Homemade BP

[achysklic]

I am new to this but hooked. I bought a 1858 stainless Remmy last week and ordered a blue one this week. I also bought a ball mill, salt peter, sulfar, and hardwood charcoal. I made my first batch of BP and fell in love with the process.

I am also casting my own bullets. .454 round ball and conicals. I will mostly be shooting the round balls in the guns.

Here's my question, How many grains of the homemade BP should I shoot in the guns?

Does the stainless shoot the same grain wise?

Just want all bases covered....Thanks

 

[robhof]

I would use the same volume recommended for your gun of powder, you might have to adjust it up some to equal some powders. B/p varies, depending on the quality of it's components, as Swiss is hotter than Goex, but the batches they are made are large and very consistent, resulting in very close can to can consistency. Home brewed can vary due to many factors, but B/p is very forgiving of minor variances. Start low and work up to a confortable load. Blued and stainless are close enough in strength to be considered equal, as far as loads are considered.

 

[ofitg]

Achyskil, how fast does your homemade BP burn, compared to factory BP?

Put 25 or 30 grains of homemade BP on a metal plate and form it into a thin line about 6 inches long. When you ignite one end of the line, does the entire line burn up in a split-second "poof", just like factory BP?

I'm thinking that homemade BP will never be more potent than factory BP (as long as you use standard ingredients), but there's a strong possibility that it will be less potent than factory BP.

If it was me, I'd probably load 25 or 30 grains into a .44 Remmie behind a round ball, and then hope that the homemade BP was at least potent enough to push the ball all the way through the barrel.
If you have a chronograph, you can actually measure how well your homemade BP stacks up against the factory stuff..... it's "possible" that your first batch of BP is just as good as store-bought BP, but it's not very likely. You might have to experiment with different preparation methods, etc.

 

[achysklic]

I haven't bought any factory BP, I guess I can go out and buy a pound so I can do side by side comparisons until I get my home made stuff down pat.

I thought the home made BP would be abit more powerful than commerical fffg.

 

[ofitg]

When I got interested in homemade BP last year, I had to make several adjustments before I was satisfied that my stuff was comparable to factory BP. Comparing my powder to Goex 3Fg on a weight-for-weight basis, I have been able to exceed the Goex velocities, but I think it's because my homebrew powder is not compressed into hard, dense granules.... it's kinda soft and crumbly, and it would probably be better to compare it with factory 4Fg.
I don't know of any way for the "home brewer" to compress the powder into hard, dense granules like the factories do. They have been using 20-ton steel wheels for this purpose over the past 150 years.... I guess our homemade powder is more similar to the factory BP produced during the early 1800s and before.

 

[Busyhands94]

i think most of us have made black powder in one form or another when we were kids. i used to buy my saltpeter at the hardware store as stump remover, but i went to buy some a few weeks ago and discovered they have this new stuff that isn't saltpeter. i asked the guy if they had stump remover with potassium nitrate in it, i decided to see if they have plumbers lead the guy told me "sorry, you can't get plumbers lead in California anymore"

no potassium nitrate? no lead? this is very fishy if you ask me.

 

[Pulp]

Because of the lightness of my homemade I use more volume. I can fill the chamber to the rim, then compress it enough to fully seat a bullet. Makes for a very stout load.

You can beat Goex powder if you use willow or alder to make your charcoal. Since Swiss already uses willow they'd be hard to beat.

 

[ofitg]

no potassium nitrate? no lead? this is very fishy if you ask me.

I think you nailed it - California, the "you can't have it" state....

 

[Busyhands94]

i know what they are trying to do. they know people use these things in guns, they want to eliminate citizens being able to make their own powder and bullets. it sickens me.

 

[achysklic]

Ok 1 more question, What size screen do you use to get your BP to the final size you want to shoot in Pistol?

 

[ofitg]

According to my scale, a LEE 1.9cc powder dipper holds 29 grains of Goex 3Fg. The 1.9cc dipper only holds 22 grains (un-compressed) of my homemade BP. Compared with the hard, dense Goex granules, the homemade BP is light and "fluffy".

As Pulp noted above, the homemade BP compresses very easily. When you ram a ball down on top of the homemade BP, it won't matter what size "granulation" you got with a screen - the crumbs will be crushed into smaller particles.
What I'm trying to say is, you can make it look like factory 2Fg or 3Fg, but it's going to be 4Fg/dust when it's loaded.

If somebody has found a way to reproduce the hardness/density of factory BP granules, maybe they can jump in here and share it with us..... hydraulic press, maybe?

 

[Foto Joe]

My two cents:

There's just something about placing an explosive into a hydralic press and squashing it that makes me think that Darwin would be grinning.

I know, I know, it takes heat and a lot of it to ignite Black Powder but...keep in mind that there are "Other" folks reading these posts. People who maybe ought not to reproduce in the first place who take the written word on forums such as these to be Gospel.

Also keep in mind that some of the "Other" folks reading this just might be interested in who is making their own explosives.

 

[ofitg]

There's just something about placing an explosive into a hydralic press and squashing it that makes me think that Darwin would be grinning.

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I'm quite satisfied with my homebrew powder, just as it is

If those "other folks" are making a list, I've been on it for years.

 

[SAA]

There's just something about placing an explosive into a hydralic press and squashing it that makes me think that Darwin would be grinning.

