Thread: Black Powder 1000 years old. Nitro 140 years young

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Flintlock ignition era was from early 1500s until 1850 so lasted around 350 years

Percussion ignition was a pretty short era from 1840 for a mere 40 years

Technically we're still in the percussion era though aren't we.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Technically we're still in the percussion era though aren't we.

Yeah I guess we are

Remington did have a little play with electric ignition
And with the current trend to battery powered devices it wouldn't surprise me if someone had another go at it
But maybe Remington lost enough money doing it to scare everyone off that idea

Don`t know who supplies Black Powder in the South Island but have been making my own for over 30 years because I couldn`t get it. At around $2 a kilo I`m quite happy making it.

Originally Posted by Tasbay

Attachment 275348Attachment 275349Attachment 275347 Don`t know who supplies Black Powder in the South Island but have been making my own for over 30 years because I couldn`t get it. At around $2 a kilo I`m quite happy making it.

Homemade BP is great in muzzleloaders because you can just add more until it shoots to the sights and you are sorted.

In BP cartridge rifles you have a fixed volume available and therefore need a BP that is of a known volume and power to shoot to sights

But Homemade is always an option if availability becomes an issue.
You can bring Holy Smoke across on the ferry in a private vehicle up to 5 kgs
So you can get BP in the South Island that way

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

Yes it would work in almost any modern cartridge

But it is not really ideal in bottleneck cartridges

BP is at its best in a straight tapered or slightly bottlenecked cartridge

The problem with BP in smaller bore calibers is fouling build up.
A big charge of BP in a small bore will leave a lot of fouling.
The same charge of BP in a large bore will leave the same amount of fouling spread over a much larger surface area.
So fouling build up that deteriorates accuracy will take more shots

I'm sure someone on here has played with BP in modern cartridges for a laugh.

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

The .303 British was originally a Black Powder cartridge.

Originally Posted by Tasbay

The .303 British was originally a Black Powder cartridge.

Yes and lots if guys have tried to get the original ballistics from modern black powder loadings

It's not easy because the original factory BP loading factory made had a solid puck of BP inserted into a partly drawn case.
Which was then formed around the pre made charge.
So it obviously had a specially made charge and a high load density

Still the 303 would be fun with BP because it's a pretty modest case and you just fill it up and put a cast lead bullet on it and away you go

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

I have loaded black powder in Snider,577/450 32/20,303,45/70 and 8mm Kroptaschek and maybe others I can not think of.
The 303 and 8mm required a packed full case of 3f powder to get consistent ignition. Now I load them all with light loads of smokeless mainly trailboss or AP70.