My homemade Golden powder!

[Sledgehammers_at_Dawn]

I’m giving the dry mixture a try. Not much charcoal or iron oxide in it. It’s in my ball mill and I’ll press it tomorrow. See how long it takes to dry. Kind of humid here at the moment.

[Sledgehammers_at_Dawn]

What weights of total product are people using? I started with 100g total weight to see what would fit in my ball mill. Seemed to be right but a little more might have worked. No math works best for me

[barrabruce]

I batched 500 grains to give me about a 14 or 15 30 grain 30-30 loads.
My first batch of GP loaded with equivalent of measure of @30 grns smokeless 20+? Gp.
The load fell apart with tipping and yawing,being too slow and bullet too long.
Second batch of cooked GP which I believe turned out well I weighed 30 grains of GP and they filled 3/4 up the neck of the 30-30 cases. Seated a 150 grns paperpatched bullet on top compressing it.
Pretty well chuffed at the results.
Got a bout 2" group at 50 mtres with dry patches.
Lubed patches not so good.
Note this is in rifling that has sharp potholes and tiny yabbie holes all the way through it and I think the lubed patches are too soft and get ripped torn and a braided away.
One can only push a patch to clean from chamber to muzzle as trying to bring it back the other way it comes out a torn mess.

One of the best groups I have got out of it so far.
I’m not sure if I should wipe between shots or shoot until it falls apart.
Nice plume of white smoke that doesn’t stink.
Fouling was a tea colour coming out the bore with hot water poured through.
Velocity who knows.
Seemed to clean up easy enough, but will swab out tomorrow and see.

I may get a group out of this gun yet.
It’s only for ****s and giggles shooting.
See how others go with it all.
I may have to make more than the 20 cases I have for this weird chambered gun.
Having fun regardless.

[Nobade]

That is great results for kitchen stove gunpowder! I haven't tried it in cartridge rifles yet, looks like it needs a go there.

[HamGunner]

Although I don't guess I really have a need for any of the Golden Powders, I plan on testing some just for fun. Who knows, I might find an abundance of Ascorbic Acid sometime. That seems to be the most expensive part of the ingredients.

I have about 1/4 lb. of the Golden cooked up and screened. Found that one of my Teflon-lined mini crock pots plugged into a rheostat worked out perfectly to control the heat and it does not stick to the pot. Waiting on some Red Iron Oxide so I can make up about the same size batch of the dry milled & pressed. Fun & games.

I am anxious to see how this stuff does. I have a short CVA .32 cal. Squirrel carbine that fouls easily with Black. This might be a winner for it if the speed is decent and the fouling is less.

[Nobade]

I thought I could be as cool as some of you and post a picture of my target but the site says it's an invalid file. So you'll just have to use your imagination. I loaded 10 rounds of 30-30 with the RCBS 150 cowboy bullet and as much crimson powder as I could get in the case. Fired it through an old Marlin with microgroove rifling, at 100 yards. First shot was just outside the black (4 inches) and the other 9 went into the black with three in the X ring. No fouling to speak of, doesn't feel quite as powerful as black powder but certainly is respectable. I'd guess maybe 1400 fps. Funny thing is the barrel doesn't get nearly as hot as when using black powder. It's also sort of amusing getting to load cartridges with what looks like dirt. And load data is easy, just fill it up and stick a bullet on top. What I'm seeing is the more pressure we can generate, the better this works. I am planning on taking it to the extreme that I can, and try some in the 6.5x55. If anybody has a RUM or some sort that would be even better. Also, these are plain base bullets, no gas check, normal smokeless lube, and no leading or fouling. Pretty neat stuff, probably would be ideal for cowboy action shooting.

And HamGunner, the crimson powder was terrible in my 32 caliber Cherokee. Curious to hear how it works in your CVA rifle.

[HWooldridge]

Nobade,

Did you compress the GP, similar to what is usually done with BP cartridges?

[2TM101]

I talked about the white powder, (nitrate and starch), no one commented... did you already know? Has anyone tried it?

