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Make Your Own Black Powder?
HandLoad
Member Posts: 15,998 ✭
I did when I wasa kid...Parents made me stop when a buddy blew up a too large batch while making it. Singed his eyebrows, blew out his eardrums, and started a fire.
I am wanting to try this again as an adult.
Anybody making their own Black Powder?
[EDIT}: Reason I am contemplating such a thing is that I want to see if I can sustain Gun Ownership for my Heirs in the face of a Lead Ban (I can make my own), a Primer/Cap Shortage or regulation (My CVA Electra doesn't use any), and a Powder Shortage. All I need to do is to make my own.
I am wanting to try this again as an adult.
Anybody making their own Black Powder?
[EDIT}: Reason I am contemplating such a thing is that I want to see if I can sustain Gun Ownership for my Heirs in the face of a Lead Ban (I can make my own), a Primer/Cap Shortage or regulation (My CVA Electra doesn't use any), and a Powder Shortage. All I need to do is to make my own.
Comments
You could buy sulfur and saltpeter at the drug store back then.
That pharmacist was giving me funny looks, he knew I was up to no good!
I didn't have a muzzleloader so I never really tried it out.
Here is a lengthy discussion of the subject:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395424
allen - You're one good egg! I can always count on your replies being cogent, and on point, with something to add. Looks like you too, were blessed with an exciting life! Would be good to meet ya - we could swap stories forever. Thanks for the pointer.
Black powder will keep indefinitely.
So will caps. I have fired 31 year old cci caps and they fired without problem
You could buy 10 pounds of black powder, and a supply of caps, and store them [buried] and you heirs would have a good stash.
Midway still advertises the Tap-O-Cap, but it's currently out of stock.
The Tap-O-Cap instructions say to use the thin aluminum from beer cans. When I was using the Tap-O-Cap about 20 years ago, it seemed to me that the beer can metal was still too stiff. I got better results using the flimsy disposable aluminum pans that come with frozen pies.
Also, instead of children's toy caps, I used the igniter tips from "strike anywhere" kitchen matches. I glued them into the aluminum shells with a dab of my wife's nail polish.
blew up a plant in New Jersey a while back and they really knew what they were doing. They went out of the business after that.
The components are ground wet, dried then granulated.
I had a mix detonate in my hands while carefully grinding it in a porcelain mortar and pestle below my face.
It singed my eyebrows and drove hot stonelike ash into the bottom of my right hand.
The mix was KCL and S.
Give up the idea.
I made some as a kid but wouldn't think of doing it now since Dupont
blew up a plant in New Jersey a while back and they really knew what they were doing. They went out of the business after that.
The components are ground wet, dried then granulated.
I had a mix detonate in my hands while carefully grinding it in a porcelain mortar and pestle below my face.
It singed my eyebrows and drove hot stonelike ash into the bottom of my right hand.
The mix was KCL and S.
Give up the idea.
http://www.svartkrutsvapen.se/page1005.html -
Use this ( under ) to translate = copy & paste [:D]
http://translate.google.se/?js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&text=&file=&sl=en&tl=fr#sv|en|
Stradivarius.
Get on the web (no, I won't do it for you this time) and look for papers written on the subject. That's how I found my information. You can get sulfur, saltpeter (look for the technical name, please) and bone charcoal (sometimes called "activated" charcoal) off the internet. Try ebay for your chemicals; there are a number of chemical suppliers on there. Purchase "technical grade" chemicals. They cost more, but are more pure, more consisent or standardized (batch-to-batch) in their makeup and are designed for lab and manufacturing use.
Be sure to follow all the common-sense safety rules.
They say "learn by doing" ?? At least I learned to never make powder that way.
Great reading.
KCl is not potassium chlorate, either. It is potassium chloride, energetically inert, but a corrosive salt.
Potassium chlorate is KClO3. Too sensitive for propellant powder, it was common in the old "corrosive" priming compounds.
