Tested some home made BP today

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Looks good.

In that movie Django, there should have been big puffs of smoke during all the gunplay, but apparently they had some 777 via a time machine or something in 1858...
 
I have to say that this has me curious. I've seen some claim their powder is quite powerful.

What can you compare it to? And what did you use to make it?

I've heard it said that making BP isn't dangerous unless you aren't cautious.

Cautious isn't well enough defined, but knowing the outcome could very well mean an explosion I'm not sure I'm willing to try.
 
I'm definitely going to try it, materials are readily available, there's enough info on the web and elsewhere to put together a safe plan of action, and i have an old rock tumbler i can turn into a ball mill.

I figure about 6 months of info gathering and i'll be ready to make a small batch for testing, just got to figure out a way to test the burn rate in comparison to commercially produced powder
 
An old book about the DuPonts.

I remember reading an old book about the DuPonts. They made black powder commercially, and were better than most in avoiding mishaps and craters. They had little bunkers that made just a certain amount. Each bunker separated with berms and certain distances. The problem comes when there is a lot of it around and something just happens, sort of like Yosemite Sam was always getting into in the cartoons, only much more serious. Even the DuPonts had some troubles with black powder.

I would guess as long as you mixed it with mortar and pestle with very close attention and in small amounts, it would be fairly safe. When you get into bigger amounts the stakes go up a great deal. The grade of charcoal makes a difference, as well what is used to make the charcoal.

No sparks, no compression of 100 pounds pressure or more, no fire, no smoking, brass tools, no static generating actions, you get the idea.
 
On one hand it seems rather easy. And I like my other hand too!

I'd certainly be willing to jump into this if I had someone experienced to watch over me.

I'm a fairly cautious person, and one who is detailed.
 
Rod, I really don't have any way to compare since I killed my Chrony. About all I can say is, "It does go bang!" It takes more volume of mine to equal commercial, as I don't compress it. The Army had 2.3 cc, which nearly fills the chambers, and the Navy had 1.6 cc, which again nearly fills the chamber. I can load the same volumes of commercial, but it is harder to seat the bullet below the rim of the chambers.

One of the first batches I ever made, I filled a chamber of my brass framed .44 and fired it over my still living Chrony. I got somewhere around 1050fps, and thought, "That's a bit much for a brasser!" Never tried it again. Now I fully understand that one shot over a Chrony is not a scientific endeavor, so believe the number or not, your choice. Even I'm a bit skeptical.;)

As far as safety goes, if you can safely follow the rules of reloading, then you can safely make your own. I make mine in 2000 grain (roughly 4 ounce) batches, so if I did have a mishap, it's not going to take down the neighborhood. I use 1500 grains of KNO3, 350 grains of charcoal, and 150 grains of sulfur. Ordered the KNO3 and S from Phil's Country store, and made my own charcoal from local willow. It goes into a rock tumbler along with lead balls for about 6 hours. Opening the tumbler is probably the most dangerous thing, make absolutely sure you are no where near any source of ignition, as the powder is very fine and will float in the air. A breeze could possibly carry some to a fire, and backflash back to you. Then I wet it and screen it. That's as far as I go.

One time I tried compressing by pouring some into PVC pipe, and pushing with a dowel rod that matched the ID of the PVC, then removing the cap and pushing the powder on out. I could get about 1/3 volume compression. But the dried cakes were too hard to granulate with the tools I had available. I suppose a person could find pipe with an ID the same as the chamber of a .44 and make sticks for loading instead of loose powder, but I didn't try it, just thought about it.
 
I like being self reliant, and would greatly enjoy making my own powder. I'd likely want to do it by the pound so as not to need to do it so often.

Wish I could peek over your shoulder...
 
My apologies if you know this already, but there are some very good videos on youtube showing the whole process. Maybe not quite as good as looking over somebody's shoulder, but it should give you a good idea if it's something you want to get involved with or not.
 
Wet it slightly and rub it over a screen to corn it.

Brushhippie has several youtube videos of the process.
 
I've seen his video, and his results using a mere 15 grns with a .36 cal RB to shoot through a gal jug at 75 yds. Quite impressive!

But I'd still prefer to have someone with the know how to work with me as I really am attached my my fingers and toes! It just seems like one of those things to learn while supervised.
 
I think Django Unchained was a spoof of 60s westerns, myself. I cannot take it seriously. ALL the weapons were wrong for the pre-civil war period. It was just too corn ball to have been serious, IMHO.

I wanna get into making my own, just haven't ordered the chemicals. I've got Brush Hippie's videos bookmarked. I have ALL the equipment ready for production, just need to get off my butt and order the chemicals.

NICE JOB!
 
Interesting. I've often wanted to try this just from a self-sufficiency standpoint (ie, if I HAD to make a gun go bang without commercial firearms products available, could I do it).

I will say though that the video would be much more interesting in real-time rather than slow motion.
 
Interesting video. The slow motion in the initial part made it surreal.
 
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