Good and Inferior Black Powder - Reasons Why

[john boy]

http://www.lehighvalleylube.com/history-of-black-powder-production.html

And BTW, the 'Original patented Lehigh Valley Cleaner & Lube' is back on the market
Available at Track of the Wolf and Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/

http://www.dixonmuzzleloading.com/

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Save the History article for reference in The Dark Arts?

[Truly Grits]

Great idea! This is a very good article. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers!

[Blackpowder Burn]

I've had the opportunity to visit the Hagley (DuPont) powder mill, machine shops, etc.  It's well worth the time if you are in the area.  Really fascinating what they could do with water power and the capabilities of the lathes, milling machines, drill presses, etc. that were powered by it. I never knew they had water turbines in the 1840's - the powder mills were powered by them.

[john boy]

Note the video and listen to the lady tour guide's words.  She is the tour guide for Swiss black powder. To my knowledge, when she says the wheel mill runs 24 hours for their batches - no other powder manufacturer runs their wheel mill this long

And Bill Knight discusses the importance of water purity, potassium nitrate and charcoal quality made from various woods.  Curtis's & Harvey's after their plant blew up in Wales, moved to Ardeer, Scotland because of the water purity and abundant availability of Alder Buckthrone for their charcoal.  In addition, they dissolved their purchased potassium nitrate and distilled the impurities off to have absolutely pure potassium nitrate crystals.  These quality items plus their quality processing steps is why many say - C&H was the best black powder made.

[Dick Dastardly]

Re: Dixon site.  I get this message "This webpage is not available".

DD-MDA

[john boy]

Dick, this one works ... http://www.dixonmuzzleloading.com/ and I fixed the initial link too.  Issues with Cas City URL command

[Ranch 13]

These quality items plus their quality processing steps is why many say - C&H was the best black powder made.

I sometimes wonder where that comes from. None of the recommendations for reloading in Remington, Winchester or Ideal catalogs from the "golden age" of blackpowder even mentions C&H, and in Perry's book where the equipment is listed out of 34 shooters the only guy shooting C&H finished 33rd..

[wildman1]

The best powder in the world won't make a bad shooter good. wM1

[Good Troy]

The best powder in the world won't make a bad shooter good. wM1

Darn....I was hoping that the right powder and guns would make me the Black Powder Shooter champion in Texas!
Guess that I will have to resort to other measures...like practicing...

[john boy]

Guess that I will have to resort to other measures.

Troy, you might want to try Wheaties ... The Breakfast of Champions!

[Good Troy]

Oh...I'll have to try Wheaties instead of my usual biscuit and jerky...