From what I understand, that IS how it's done, and it's done when it is still a wet cake. Wet mix won't ignite, and even dry powder is not ignited by compression, especially slow compression, just like when you lean on the ramming lever you aren't going to ignite the powder in the chamber.

 

[Pulp]

I tried pressing some once by using 1/2 inch PVC and a dowel rod. I could actually get somewhere around a 30 to 40% reduction in volume. The way I did it was put an end cap (not glued on) on the PVC, spoon some wet powder in, set the dowel, cap side down, on a cinder block and tap the dowel with a rubber mallet. The resulting cylinders of BP were much denser than normal, and dried into very hard cakes. They were too hard to rub over a screen to re-granulate, and I had to sorta crush them with a hammer. That kinda made me nervous, and I haven't tried it again.

However, they did very much resemble Pryodex or 777 pellets except for the hole in the middle. It might be worth investigating again in the future. Cut each cylinder of powder into equal lengths and have homemade pellets.

 

[Busyhands94]

by the way, i got best results with homemade powder using softwood charcoal. reason stale urine works to put nitrates in the powder, you mix it with that stuff when you are putting it through the screen to size the granules. the wife might not be too happy if you are doing this though, kinda nasty if you ask me but it works. just wear rubber or nitrile gloves and do it outside.

 

[damoc]

not going to get into the making blackpodwer thread too much i think most of us know it can be done and how to do it and that there is alternatives to
charcoal and sulphur and i dont want to contribute to anybodies delinqencies.

just wanted to add if you are messing with crappy homemade black or white you may try a duplex load.

about 2.5 to 5 grains of good quality commercially purchased ffg or fffg
under your homemade stuff you will get a great improvement to performance.

 

[damoc]

by the way, i got best results with homemade powder using softwood charcoal. reason stale urine works to put nitrates in the powder, you mix it with that stuff when you are putting it through the screen to size the granules. the wife might not be too happy if you are doing this though, kinda nasty if you ask me but it works. just wear rubber or nitrile gloves and do it outside.

softwoods have been the charcoal of choice for a very long time willow is the one that comes to mind right at the moment.

but i guess a charcoal that leaves minimal ash is the best

 

[Jaymo]

How long do you let the urine sit, covered or uncovered, for it to be considered stale?
Foxfire 5 didn't answer this question for me.
I know if you let it sit in a closed container long enough, it smells like straight ammonia.
Seems to me, using stale urine in lieu of water is like adding ammonium nitrate to your BP mix.
Reminds me of ammonpulver.
Speaking of AP, this is the perfect time of year to make and shoot it.

But, for fall to spring, it would be a great low cost replacement for factory nitrocellulose smokeless.
Now, if I could only get nitric acid and make my own single base smokeless powder. Just imagine. I'd never have to buy factory smokeless again. My reloading would be cheaper.

The problem with getting decent quantities of nitric acid seems to be that it is used to make some explosives, thus it's much harder to get than it used to be.
I believe it's used to make nitroglycerine and TNT, but I don't know how. Don't want to know how. NOT interested in explosives. Only interested in BP/Smokeless/sugar-based rocket/fireworks/firearms propellants.
I've NEVER been interested in explosives. Especially after a teen in my state blew off his arms/legs/penis while he was making a pipe bomb.
my best friend's dad was on the scene working for EMS ad told us about it in graphic terms.
I killed ANY interest I could have ever had in working for a demolitions company.

I'm going to cut down a small tulip poplar tree in my yard before I move. I'm going to try using it for my BP charcoal. It's a good soft, deciduous wood.
The juice smells like styrofoam burning when you burn it. I hesitate to call it sap, it's not sticky at all. It's thin/watery. Smells perfume-ish when green. Once it dries, it splits so easily it's like cheating, and doesn't stink when you burn it.
It only stinks when you burn it when it's green. It's easy to skin the bark off of and burns quickly.
It's worth a try. I'll make a small batch of it and try it in my flintlock.
I need to buy one of the BP testers from DGW. That would give me a better barometer for how good it is compared to Goex.

 

[Busyhands94]

i usually just let the urine sit in an old mason jar or an empty can for a couple days, it seemed to work just fine. the wife might not be too happy, so put it somewhere she won't stumble upon it. when i made all my powder and stuff for rockets i found that compared to stuff mixed with water and stuff mixed with urine there was a significant difference. for me it took many batches of powder and lots of experimenting to get it right. i also found that you can go to a thrift shop and get an electric coffee grinder, and use it to grind the sulfur and saltpeter together. don't grind it with the charcoal, grind that separately.

i am not sure about making smokeless powder though, I'd suggest you be VERY careful and i would suggest you seek advice from a professional. when i was younger and messed with pyrotechnics as a hobby i had some real close calls. black powder is one thing but smokeless and other powders are a whole new ball game with a whole new set of rules. i do know how to make smokeless powder, but i am not posting how to do so on the internet. however... you could load your shot shells with black powder, that would be extremely cool.

good luck making it, and please be safe. i don't want anyone to get hurt.

Levi

 

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So that's why my biscuits tasted funny this morning.

 

[DuncanSA]

You can make pretty good BP by the precipitation method. It simply won't be as powerful as the commercial stuff though unless you compress, grind and granulate it. This process is where most of the explosions in the old powder mills occurred and I prefer to give it a miss myself.