Making Pyrodex ffffg powder?

When the manufacturers do this kind of thing....corning powder into different granulations.....they do it at a distance and by remote control. There are good reasons for that.
Using a mortar and pestle to work powder is the oldest way of doing it...And the most dangerous.
Pyrodex does have a higher ignition point than BP. Still......how much higher?
Dan Pawlak invented Pyrodex and was killed when his plant blew up. “Not the same thing at all!” Correct. It is not. But the stuff can blow up and a mortar and pestle are right under your nose.
You only have to be wrong once.

First... Why? What would 4f pyrodex be good for?

Second... As long as you use a non sparking morter and pestle, grinding small amounts of BP or pyrodex is plenty safe.

Back on Nov. 14, I wrote about how gunpowder (blackpowder) was made by the duPont company during the Revolutionary War. They had stone huts, semicircular in shape, with the open side facing the Brandywine River. In the huts were giant stone discs on which rolled stone cylinders pulled by mules. It was arranged like that because explosions were inevitable, even just having non-iron tools for grinding the powder. Those huts are still there. So I don't think ANY type of mortar and pestle would be safe.

noelf2 said:

First... Why? What would 4f pyrodex be good for?

Second... As long as you use a non sparking morter and pestle, grinding small amounts of BP or pyrodex is plenty safe.

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Perhaps not deadly but seldom mentioned is the burns can be quite severe, even disfiguring if you have a mishap. At least protect your precious eyes if you choose to dabble. I must admit I am not practiced in this kind of stuff but a mortar and pestle sounds crude.

Grafs still has ffffg in all brands.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/3501

If you're worried, wearing safety glasses, leather gloves and long sleeves sounds like plenty of precaution to grind a teaspoon of pyrodex.

Small amounts in a non sparking mortar and pestle is safe. Even if it does catch a spark its not in a compressed setting so the most you would get a "poof" ...flash and smoke..but no explosion. Just wear safety glasses, long sleeves, ans gloves. Now i see the point in doing this with black powder, and even for making small amounts of black powder at a time... but not with pyrodex. Also wear a mask...the dust WILL get into your respiratory system...black snot and all.

I'm curious as to why. Four f is mainly for pan priming and I seriously doubt Pyrodex would ignite well enough to serve there.

Throw away the Pyrodex and just use BP

Older flinter used to grind his priming powder at the range between two brass spoons. Took a while to fill his priming horn but he rarely had any misfires. FWIW that range site is now under the Sachs 5th ave store in Folsom outlets in Folsom CA.

There are places where black powder just simply is not available, I live in such a place for now. I don't think the OP will accomplish anything by grinding Pyrodex into a fine powder. 777 is also about the same granulation as 4 f black and it won't work as priming powder. My experience has been stick with Black for rocklocks and if nothing else is available use a substitute for caplocks.

noelf2 said:

First... Why? What would 4f pyrodex be good for?

Second... As long as you use a non sparking morter and pestle, grinding small amounts of BP or pyrodex is plenty safe.

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1. Nothing.

2. You go right ahead, I'll pass. I don't have anything that needs finer powder than the Pyrodex 'P' I already have. If I did, I'd order FFFG form Graf's.

beag_nut said:

Back on Nov. 14, I wrote about how gunpowder (blackpowder) was made by the duPont company during the Revolutionary War. They had stone huts, semicircular in shape, with the open side facing the Brandywine River. In the huts were giant stone discs on which rolled stone cylinders pulled by mules. It was arranged like that because explosions were inevitable, even just having non-iron tools for grinding the powder. Those huts are still there. So I don't think ANY type of mortar and pestle would be safe.

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If those huts are still there, it alludes to no accidents by grinding BLACK POWDER. Pyrodex is a crappy substitute for black powder that always was "iffy" in my guns for reliable ignition. If the crappy stuff isn't reliable in a perfect setting, why should it it be dangerous in a much less perfect system??

The huts are still there because they are massively built, of stone. The open river side is where the blast was designed to blow through. Don't remember the exact name of the museum on the grounds, but it gets into detail about all of it. Besides mules, they also lost some men occasionally. It's a neato place to visit, especially with the beautiful slow Brandywine River and gingko trees on its shores.

Is there anywhere in the USA BP can't be bought, or ordered like from Grafs ? I'm just curious.

I doubt 4F Pyrodex would be a good option for a flintlock, but crushing a teaspoon of it isn't going to blow your house up.
If the OP does try Pyrodex in a flash pan I'd be interested to hear how it goes.

paul harm said:

Is there anywhere in the USA BP can't be bought, or ordered like from Grafs ? I'm just curious.

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Powder, Inc only ships black powder to the lower 48.

Patocazador said:

Pyrodex is a crappy substitute for black powder that always was "iffy" in my guns for reliable ignition

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Here's the dirty little secret....get it?...we're talking black powder, and there is a "dirty" little secret...

(OK if I was good at making jokes I'd be doing stand-up-comedy in Vegas)

Pyrodex IS black powder...that's why it's so corrosive. What the inventor did was to swap out some of the Potassium Chloride for Potassium Permanganate, AND reduced the sulfur, from normal levels found in black powder.
The sulfur helps the real black powder ignite at a lower temp that you get from a spark from a flintlock frizzen, or in a large amount from a cap on a caplock. Which is why it's crap for flinters

The swapping out of the straight potassium chloride, and the reduced sulfur made it more stable, and thus mom and pop gunshops could then provide something that would be useable in caplock rifles, without needing the storage area that a lot of places mandate for BP storage.

LD

beag_nut said:

The huts are still there because they are massively built, of stone. The open river side is where the blast was designed to blow through. Don't remember the exact name of the museum on the grounds, but it gets into detail about all of it. Besides mules, they also lost some men occasionally. It's a neato place to visit, especially with the beautiful slow Brandywine River and gingko trees on its shores.

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I believe you are thinking of the Hagley museum. It's not far at all from me but I have never got around to going.

hillbilly matt said:

I believe you are thinking of the Hagley museum. It's not far at all from me but I have never got around to going.

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That's it. Thank you for reminding me.

I've ground goex 2ff to 4ffff on a anvil using a hammer no explosion and if it does go off a spoon full of unconfined powder will at most burn the hair off your hands common sense says don't be grinding your powder in a magazine next to 500 lbs of powder also I've hit goex with a hammer on a anvil multiple times and it didn't explode black powder is not nitroglycerin it may legally be an explosive but technically it's a propellent sorry for the rant but I'm annoyed by people who think poring black powder from a can will blow there house up

Ethan sherman said:

I've ground goex 2ff to 4ffff on a anvil using a hammer no explosion and if it does go off a spoon full of unconfined powder will at most burn the hair off your hands common sense says don't be grinding your powder in a magazine next to 500 lbs of powder also I've hit goex with a hammer on a anvil multiple times and it didn't explode black powder is not nitroglycerin it may legally be an explosive but technically it's a propellent sorry for the rant but I'm annoyed by people who think poring black powder from a can will blow there house up

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I think the pouring concern comes from static spark. Alot of static electricity can build up when powder moves, the resulting arc can be pretty impressive in the dark. Its a long shot concern but does exist, just like at the gas pump, and its amplified during winter months due to dryness.

milemaker13 said:

I think the pouring concern comes from static spark. Alot of static electricity can build up when powder moves, the resulting arc can be pretty impressive in the dark. Its a long shot concern but does exist, just like at the gas pump, and its amplified during winter months due to dryness.

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Ya I definitely will say be safe around black powder but I've seen people act like it's hot nitro and crucify any one that handles it less the fear around it is why it's hard to get now