Anyone here make their own black powder?

[Roland]

Due to the local prices being around 100-115 euros per kilo of BP I am seriously considering making my own BP. It sounds a lot more involved than I first thought if I wanted good quality powder. But I think I can get started with the mortar & pestle method for now:
http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/homemade_bp.html

I've been reading on various sites and forums about black powder and what they all seem to be after is speed, faster burning powder. These are fireworks people who want to make rockets, I wonder if speed is as essential for us who want to use them in cartridge reloading, or do reloaders who make their own BP also want the fastest burning powder they can get? That's the main question I got here, but any tips and pointers would be appreciated.

I have bought willow airfloat charcoal and sulfur, I got access to free KNO3 so component wise a kilogram of BP should cost me under 4 euros, compare that to storebought...

[Karl]

I have not made my own black powder since I was a kid.  Real black powder is very difficult to buy locally and even potassium nitrate is very difficult to buy here.  The local stores only carry the off (non-working) brands of stump remover which is not KNO3.  You are lucky to have a source there.

I am curious how well home made (uncaked) black powder works in .45 LC. 

[Shotgun Franklin]

If you check recent back issues of 'Backwoodsman' magazine there a couple of ways given that you can make Salt Peter.

[hellgate]

Here ya go,
A gazillion pages on makin' it:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?103852-My-homemade-black-powder&highlight=making+black+powder

[brazosdave]

I make it all the time.  The uncorned powder works for front stuffers and I've used it in .36 caliber to some success, and .44 to great success.  From the experimentation my friends have done, the uncorned powder is not concentrated enuff to use in cartridge ammo.  However, there are guys I know that have made, and there are online tutorials, for building a small press out of pvc, some kind of resin piston, steel brackets and an automotive jack.  I intend to explore that avenue some day.  But yes, you want fast powder.

[rickk]

I've done it.

Th absolute best book that I have found on the subject is :
http://www.skylighter.com/black-powder-manufacturing-testing-optimizing.htm

For what it's worth, for making fireworks the process is not all that hard or that critical. In fact, most of it is simple ball milled powder that is coated onto dampened rice hulls to expose as much surface area as possible.  A rock tumbler with some lead round balls in it is a basic "ball mill".

For small arms making however, the process gets much harder.

Beside a ball mill, you need to be able to granulate it. You will need a press to press it into a "puck", then you will need to break it up and run it through  a series of screens to sort out the various sizes. Commercial small arms powder is then graphite coated to make it flow more easily.

I don't want to discourage you at all, but quality granulated and graded powder is up there on the "hard to do" scale.

Rick

[Roland]

Well its hard to be discouraged considering powder prices. I've already figured on having to get a ball mill and making pucks. Graphite added afterwards might be a good idea too.

Isn't there some kind of better grinding system after the puck stage to get more uniform powder kernels than just breaking up the picks and sifting through multiple screens? Like a dedicated mill grinder of some kind that could adjust the grind siize on?

[rickk]

Rollers are used to break the pucks up in a commercial factory.

I suspect that hobbyists have other improvised methods. The one time I tried it I used a rubber mallet. The result was nothing that would have worked in a gun, but I was much younger (about 15) and didn't have a ball mill or a way to accurately weigh anything.

40 years later, with a mill and a scale, I was amazed at what the same 3 chemicals can do when properly prepared.

More recent efforts on my part have centered around pyrotechnic applications where the performance requirements are reduced considerably. I have not had a need to granulate it. I either use it as is right out of the mill (rocket fuel) or coat rice hulls with it for burst charges. Out of the mill would typically be too slow burning for a gun and coated hulls would typically be too fast for a gun.

The book I referenced on this subject is awesome and worth having.

[Dick Dastardly]

Just keeping the art alive is justification enough for me.  When the politics get too oppressive, it's good to know that we can still make our own powder.

DD-MDA

[rickk]

http://skylighterpromos.s3.amazonaws.com/Polverone.pdf

Also, sale...  BP making kit -  today only - at Skylighter : http://www.skylighter.com/making-black-powder.html

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks for that URL Rickk.  Good to know that there's an outfit dedicated to home manufacture of pyrotechnic displays and of course, black powder.

DD-MDA

[rickk]

Dick,

Skylighter is simply the best in my opinion.

Also not to be forgotten about is also Firefox, which has been forced to cut back on what they sell and who they will sell it to as a result of governmental abuse of power.

Both companies have worked real hard to keep purchase of hobbyist chemicals legal.

Rick

[Dick Dastardly]

I'm going to place an order just to show my support.  We need all the options we can have.

DD-MDA

[sail32]

For the died in the wool traditionalist, for making black powder, I would recommend "Foxfire 5", by Baker & Taylor .
You should like crawling around in bat caves.
This collection of folklore, how-to information, and reminiscences covers topics ranging from blacksmithing and bear hunting to the making of flintlock rifles and includes interviews with some fascinating individuals from southern Appalachia .

[Cuts Crooked]

A friend sent me this and I just HAD to post it here.

[Dick Dastardly]

Well, at least he got a cool head stone Cuts. 

DD-MDA

[dusty texian]

I also read that article in Backwoodsman ,on how to make black powder ,and saltpeter. A few issues back the same magazine ran a very interesting story on re-primeing ,rimfire cases ,until I read this ,I did not know that was possible.. This is a little of topic ,but thought some may find this interesting. ......Dusty

[Hickok]

I have to drive 100 miles one way to Winchester Va. to get blackpowder, so I usually load up when I go. Homemade BP sounds like a good idea.

[Roland]

I haven't really had time to look much at this right now. I bought the ingredients and forgot about it. I coughed up for a 3FG 1kg canister of swiss black powder but I haven't even loaded my first round yet. Been busy with buying some land, clearing it, then getting ready to build a house and stuff, then we're having twins sometime in october/november so after that I'll have even less time!

At the moment I'm using my own 9mm bullets I cast myself, 147gr and homemade Emmerts lube (using lanolin and carnauba in it too). Gonna try and make my own dipper now using an old .38spl case. I am gonna test with bullets I've already calibrated to .356 and removed the smokeless lube from since it's all I got right now, but my mold drops them at .359 so I think they will be better.

I'm keeping an eye out for a good deal on some old motor or similar for making a mill in the meantime though. Once the house is built I will have a dedicated area for reloading and stuff in the garage, apartment living is no fun.

[sail32]

The book "Foxfire 5", goes into detail of homemade black powder making with out any store bought materials.

http://www.foxfire.org/foxfire5.aspx

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128905.Foxfire_5

http://www.scribd.com/doc/88310536/Foxfire-5#.UfUvHfTn_cs     Powder making page 244