Homemade Black Powder

Was a pyro growing up, a well trained,educated pyro. If you followed the musketeer sites instructions and methods, then you should have similar results.

I have done far more than BP in my chemistry years.

Quantity is everything. Small batch, small error, small accident.

Large batch, small error, objects removed from several parts of my body (not with BP).

Like horseradish, the finer you grind the charcoal, the closer your performance will be to factory.

No offense Jeff but, Goex blows up, as does Perchlorate facilities, due to HUGE amounts of product and an error. Small quantities (yield poor results due to multiple batches but..) are virtually insignificant. It's a deflagrant, not a high yield HE. It burns quickly, expanding some 360x. If not contained, a fire, loss of hair, vision, skin is the result. Loss of hands, arms, fingers, unlikely. Once produced, it's no more unsafe than Goex, actually safer since gas yield is (to date for jppr and most others), 1/2 what it should be. Ignition sensitivity will be much reduced due to jppr26 messing up the process (cause he's not Goex doing it for 100 years). It's safer than handling Goex or Swiss.

But Jeff, I do respect your position completely and mean no offense by the above. It will cost more to make your own than to buy so theres even a financial reason to not do it. But it's a friggen challenge beyond actually shooting or loading well. It's science and ART rolled into one but without a loading book to guide your precise process. That's awesome.

Bruce, if you smoke..... your gonna blow up. So don't smoke.

I am for your testing Bruce. I would use an open vessel for testing, volume for volume against goex or swiss.

During my development of a metal powder based deflagrant, I/We optimized it's final 4000 fps burn rate mostly visually. When it thumped supersonically in free air and the shock wave hit your face at 20 feet, that was the signature of “done". Use Empirical Measurements, your eyes and brain, as the initial performance test. It's no good unless it gets close to the sensitivity and speed of the Goex equivalent.

The true testbed is velocity obtained in a load. A BP Cart. like 45/70 would in my opinion not be a good method. A flintlock, much better. The vent can do it's job if a fizzle occurs. The 45/70 may not ignite well and has not inherent vent. Theres a few what if's with a brass case.

As the composition of BP can be calculated and has been for .... a lot of years now, the likelyhood of a higher yield than the granule has shown to produce is nill. Make it, be sure to sieve to the proper granule size, don't keep fines and dust in the mix. The FFFF and finer fines is going to give improper yield and increase your desired pressures.

The process is one of much safety. Until the mix is dry (all three fully incorporated).... there is NO ignition hazard. How many folks have tried to use damp powder... hence “keep your powder dry". The slightest bit of moisture retained will impede ignition. If it's wet-wet, it's safe to do what you need to process. Once dry, treat as Goex and store properly.

All components are ground and processed separately. Sulfur should be reagent grade or USP grade, nothing commercial. Thats medical grade or better. Pot. Nitrate should be of the same grade or you will have garbage. Pot. nitrate is usually a small round pellet. It is difficult to thoroughly grind to fines as it readily absorbs water from the air and sticks together, it's a PITA. It is INERT, even when heated. In the list of oxidizers available to those outside of the lab fields, Pot. permanganate, Pot perchloate, Pot Chlorate (Holy Crap unstable) and other more unstable nitrates, KNO3 is a joke. Sulfur, it burns by itself with great heat and lots of Ox. Without a good fuel bound to it, it's worthless. I live in refinery country. There is a 100,000 ton pile in Long Beach, Ca. It is constantly being moved about the US by open train car. The same train runs open cars of COKE, petroleum byproduct, along side the sulfur. Thats two of three components. The ignition sensitizer and the fuel. (Sulfur) It's harmless, so much so it's stored in a mountain, less than a mile from residential tracts and moved by open conveyor belt.

The moral is... make a small amount. Use a good home made charcoal from a recommended wood (willow, etc). Grind it fine (charcoal). Incorporate by hand dry with non-metallic tools, then damp in dough form. Sieve, dry in air... no heat...no containment...continue to sieve to remove unwanted granule size once dry (obtain uniformity). Test in a long gun with your face away from the nipple (sand bagged), in case it decides to burn extra slow and just spits thru the nipple for a minute. Pray the ball leaves the barrel and doesn't get stuck. Have a great time doing what humans have done for over 1000 years.

Then , lemme know how you did.