Just got back from Ralphs with the Argo corn starch (Gluten Free!), but its raining here and will be for days and I do all of this stuff outside.

So far golden powder is a go, but next batch I will actually puck & corn it just like BP as what I have made so far is not very dense - just like regular riced BP like I made four years ago that proved to be no good for revolvers it was so weak.

Crimson powder is as good as regular BP but making it is not for anyone new to this (Like I was in 2019)

"White Powder" could have one big advantage as the components are really cheap, and you can use cheap lube as there is no sulfur. I cannot find any reference as to how powerful this stuff would actually be. It will be the next thing I make after the rain lets up.

I got a couple of Knight Inline .50's off gunbroker cheap that I do all of this testing in. Ones that use the primers I can make, not 209's

[indian joe]

[QUOTE=2TM101;5684083]Just got back from Ralphs with the Argo corn starch (Gluten Free!), but its raining here and will be for days and I do all of this stuff outside.

So far golden powder is a go, but next batch I will actually puck & corn it just like BP as what I have made so far is not very dense - just like regular riced BP like I made four years ago that proved to be no good for revolvers it was so weak.

We use screened blackpowder in our revolvers all the time - fill the cylinder right to the top - compress the charge with the loading lever - insert round ball as normal - grease over top - good to go - definitely NOT weak charges .....................

[Nobade]

Nobade,

Did you compress the GP, similar to what is usually done with BP cartridges?

Just with the bullet. I didn't use a compression die.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

My first batch was made just now. Pictures and video coming soon.

First attempt I used too much water and everything disappeared into solution.

Second attempt was perfect. I just cranked my little heater on high and let it rip. It turned a nice deep gold color and dried as hard as a rock.

I started with 100grams 60/40 mix. The stuff was too hard to break up with my rolling pin without smacking it like a hammer. So that's what I did until they were bean size and could fit in my ceramic grinder. My yield was 27grams of rifle/shotgun size, 34grams of pistol, and 23grams of fines which I'm not sure what to do with. Any ideas on how to recycle it?

Clean up with the pan was easy with hot water, but impossible to remove by any other means.

Initial burn tests were good. I can tell it's not as fast as my finest black.

It doesn't have any give to it so I doubt you can compress it, only crunch it into more dust.

If this works we'll have to find a better method of making large batches.

[Sandro_ventania]

My first batch was made just now. Pictures and video coming soon.

First attempt I used too much water and everything disappeared into solution.

Second attempt was perfect. I just cranked my little heater on high and let it rip. It turned a nice deep gold color and dried as hard as a rock.

I started with 100grams 60/40 mix. The stuff was too hard to break up with my rolling pin without smacking it like a hammer. So that's what I did until they were bean size and could fit in my ceramic grinder. My yield was 27grams of rifle/shotgun size, 34grams of pistol, and 23grams of fines which I'm not sure what to do with. Any ideas on how to recycle it?

Clean up with the pan was easy with hot water, but impossible to remove by any other means.

Initial burn tests were good. I can tell it's not as fast as my finest black.

It doesn't have any give to it so I doubt you can compress it, only crunch it into more dust.

If this works we'll have to find a better method of making large batches.

the fines you can re-dissolve in water and dry to make a new cake. But I would mix it with pistol powder.

[Sandro_ventania]

My friend Ofitg reminded me of this site that Nobade had posted before, in the black powder topic. There he shows a method to be reproductive, so that we always have a powder with the same characteristics. Note in the article that, based on the tests they carried out, the GP performed the same or even 10% better than the BP... it has some very interesting test data. It is worth reading the article carefully. I just wouldn't worry about using potassium bicarbonate...in this case the proportion used was 62.7 nitrate and 37.3 ascorbic acid....63 and 37 for simplicity. I tested this proportion and found it really good. Simply dissolve in hot water and dry in an oven at 120°C. Read!


https://pyrodata.com/PyroGuide/index...den_Powder.htm

[Sandro_ventania]

