Thread: Ulrich Bretscher's SMOKELESS BLACK POWDER & HANDGONNE web page. Re-found!

Originally Posted by canross

I'm curious if one were to make smokeless(sulphurless) black powder, whether it would behave similarly at the standardized black powder compressed volumetric/gravimetric grain weight..... probably not, but would be neat to find out, and would certainly make measuring it with the normal BP volumetric scales easier.

Ulrich Bretscher did that comparison in an Enfield muzzle loading rifle, home-made three-component gunpowder vs home-made two-component smokeless gunpowder. Found that the two-component was about 10% less powerful.



The page with the diagram above and the discussion around it.

Bretscher created an impressive three dimensional graph varying both sulfur and charcoal proportions.

Swiss artillery created a type of smokeless gunpowder created by the usual method but eliminating sulphur from the mixture. It overcame the problem in fortresses that you blinded yourself to what attackers were up to once you had fired the first cannon salvo, instead the two-component powder left a light haze. @Marty Henry's post above explains the difference.

To go on from your question canross, Bretscher mentioned that he wondered if the smokeless powder would behave differently in modern, large case small calibre bottlenecked cartridges rather than in an old Enfield muzzle loading rifle.