Made my first batch of Black Powder

[AlaskanGuy]

No Problem Sir.. thanks TB

[AlaskanGuy]

Wooooo hoooooo.... Shot my home made BP today... Gave a great thump and loud crack...... And shot well at 100 yards... Yeeeeee haw...

[starmac]

Great to hear a success story. This is getting me interested now, and I don't NEED to be. lol

[AlaskanGuy]

Lol.... Ahhh milton, you need to check it out... I sent you the recipe already... Kinda fun...

[johnson1942]

i know nothing about makeing powder, so heres a question. is it possible to make powder like blackhorn 209 at home your self?

[nodda duma]

Interesting to read. My first batch was last month and it burns significantly faster than Pyrodex. I think it was the corn size since I used a fine mesh. I'm wondering if I ought to test it in a BP rifle or make a batch using a larger mesh screen so it burns slower.

I used charcoal I made from white birch.

[AlaskanGuy]

Gosh Roger, i have no Idea... I have never even seen a can of blackhorn 209... I am sure that a craftsman like you, with pratice, can make something much better then blackhorn... When making it yourself, you control the outcome sir... Its like finishing your rifle stock sir... In the beginning, you wonder how those things are sooooo soft and beautiful, and it seems like magic, but once understood, you realize at with pratice and patience, you can do just as well, if not better sir....

Give it a go my friend, and I can email you some stuff that will make it easier sir, if need be....

AG

[johnson1942]

to be honest in the learning process i just may get to heaven earlier that i was supposed to. what a obituary, he went out with a bang. i have often thought that why cant they coat black powder with a little coating of something that makes it burn cleaner and not really change the way it goes off by no more than 10 percent. if that was done that would be a real contribution to the black powder shooting world. by the way we have a real blizzard going on out side, supposed to last 3 days. thousands of calves dropping around here, bad time to do it. i always said is easier to die out side in march and april than any other month. 75 degrees yesterday and to day i cant see the road. i love this high desert but you got to be careful here.

[AlaskanGuy]

Yea, I heard about the blizzards around here right now.... Just glad we aint getting it.....

I have a very nice video that I can email you if you would like... Pretty much spells it out... It was easy enough and safe enough for me to do it in the house... I made it using the wet method, and used a cheap bladed coffee grinder to grind to airfloat... It was easy.... Combined the stuff in a pot with a bit of water and stirred it over medium heat till it bubbled, and strained it, made a ball, and corned it.... That was pretty much all there is to it... 75 / 15 / 10 is the mix....

I have been working with the chemistry class at school... I am teaching the kids to make rockets out of various different fuels, like sugar/potasiam, and black powder fuels.. It is a blast..

AG

[johnson1942]

im sure it is as safe as you say but i will stick with building and shooting guns.wont be long untill my new muzzle loader is done then i will post that one here. thanks for the offer. now i have a close friend that may take you up on that. he would love to make his own powder. he is from london and moved here a couple of years ago and took to the west with a passion. he has bought more guns than ive even shot. he bought two of my mountain man .50 cal roundball side locks. ill give him a call.

[Fly]

What,s funny is I have for years, been trying to get people to making there own BP.
When I first came to this very form I got alot of flack.Things as your crazy, & will blow
your self up, & so on.

I,m not saying people should quit buying the over the counter powder.It does group
a little better than what we make.But it if fun making your own & shooting that first
shot.But with all said KEEP IT SAFE.Remember sparks & heat are what gets people
in trouble.

Do not get careless.
Fly

[AlaskanGuy]

Good for you Fly...... Just a perfect of example of folks saying, "If you sail too far to the west, you will fall off the edge of the earth"... It always takes pioneers to pave the way.... You did it.. and our Fore Fathers did it... And really, although it is time consuming a bit, it is a Blast... just like casting... and there is a learning curve..

Any Technology, not understood, can seem like Magic... Once understood, can become an everyday addiction.. I am working on my 3rd Batch... Grinding willow Charcoal as we speak.

AG

[starmac]

Last I checked I can buy real black commercial black for 20 bucks a pound, soo making my own is not that important. But on the other hand having the knowledge and ability to confidently make it, would guarantee that my grandkids could continue to shoot years from now, when there possibly would be no other option. PLUS it would be fun.

[johnson1942]

times are changeing and people want to take control of their own lives. remember when you were you were young and their was no such thing as garbage. on the ranch in n.dak. in the 40/s and 50/s i dont think we even knew what that word ment. now every other day im going to town with sacks of garbage. its the same with every thing. as the poet said, simplefy, simplefy, simplefy. the south fought with black powder that for a large part was made in batches in the back country when they couldnt get british powder. they used nitrogen from manure heaps. i bet you guys home made powder would shoot good groups in my guns, i love tweeking things to make them work. my native friends keep telling me i must be part native as i can get things done with nothing to start with. well they are part right. my dad was full blood sami norwegian. sami norwegians are 2/3rds viking white and 1/3 mongol. a good mixture for tough surviveing.

[AlaskanGuy]

I emailed some stuff for your review Roger..... Take a Peek sir.... Its fun.... and just adds another dimension to your Black Powder Fun.... SOme of the stuff I emails ya are for your eyes only, not for the grandkids.. LOL

[Boz330]

Last I checked I can buy real black commercial black for 20 bucks a pound, soo making my own is not that important. But on the other hand having the knowledge and ability to confidently make it, would guarantee that my grandkids could continue to shoot years from now, when there possibly would be no other option. PLUS it would be fun.

Several years ago there was an attempt to regulate BP to the point it wouldn't be available to the general public. So far it is still available for sporting use but the way things are going in this country who knows for how long. Dynamite was available to anyone who needed it just for signing some forms and paying for it less that 40 years ago. Try and get some now.
If you know how to make BP you are set. I've been hunting with mine for the last 3 seasons and for that it works just fine. I use store bought for competition though since I'm shooting out to 1000yd with it. Any kind of variation in velocity at those distances plays havoc with POI.

Bob

[bigted]

Last I checked I can buy real black commercial black for 20 bucks a pound, soo making my own is not that important. But on the other hand having the knowledge and ability to confidently make it, would guarantee that my grandkids could continue to shoot years from now, when there possibly would be no other option. PLUS it would be fun.

wowww ... when was the last time you bought powder [good real blackpowder as in GOEX] for 20 bucks a pound up here? I just seen Swanny and received unto myself 5 pounds of 2F at 30 bucks each ... am I getting hosed?

[AlaskanGuy]

Nope.. You just paid the Alaskan Price

[starmac]

wowww ... when was the last time you bought powder [good real blackpowder as in GOEX] for 20 bucks a pound up here? I just seen Swanny and received unto myself 5 pounds of 2F at 30 bucks each ... am I getting hosed?

LOL Apparently it has gone up. Swannys price, probably a year and a half ago was 20 bucks. I would bet his price with shipping has gone up in the last year or so.

[Whiterabbit]

I am going to confirm my scale's accuracy tonight and may put in some bulk rice for a few days to see if the problem is water as Houston has been extremely wet during the last 3 or 4 months.

We'll find out just what is going on and fix it.

sort of off topic, but I want an update as to your experience. Did you shoot your slow stuff? How does it shoot compared to commercial? Did you try a new recipe? what did you change? how did that affect the resulting product?