I batched 500 grains to give me about a 14 or 15 30 grain 30-30 loads.
My first batch of GP loaded with equivalent of measure of @30 grns smokeless 20+? Gp.
The load fell apart with tipping and yawing,being too slow and bullet too long.
Second batch of cooked GP which I believe turned out well I weighed 30 grains of GP and they filled 3/4 up the neck of the 30-30 cases. Seated a 150 grns paperpatched bullet on top compressing it.
Pretty well chuffed at the results.
Got a bout 2" group at 50 mtres with dry patches.
Lubed patches not so good.
Note this is in rifling that has sharp potholes and tiny yabbie holes all the way through it and I think the lubed patches are too soft and get ripped torn and a braided away.
One can only push a patch to clean from chamber to muzzle as trying to bring it back the other way it comes out a torn mess.

One of the best groups I have got out of it so far.
I’m not sure if I should wipe between shots or shoot until it falls apart.
Nice plume of white smoke that doesn’t stink.
Fouling was a tea colour coming out the bore with hot water poured through.
Velocity who knows.
Seemed to clean up easy enough, but will swab out tomorrow and see.

I may get a group out of this gun yet.
It’s only for ****s and giggles shooting.
See how others go with it all.
I may have to make more than the 20 cases I have for this weird chambered gun.
Having fun regardless.

Very good! And look, if you need more power for some reason, a duplex charge should do the trick...it'll still be an economical shot! Keep posting your encouraging results!

[Sandro_ventania]

Does anyone have citric acid to test? Use in place of ascorbic acid. A small batch of 100 grains, just to test viability.

[2TM101]

[QUOTE=indian joe;5684098]

Just got back from Ralphs with the Argo corn starch (Gluten Free!), but its raining here and will be for days and I do all of this stuff outside.

So far golden powder is a go, but next batch I will actually puck & corn it just like BP as what I have made so far is not very dense - just like regular riced BP like I made four years ago that proved to be no good for revolvers it was so weak.

We use screened blackpowder in our revolvers all the time - fill the cylinder right to the top - compress the charge with the loading lever - insert round ball as normal - grease over top - good to go - definitely NOT weak charges .....................

Thinking back I was not using a binder and may have been using a charcoal source that was not the best either, I was just starting out. Screened powder worked in my rifle and Walker revolver, the others didn't hold enough powder. I probably could have learned to make better screened powder but I went to the ball mill & the press, as well as using commercial charcoal from a fireworks company.

Now my charcoal is made from the contents of the paper shredder at work. Making it into charcoal and firing it out of a gun is SCI grade top secret document destruction......

[2TM101]

Very good! And look, if you need more power for some reason, a duplex charge should do the trick...it'll still be an economical shot! Keep posting your encouraging results!

I made up several boxes of 9mm with 2 grains of W244 topped with a half CC of Golden. Straight GP or BP will not cycle a Glock.

I have now fired hundreds of .38 special consisting of 2.83 grains of W244 (the lowest setting my lee powder measure will go to) Topped with 1CC of Golden, which fills up the case. For reference 4.5 grains is a normal W244 load and I could co as high as 6 grains of W244 as this is a .357. Sounds like smokeless but looks like Black Powder.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

the fines you can re-dissolve in water and dry to make a new cake. But I would mix it with pistol powder.

Do you heat the water? How do you prevent overcooking?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I made up several boxes of 9mm with 2 grains of W244 topped with a half CC of Golden. Straight GP or BP will not cycle a Glock.

I have now fired hundreds of .38 special consisting of 2.83 grains of W244 (the lowest setting my lee powder measure will go to) Topped with 1CC of Golden, which fills up the case. For reference 4.5 grains is a normal W244 load and I could co as high as 6 grains of W244 as this is a .357. Sounds like smokeless but looks like Black Powder.

What size GP are you using? Does size even matter with this stuff?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Video of my first experience.
https://youtu.be/0MDtkp_UYDA?si=RxzJARHtUX_Jf4CA