Document about about U.S. Military use of black powder in the mid to late 20th century.

4 million pounds of consumption by the us army in 67 and 68, 1.5 million in 69, 800,000 pounds in 1970. Wow. I knew it was used in Vietnam but I always assumed it to be in older munitions that were used up and disposed of.

Very dry read, but very interesting information if the military manual speak was reduced to normal human speak... and 3 pages instead of whatever that was.

I think the primary use of black powder in modern artillery is in primers. These primers are based on 45-70 shells. Over on you-tube there are videos of soldiers firing 155 mm howitzers and/or rifles and the last thing done before firing is inserting a primer.

Spent 20+ years in US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal and 30 additional years as a military advisor to foreign militaries, EOD, ammunition destruction, etc. i managed the destruction of unserviceable ammunition from Desert Storm, some 20,000 tons.

The US military used/uses black powder in the ejection charges, in ignitors of artillery propellant charges, in artillery primers, in flares, in ignitors of rocket motors and lots of other stuff. For many years the military has worked to find replacement/s for black powder. Substitutes were found for many uses. The Army has replaced black powder in some artillery propellent charge ignitors with Clean Burning Ignitor (CBI) . The ignitor is attached to the rear of the base charge or base of the single increment charge. The ignitor of some propellant charges contains both black powder and CBI.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/155-prop.htm

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-12/documents/06-9530596.pdf

WestKentucky said:

4 million pounds of consumption by the us army in 67 and 68, 1.5 million in 69, 800,000 pounds in 1970. Wow. I knew it was used in Vietnam but I always assumed it to be in older munitions that were used up and disposed of.

Very dry read, but very interesting information if the military manual speak was reduced to normal human speak... and 3 pages instead of whatever that was.

Click to expand...

I wasnt aware of the continued use of BP. If it ain't broke...

That sounds like a lot until you see how much smokeless was used. Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (Sunflower Ordinance Works) made 145 Million pounds of powder for Vietnam. 165M for Korea, and 200M for WWII. It was the largest smokeless plant at its inception in '41, sitting on 10,000 acres. I drove by the southern edge of SFAAP one day, on some backwoods dirt roads, and stumbled upon multiple tanks, troop trucks, and at least 100 troops dressed in full gear. I almost had to change my shorts. I supposed they were just doing training exercises.

All of the battleships' big guns use canisters of black powder as propellants. If some of you remember the USS Iowa's accident with a gun turret that exploded and killed dozens of sailors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_turret_explosion

As others have said, black powder still has plenty of uses for the military.

When I was stationed at Ft Devens, Ma in 1991, we used a black powder cannon and muskets for the funeral detail team. We even wore colonial era uniforms. Man them wool uniforms were no fun in the summer time.

Patocazador said:

All of the battleships' big guns use canisters of black powder as propellants. If some of you remember the USS Iowa's accident with a gun turret that exploded and killed dozens of sailors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_turret_explosion

Click to expand...

Sorry to have to correct you on this. I spent two years on the New Jersey. The big guns used 600 pounds of Smokeless and only 60 pounds of the Holy Black. (per shot) The black powder is a priming charge, 10 pounds at the base of each 100 pound bag of Smokeless.

In any event, black powder is still used for ejection seats. Both the initial ejection charge (there's a rocket sustainer) and for the charge that blasts the chute out of its container and blows it open.