My first homemade powder

[Nate1778]

Made some as well and although more volume is needed for the same effect, it works very well. I ground my Charcoal with a coffee grinder and then through a ball mill. I sifted out the chunks and ball milled all the ingredients together including 5% Dextrin. Once again safety is key as I had my mill 100' away from any structure with an extension cord. I obviously turned on and off with the extension cord.

Although the powder burns at a high rate, it is no were close to flash powder, I am afraid people get the two mixed when they discuss missing hands and fingers. Flash powder containing aluminum and Potassium Perchlorate which are very sensitive together, the two combined are on the verge of "explosive". It does make a hell of an M80 though..........

 

[mykeal]

Black powder needs heat to ignite, simple static electricity isn't enough

Well, yes and no.
Static electricity by itself can indeed ignite some black powders. It does so by heating the resistive elements within the powder granules. Chemically, black powder does contain compounds that resist the passage of electricity and are therefore heated when an electric charge attempts to pass through them. This heat can ignite the powder.

The granules of commercial powders are coated with graphite which is highly conductive and passes the electrical charge very efficiently, thus greatly limiting the amount of heat buildup. It is extremely unlikely that any commercial powder so coated would ever react to a lighting strike or some other exposure to static electricity.

The same is NOT true of the powder made by the home hobbyist. Without the graphite coating there is a greater possibility of static electricity causing ignition.

 

[Oyeboten]

So...one could consider to add Powdered Graphite to one's Home-Made Mix...and maybe be a little safer for it.



Anyway...I think I'll try my hand at this...it'd be really satisfying to make one's own BP for the old Cap and Ball and other.


Cool Thread!


Inspiring!

 

[mykeal]

I don't think you can just add powdered graphite. It needs to fully coat the black powder crystals - I think some kind of electrolysis is necessary to get the graphite to adhere.

 

[Pulp]

To the folks that want to move to another state because someone is making their own BP: In all honesty, I don't think the 4 or 8 ounce batches that I make are going to level the city block that I live on. The powder mills that have exploded in the past are making tons of BP.
Have you ever seen a 1lb can of BP deliberately set off? It really ain't all that impressive. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to be standing astraddle of a can when touched off, but it just ain't gonna blow somebody's house down.

If you follow the same safety precautions of handling smokeless powder, then you can safely make and reload BP. No sparks, no open flame, no smoking etc.

I thought I had a link to the original homemade thread, but I guess I've filed it in a hidden place. It's really a good read. Maybe someone will paste it.

Found it: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=347898

BTW, the lumps of charcoal that didn't pulverize in your mill can be put back into a batch of raw wood and cooked again.

 

[arcticap]

Oh and please tell me that you don't live in Louisiana. I would hate to move.

Goex black powder is made in Minden, Louisiana.

...GOEX Powder, Inc. is now a subsidiary of Hodgdon Powder Company. Goex Powder, Inc. manufactures black powder used for sporting applications such as civil war re-enactments and flintlock firearms, and is a vital component for industrial and military applications. Located in Minden, Louisiana, GOEX Powder, Inc. is now the only U.S. manufacturer of black powder. The company has over a 200 year history of black powder manufacturing in the United States.

http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satell...9+New+Reloading+Products?packedargs=pagenum=2

 

[Oyeboten]

I believe re-loading Presses have optional-equipment Black Powder specific Powder Resiviors/Hoppers/Dispensers, for avoiding Static Electricity issues...


If using BP for re-loading Metallic Cartridges on a re-loading Press...one may be well advised to use the specific Powder Hopper for that...and not use one's usual Smokeless Hopper/dispenser...

Possibly, a regular Hopper could be Grounded somehow...to alleviate the risk...

 

[alemonkey]

Ok, I had a crazy week at work so I finally got to the range today. I was shooting my el cheapo CVA Sharpshooter. It's a .50 sidelock percussion gun. Bullets were 250 grain Lee REAL, lubed with the same thing as I use for my 45-70 (50% beeswax, 25% Crisco, 25% olive oil).

Previously in this gun I'd been shooting Pyrodex RS. I've used a little Swiss, but I usually save that for my 45-70. Accuracy was virtually the same as with Pyrodex, about 3" groups at 50 yards. It's not a real accurate gun, but I need to do some more playing with loads to squeeze more out of it. I think the biggest problem is that I need to track down some pure lead, as the wheel weight alloy I've been using is too hard for muzzle loaders.

With Pyrodex this gun shoot better at lower loads, around 50 grains. With the homemade stuff it was all over the map. 50 grains wasn't even on the paper, but 60 grains gave me a fairly good group. 65 grains was horrible, and for some weird reason actually shot lower that 60 grains. 70 grains of powder ended up having the best accuracy out of all the loads that I tried today.

Ignition was quicker and much more consistent than with Pyrodex. No hangfires, no POP..........BANG! That should make offhand shooting much easier. Recoil was very light. I can tell this powder is quite a bit less powerful than Swiss or Pyrodex. 70 grains of home made seemed about equivalent in recoil to 55-60 grains of commercial powder. I'm guessing that's because I didn't compress it before corning.

The only real downside is that the fouling seemed to be quite a bit harder with the home made powder. With the lube I've been using, I can shoot 20-30 shots of Pyrodex before it gets hard to load. With the home made powder it was more like 10 shots. I'm thinking a change in lube to pure Crisco might help that.

Overall I think this was a worthwhile experiment. Since I milled it wet I really think the risk of making the powder is nil. Even so I was very careful throughout the whole process, and made sure my tumbler was placed in an area where any explosion would be contained. I plan to continue experimenting with different loads, and I'm looking forward to trying this powder in my 1851 Navy.

 

[flmason]

xxxx

 

[alemonkey]

Kind of in between. It's solid, but the warmth of your hands will turn it into a sticky gooey substance. It works great for BPCR shooting, but I'm wondering if for this I need something not quite so solid, like Crisco or Wonderlube.

 

[flmason]

xxxxx