Thread: Making Black Powder

Right, as a constant tinkerer, one of my follies next year is going to give casting bullets and making my own black powder a go. I'm kinda leaning towards purchasing a flintlock eventually so I can shoot home brewed projectiles and powder which will be neat.

I'm quite happy I can source all of the components at a reasonable price and I can make an unlimited amount of willow charcoal as it's not exactly scarce in NZ.

But I'm interested in what people are using to tumble/mill the powder in NZ. I know overseas a lot use a harbour freight sources rock tumbler which we obviously don't have here. Anyone got any good sources for such equipment. Would also like to try tumbling with ceramic balls rather than lead as a few sources have found this creates cleaner burning powder.

Also is any one compressing and corning their black powder? If so how are you doing it/ what are you using. I might need to find someone with a lathe to make a pucking die!

Anyway be interested in how others are doing it and general experience.

SF90 will be along soon to regale us all with exploits both good and not so good causing hospitalization!!!!
grinding charcoal can be as simple as the head off sledgehammer and an old meat dish tray....
I gave up on the seiving and simply kept chopping the powder pile up as it dried.

I compress and granulate as I load 45/70 and snider brass as well as muzzle load.
I made a compressing die using aluminium ends and two split plastic tubes I hose clamp closed - made that at work (when I was) and it's pretty generic.
I've forgotten how many grams per CC I compress, but it comes out just a tad lighter than equiv Goes powders as I can't quite fit 500gms 'homemade' in a 500gm Goex can.
I also made a press frame for compressing and used a ten ton hydraulic jack, then discovered I could compress in my workshop/garage vice.
To do that I slightly dampen my weighed 'mix', load it into the die and squeeze. After 15 seconds I squeeze again, then a third time - or until my die closes to a designated length, it won't do it all in one 'squeeze' - not even with the jack.
When done, I take the hose clamps off , remove the outer tube from the inner, then pry the inner tube apart and take out the pucks.
I make three pucks in one squeeze, separated by plastic milk jug spacers.
The pucks are about 1/4" thick, and I just lay them out and dry them where they won't get hurt. A solid puck is pretty hard to ignite - won't do it on its own.
When thoroughly dry I put them in a plastic bag and beat the shit out of them with a hammer, then I shove the smashed bits in a ceramic coffee grinder and make the equiv F, FF, FFF and a considerable amount of dust which gets re-milled when I do it next time.
I do it all in small quantities in case TSHTF.

When I'm doing it - I'll spend a few days as it's time consuming and tedious, but I'll end up with a useful amount for little cost.

Originally Posted by SF90

I compress and granulate as I load 45/70 and snider brass as well as muzzle load.
I made a compressing die using aluminium ends and two split plastic tubes I hose clamp closed - made that at work (when I was) and it's pretty generic.
I've forgotten how many grams per CC I compress, but it comes out just a tad lighter than equiv Goes powders as I can't quite fit 500gms 'homemade' in a 500gm Goex can.
I also made a press frame for compressing and used a ten ton hydraulic jack, then discovered I could compress in my workshop/garage vice.
To do that I slightly dampen my weighed 'mix', load it into the die and squeeze. After 15 seconds I squeeze again, then a third time - or until my die closes to a designated length, it won't do it all in one 'squeeze' - not even with the jack.
When done, I take the hose clamps off , remove the outer tube from the inner, then pry the inner tube apart and take out the pucks.
I make three pucks in one squeeze, separated by plastic milk jug spacers.
The pucks are about 1/4" thick, and I just lay them out and dry them where they won't get hurt. A solid puck is pretty hard to ignite - won't do it on its own.
When thoroughly dry I put them in a plastic bag and beat the shit out of them with a hammer, then I shove the smashed bits in a ceramic coffee grinder and make the equiv F, FF, FFF and a considerable amount of dust which gets re-milled when I do it next time.
I do it all in small quantities in case TSHTF.

When I'm doing it - I'll spend a few days as it's time consuming and tedious, but I'll end up with a useful amount for little cost.

Do you have a picture please of the puk-pressing tools you use, I can't quite visualise it.

Originally Posted by Cordite

Do you have a picture please of the puk-pressing tools you use, I can't quite visualise it.

This is a new Computer my son gave me and it's not registered or licensed for 'Word' - so it won't read my 'old computer' I got on a disc - and that's where my pictures are.

My plastic cylinders are 97mm long, one inside the other and both split longitudinally.
The I.D. of the smaller one is just under 61mm and the O.D. of the outside one is just over 68mm.
Wall thickness of each tube is about 1.75mm - three hose clips hold them closed.
The short aluminium end cap is shaped like a 'top hat' and has barrel 10mm long that fits neatly in the pipe - the 'top hat' bit is a flange 10mm thick by 76mm diameter. This cap is in place when I load powder into the die.
The other cap has the same diameter barrel but is about 76mm long. It has the same flange as the other end, but is longer as this is the one that squeezes down.
I just squeeze 'em up until they can't go any further.

The two splits in the plastic barrels are offset to each other - so nothing comes out of them, and when I press I get almost zero free water, just a light dampness.
I use distilled water as I read Early American powders could be plagued by impure water which had a deleterious (bad) effect on the long storage of that powder - so I play it safe.
In the old days I used urine, fresh and stale because I'd read it made stronger powder, but reading up on the British powders of the time - and it's interesting reading too, they didn't bugger around with anything other than clean water.

All up, my die is 116mm long and remarkably pleasing to look at

I'm here M'Sieur Duck - can't help myself ............

