Make your own black powder ?

[snookdock]

When I was 16, I mixed up the 3 chemicals and made some black powder. It was very fine, likely FFFF as I know it now. There is a "corning process" to make it bigger grains.

I shoot black powder very little. Just a few hundred grains in deer season.

With the cost of powder and $20 + shipping, does anyone do this?

 

[mtnbkr]

No, I just buy it. I use pellets and between target practice before the season starts and whatever I'm lucky enough to use during the season, a box of pellets lasts me two or more seasons. It's not worth the hassle to mix it myself.

Chris

 

[Third_Rail]

I do.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=138158&highlight=make

 

[mtnbkr]

I do.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=138158&highlight=make

I am sooo glad my only BP rifle doesn't like loose powder. It keeps me from being tempted by such things.

That and not having anywhere to shoot BP on a regular basis...

Chris

 

[Souris]

There is a process for granulating blackpowder. I have included http://www.unitednuclear.com/experindex.htm
as a terribly interesting site on experiments. If you poke around on it it will assist you with the knowledge to make all sorts of fun things.

Disclaimer:
However I do not condone or suggest that you should do these experiments.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Making yer own BP--Gee Whiz!

IMHO, that's carrying independence to the point of mulishness.

The stuff is an EXPLOSIVE, fer crying out loud!! You can set it off by hitting it hard enough with a hammer.

The danger aside, how are you going to control the quality or the batch-to-batch uniformity, not to mention the granulation??

Don't get me wrong, I like and admire homemade weapons, hand-built log cabins, home-tanned buckskins. I'm no slouch with an axe and a crosscut saw myself.

But thanks, I leave the manufacturing of explosives to others. For

the cost of powder and $20 + shipping

I'll save my eyes and fingers for more important things, thank you very much.

Not to rearrange your lives for you, Snookdock and Third Rail, but your fingers and eyes are probably just as valuable to you as mine are to me.
Buy your blackpowder, and save a couple of nickels some other way.

 

[Third_Rail]

Smokey Joe,

You can set it off by hitting it hard enough with a hammer.

Nope, you can't. Electrical sparks won't do it either (flint/steel sparks WILL).

how are you going to control the quality or the batch-to-batch uniformity, not to mention the granulation??

You're kidding, right? Uniformity is guaranteed the same way big makers do it - by measuring carefully and then using a mill to grind the chemicals together. Granulation is controlled by a series of mesh screens; the same way the big makers do it.


I've not had a single problem, whether it be from the granulation being off, the black powder being too weak or too strong, or having it just "go off" like you fear. Yes, it's an explosive, but if you know how to handle it, you can be safe.

Guns are dangerous too - but like black powder, if you know how to handle it you can be perfectly safe.

 

[rick_reno]

You can set it off by hitting it hard enough with a hammer.

Have you been watching too many MacGyver re-runs? Sure, he can blow a door off it's hinges using toilet paper and a paper clip - but in the real world you can hit BP with a hammer until the cows come home and all you'll get is a sore arm.

 

[Third_Rail]

And finely powdered BP.

 

[eastwood44mag]

I bought a box of Pyrodex pellets 3 years ago, and still have some left.

Bought a pound of Pyrodex powder and probably have 14 ounces left.

Bought a pound of Triple 7 and haven't opened it yet.


Powder is cheap, and I buy en masse. I make my own beer, I reload my own ammo, but I refuse to make powder.

 

[JoeG52]

A lot of good information here.....

http://www.wecreate4u.net/dwilliams/blackpowder/blackpowder.html

 

[Smokey Joe]

Homemade BP

Third Rail, Rick Reno, Eastwood 44--Hey guys, no offense intended.

Have good insurance.

Be careful.

Good luck.

 

[MCgunner]

Having worked as an analytical chemist much of my life, I've often though of doing it, but the stuff is so cheap, why bother? I do have this thing I bought that turns aluminum cans and paper roll caps into number 11 percussion caps. That's kinda neat, works in my revolvers, but don't have enough pop for my smoke pole.

 

[Harve Curry]

Man shoots himself in the head & foot simultaneously


What ever the black igniter stuff is on Pyrodex pellots it detonated with compression from being struck.
He did it with an inline muzzle loader that had been double charged with 150gr Pyrodex pellots then sabot/bullet, then 150gr Pyrodex topped with same sabot/bullet. He realized it was double charged and removed the barrel and breech plug. The gun was fouled and he was able to remove the charge from the breech. But there was still a charge between the two sabot/bullets. He was going to use a steel rod and hammer to drive the bullets/powder out. The first blow with the hammer detonated the charge between the two bullets. This blew a big hole in his foot where the muzzle was resting and the barrel fell into the hole in his foot/boot. The other sabot/bullet came out backwards and entered across the front of his eye and lodged in his forehead.
This all happened at a elk hunting camp a few years ago. He lived.

 

[gremlin_bros]

dang

What ever the black igniter stuff is on Pyrodex pellots it detonated with compression from being struck.
He did it with an inline muzzle loader that had been double charged with 150gr Pyrodex pellots then sabot/bullet, then 150gr Pyrodex topped with same sabot/bullet. He realized it was double charged and removed the barrel and breech plug. The gun was fouled and he was able to remove the charge from the breech. But there was still a charge between the two sabot/bullets. He was going to use a steel rod and hammer to drive the bullets/powder out. The first blow with the hammer detonated the charge between the two bullets. This blew a big hole in his foot where the muzzle was resting and the barrel fell into the hole in his foot/boot. The other sabot/bullet came out backwards and entered across the front of his eye and lodged in his forehead.
This all happened at a elk hunting camp a few years ago. He lived.

now i know why i will only use black powder in my 54 and any other muzzleloader i will ever own
i have made my own powder on a couple of ocasions when all else failed but i now have a place where i can buy it anytime i need to they specilize in reactment supplys and carry it onhand year round it is nice living so close to WV. mountain state muzzleloading supply is one heck of a store though now i think its called caines but it is still the same owner and the best place i know of to get my supplys.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Quote:

You can set it off by hitting it hard enough with a hammer.

Nope, you can't.

The Norton explosive bullet detonated on impact. There's a letter in Muzzle Loader magazine that explains it more fully.

 

[frontier gander]

lol whhhhaaat?

how the heck could the "hammer" go off and ignite the powder? most muzzleloaders i see that have a removeable breech plug are inlines and u gotta pull the bolt out in order to get to the breech plug! im confused. i smell a tall tale

 

[Harve Curry]

how the heck could the "hammer" go off and ignite the powder? most muzzleloaders i see that have a removeable breech plug are inlines and u gotta pull the bolt out in order to get to the breech plug! im confused. i smell a tall tale

Frontier Gander, A hammer as in carpenters or machinist hammer .

 

[Low Key]

I've thought about getting the ingredients and making my own BP, but in reality it would be too much of a hassle for me to actually do that. So I just buy Goex or H777 from my local BP supplier.