90%' pure Sulfur, if you don't mind washing and drying it, all clay and 'binders' will leave Sulfur, in hot water. Sulfur is an element, and it won't dissolve in water, alcohol, or gasoline, etc. Rinse it in hot water and pour it out to dry in a pile, and you have your nearly pure Sulfur.

[indian joe]

I just looked on E-Bay and typed in 'Pure Sulfur', and it kicked out several. 5 pounds of Greenway '99.8%' pure, for $30, with free shipping.
I guess 10 pounds with free shipping for the $18 I gave for it don't happen any more. It appears to have doubled in price, since I last bought. BUT.....10 pounds of Sulfur will make 100 pounds of powder, too.
If you can get a good deal on 'wettable', or '90%' pure Sulfur, if you don't mind washing and drying it, all clay and 'binders' will leave Sulfur, in hot water. Sulfur is an element, and it won't dissolve in water, alcohol, or gasoline, etc. Rinse it in hot water and pour it out to dry in a pile, and you have your nearly pure Sulfur.

Thanks for that - I think I have a bag of that stuff stashed here someplace - never thought to wash it out - garden shop stuff is getting a bit pricey.

[mmb617]

Does anybody here grind their powder in an electric grinder with stainless steel conical burrs? I'm wondering about the safety issue. Stainless steel is generally considered non-sparking but I know there are different grades of stainless and some are probably more spark resistant than others. Of course the ads don't tell you what grade of stainless the burrs are made of.

I've been using a small DC powered grinder with ceramic burrs and while it works well it has a design flaws that causes it to break periodically. I've been able to rig it up to work after the first two breakages but it's getting to the point where I may not be able to keep it going the next time it breaks.

Last night I did a lot of research on availability of electric coffee grinders. I learned that ceramic burrs are mainly used in hand powered grinders while low end electric ones normally use steel blades and higher end electric ones often have stainless steel burrs.

I found what looks like a pretty nice KitchenAid electric grinder with stainless steel burrs for $179. That's a little pricey to me but if it could do the job long term I'd buy it.

What are your thoughts on the safety issue with this type grinder?

[LAGS]

I would not trust that Stainless Steel is Non Sparking.
IE
Some stainless steel parts stick to a magnet.
Others do not.
What is their true chemical make up.
And just because it won't stick to a magnet , what is it ?

[maillemaker]

Generally speaking, I have always heard it said to avoid grinders with metalic or steel grinding mechanisms. I use a ceramic burr coffee grinder.

[almar]

I use a cheap ceramic grinder and its manual as well. When i have large batches to process, i remove the handle and attach it to a battery drill, i remove the canister and let the grinds fall directly on the screen. If you are going to use that thing, at least make sure that the powder isn't falling into a tightly sealed container, do small batches and keep it far from other powder.

[maillemaker]

This past weekend I got out and shot my newly-made reproduction H&P .69 smoothbore musket using home made powder. It's basically indistinguishable from Goex. This is a batch I made with some willow charcoal that a user sent me.

I was shooting historical cartridges - .65" ball wrapped in paper. I shot 10 consecutive shots with no increase in the difficultly of loading.



I also shot some home made powder with historical cartridges and my Brown Bess flintlock.

I've had some difficulty getting my homemade powder to work reliably in breech loaders as the fire channel gets plugged with fouling. But in a caplock and in a flintlock, no problems.

Steve

[LAGS]

Question.
With Breech loaders,
Do you think that in the past , did they have the same issues since the powder back then wasn't as good as Factory powder is now ?

[DoubleBuck]

Maillemaker;
That's great! You need to show a little more of that rifle and tell some more about it. Did you make the stock and all, or was that part of the donor gun? It looked like it did very good. How far were you shooting and did you have group? Congratulations, to you!

[almar]

Question.
With Breech loaders,
Do you think that in the past , did they have the same issues since the powder back then wasn't as good as Factory powder is now ?

From what i hear, powder then was better. Especially english powder. Goex would have been considered to be mediocre apparently. They depended on that stuff, from hunters to marksmen to the military. When smokeless took over, all the expertise was eventually lost because why bother.

[Vettepilot]

Guys from the turn of the century and before would probably chuckle at us getting all excited about black powder now.

But I bet they would be pretty amazed at our AR15's, AR10's, 338 Lapua Magnums, and 50 BMG, among many others...

Vettepilot

[indian joe]

Does anybody here grind their powder in an electric grinder with stainless steel conical burrs? I'm wondering about the safety issue. Stainless steel is generally considered non-sparking but I know there are different grades of stainless and some are probably more spark resistant than others. Of course the ads don't tell you what grade of stainless the burrs are made of.

I've been using a small DC powered grinder with ceramic burrs and while it works well it has a design flaws that causes it to break periodically. I've been able to rig it up to work after the first two breakages but it's getting to the point where I may not be able to keep it going the next time it breaks.

Last night I did a lot of research on availability of electric coffee grinders. I learned that ceramic burrs are mainly used in hand powered grinders while low end electric ones normally use steel blades and higher end electric ones often have stainless steel burrs.

I found what looks like a pretty nice KitchenAid electric grinder with stainless steel burrs for $179. That's a little pricey to me but if it could do the job long term I'd buy it.

What are your thoughts on the safety issue with this type grinder?

Thats a no from me - have you seen any stainless that will not make a spark when you grind it?

[indian joe]

This past weekend I got out and shot my newly-made reproduction H&P .69 smoothbore musket using home made powder. It's basically indistinguishable from Goex. This is a batch I made with some willow charcoal that a user sent me.

I was shooting historical cartridges - .65" ball wrapped in paper. I shot 10 consecutive shots with no increase in the difficultly of loading.



I also shot some home made powder with historical cartridges and my Brown Bess flintlock.

I've had some difficulty getting my homemade powder to work reliably in breech loaders as the fire channel gets plugged with fouling. But in a caplock and in a flintlock, no problems.

Steve

If your powder is fouling worse than any commercial powder - that problem will go away as you figure things out
willow charcoal + quality sulphur + decent kno3 = cleaner than boughten stuff