Got a mate back in the UK reloads rimfire black powder brass.He scrapes off the heads of strike anywhere matches,he crushes them then mixes with a little water,drops it into the brass lets it dry out and it seems to work OK.
I believe those match heads are potassium chlorate mixtures.
Caution is advised....
They even have cannon fuse too.
And lots of interesting stuff from pyrocreations.com . Including ball mills for rolling/grinding, many sizes and shapes of cardboard tubes and shells for fireworks, good inexpensive fuse, and even electric igniters.
BTW, I found that plastic PVC sprinkler pipes from Home Depot, especially the short plastic pipe nipples with threaded ends and their screw-on plastic caps, make a very nice BANG with either black powder or smokeless. Watch out for the fragments, though. I will try the paper/cardboard tubes next, fragments don't travel as fast or far.
I thought this thread would have died out by now - along with all those trying to make black powder.
Sorry, this thread actually inspired me to try it a few weeks ago. I'm still alive, and my homebrew powder has great performance.
quote:Originally posted by mbsams
I thought this thread would have died out by now - along with all those trying to make black powder.
Sorry, this thread actually inspired me to try it a few weeks ago. I'm still alive, and my homebrew powder has great performance.
ofitg, got a recipe? Please share! [:)]
quote:Originally posted by ofitg
quote:Originally posted by mbsams
I thought this thread would have died out by now - along with all those trying to make black powder.
Sorry, this thread actually inspired me to try it a few weeks ago. I'm still alive, and my homebrew powder has great performance.
ofitg, got a recipe? Please share! [:)]
I think most of the relevant info is available here -
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=427948
PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, AS THE OLD MOTTO GOES.............
CookE
Or reload.... or handle loaded firearms.... or drive an automobile... or cook... or operate power tools.... or work in manufacturing.
To each his own... just please make sure you'll only hurt yourself when you're doing it and sumptin' goes wrong.
That sounds rational... "to each his own".
People who have no interest in making blackpowder can buy the commercial product.
People who are interested can learn to make effective BP, and do it safely. The info is readily available. It requires some basic abilities to read & follow instructions.
People who are too stupid/lazy to learn the procedure and observe basic precautions should steer clear of this activity.
It never fails to amaze me how, in the face of overwhelming evidence, a suposed intelligent human being will ignore all the facts and do really stupid things that end his life and the life of innocent others. Let's be clear about this once and for all - If you're making your own black powder you are an IDIOT!
I doubt very much that any of the GB members hereon are idiots, or even mildly mentally deficient.
People actually do know the risks they take when they embark on potentially dangerous tasks and pretty much do not need your derogatory comments to guide them along the way. To help, if the member decides to go ahead with their project, other members have provided information and pointed them to various helpful Internet sites to get information and safety warnings.
I find your comments to be offensive and if that is all you have to offer or say in this discussion, then I suggest you stick to topic threads where you can at least be more polite than you have been here.
2 to 1 to 1 , think that's what it said in "Steal this book".
We mixed it dry,charcoal ground down on a belt sander.
Could I still make it today?
Sure
But with modern powders that are available today I won't.
quote:Originally posted by mbsams
It never fails to amaze me how, in the face of overwhelming evidence, a suposed intelligent human being will ignore all the facts and do really stupid things that end his life and the life of innocent others. Let's be clear about this once and for all - If you're making your own black powder you are an IDIOT!
I doubt very much that any of the GB members hereon are idiots, or even mildly mentally deficient.
People actually do know the risks they take when they embark on potentially dangerous tasks and pretty much do not need your derogatory comments to guide them along the way. To help, if the member decides to go ahead with their project, other members have provided information and pointed them to various helpful Internet sites to get information and safety warnings.
I find your comments to be offensive and if that is all you have to offer or say in this discussion, then I suggest you stick to topic threads where you can at least be more polite than you have been here.
AMEN and +1