And I should ought to point out - I only got one eye in my head that works, blew the other out with homemade powder when I was nineteen. That put me in hospital for 15 weeks and I was lucky to come out with one still working.
That 'bang' put me fifteen feet in the air (so I was told) and I still remember the impact when I touched down - there weren't nothing gentle about it.

You are warned.

Originally Posted by SF90

I'm here M'Sieur Duck - can't help myself ............

And I should ought to point out - I only got one eye in my head that works, blew the other out with homemade powder when I was nineteen. That put me in hospital for 15 weeks and I was lucky to come out with one still working.
That 'bang' put me fifteen feet in the air (so I was told) and I still remember the impact when I touched down - there weren't nothing gentle about it.

You are warned.

A friend of mine split his arm open but yours sounded much more dramatic!

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

A friend of mine split his arm open but yours sounded much more dramatic!

Yeah - I walked into hospital with one eye ball out of it's socket, was like looking through a red milk bottle - then they gave me something really nice ............

My dad arrived and told me that though I was 'out of it' I wouldn't let them take my pants off. A rock had gone up my shorts and cut a groove in my bum before exiting the back of my shorts - effectively ruining them.

Funny the things you remember .......

I use a ball mill in my ancient Acorn lathe - which is just a plastic jar with a screw top lid, 1/4 full of .54 lead balls.

I also use the 'Double and double' method of mixing (it's on the net somewhere) then I hand blend through sieves until it's as mixed as I can be bothered.
The fines from 'last time' get milled as well - and I do them on the end of a long extension cord so I'm well clear when it starts spinning.
I give each 'mill load' about three hours running - then sieve the powder into jars until it's all ready to mix - and I put on safety glasses when I do that.
My 'mix' is 75/15/10 - and while the end result don't look like Goex, it shoots to the same point of impact with the same amount - I can't tell them apart.

I use willow sticks I collect and de-bark and let 'em dry for a year or so I always got some drying. Don't know what type willow it is ...........
I then cook it in a twenty litre metal drum inside a 44 gal drum I turned into a cooker - with lid, grate and bars to sit the retort on. It takes a while and I found you can get black smuts all over the neighbours washing - so it'll pay to look and see if they're home before you do it.
It's noisy too, the gases coming out of that retort sound like a jet engine - I used to redirect them under the retort to save fuel wood.
I never worried about cooking at a certain temperature, but last time I did it I rigged the retort so I could read the temperature and was able to control the heat moderately well by opening and closing the lid and bottom draught.
I used Italian Alder on that burn and cooked it as the Swiss Powder Co do - certain temperature for a certain period of time. (can't be buggered getting my notes)

I undercooked that wood - it was all charred but a lot of brown in there that turned to airflow when I milled it. I mlll all my charcoal and sieve out the hard bits - there weren't none in that lot.
And the result is that powder don't shoot worth a damn - it goes 'bang' alright, but it doesn't shoot consistently - so I just use willow.

And something you said - my .54 lead balls are now about .38 cal balls - so my powder is probably full of lead ........... and that's got me thinking ............

I used an old lapidary tumbler with lead balls and milled overnight. I added1% water by weight of charcoal. Probably for no good reason as it comes out dry. I then wet the sieved powder with meths to make a stiff paste then pass it through a stainless and plastic mouli with a fine plate and allowed it to dry.
The grains were quite fine and fluffy and only about 75 percent of the weight of commercial goex volume for volume. You could crush it down somewhat when loading cartridge but I never bothered.
Haven't made any for years now but still have the readies and may just start again as my last kg if holy smoke cost $120.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

I used an old lapidary tumbler with lead balls and milled overnight. I added1% water by weight of charcoal. Probably for no good reason as it comes out dry. I then wet the sieved powder with meths to make a stiff paste then pass it through a stainless and plastic mouli with a fine plate and allowed it to dry.
The grains were quite fine and fluffy and only about 75 percent of the weight of commercial goex volume for volume. You could crush it down somewhat when loading cartridge but I never bothered.
Haven't made any for years now but still have the readies and may just start again as my last kg if holy smoke cost $120.

My last kg of holy smoke cost $169...
My main BP rifle is a 45-70 so corning the powder might be necessary. A front stuffer you can just add 20% more or so to account for the weight/volume issue.

Originally Posted by Makros

My last kg of holy smoke cost $169...
My main BP rifle is a 45-70 so corning the powder might be necessary. A front stuffer you can just add 20% more or so to account for the weight/volume issue.

I get get 55grns home rolled under projectile easy...65 If really tamp it in with base of smaller case or poke it in through powder funnel with slender rod.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I get get 55grns home rolled under projectile easy...65 If really tamp it in with base of smaller case or poke it in through powder funnel with slender rod.

I can cram 80grs of mine in a Winchester 45/70 case using a 'drop tube' and a bit of compression - but I was out with my mate a few years back and watched him plonk two 330gr Gould's into two deer using only 50 gr of powder at 100 yards - lazered.
Both those deer (red stags from memory) just 'humped up', walked a few laboured paces and fell over.
Both shots were almost identical - range, animal behaviour, and both shots were pass-throughs.
They were both out on the grass and I was able to watch everything.

That was quite a lesson for me - as slow as those big bullets are, they take some stopping - so I'd say your 55grs are okay for bush hunting, as long as they go point first and are reasonably accurate.
One thing is, most of the bush deer I've shot with BP had some awareness I was there and took off at the shot. And that's where I like 'heavy' and 'pass-throughs' - you got something to follow

Santa just knocked on the door (well it was a bearded chap with a red van and red shirt,might not have been Santa as dont recal stories mentioning a turban before) dropped off a wee heavy parcel...some of the infamous 330grn gould projectiles....my excuses for not sorting out my hefalumpgun are deminishing daily.
THANKYOU ...you know who you are.