Homemade black powder for cap&ball?

S

sixgunnin

New member
I have more experience than I probably should in the homemade explosive field but I never have been able to make black powder that is anywhere near the power of Pyrodex. Has anyone tried homemade black powder in a cap&ball revolver? What kind of results has anyone had with it?

Don't tell me I am going to blow myself up, I have enough experience to make it safely:cool:
 
Just some questions...

Did you use willow charcoal?

What is your recipe?

Did you process it in a ball mill? How many hours?

Did you corn it? How?
 
I have not used willow charcoal.
standard recipe.
yes, processed in a ball mill. Extremely fine, dust.
corned through window screen when it is pretty stiff.
 
Which charcoal did you use?

The charcoal is one of the (if not THE) main point/s...

In the other hand...are your 3 ingredients perfectly dry?
 
Regarding your question about using it in a cap&ball revolver...it is the only one I use...

Always obtaining velocities above 700 fps for 200 grs conicals and 900 for lead balls.
 
First off, if you're just corning it through a screen while it's still damp, then it will end up very "fluffly" compared to commercially made stuff. The mills compress it into dense cakes under tons of force, and then break up the cakes afterwards. I've seen some homebrew guys who rig up a hydraulic jack or bearing press to compress their powder to get better density/results.

This doesn't make much difference in a musket, since you can just adjust your charge & use more (by volume, but I'm guessing they'd be similar in weight) to get the same velocity. But when you're limited by space in a revolver cylinder, I'm not sure there's any way to duplicate commercial powder velocities without compressing it.

Secondly, the charcoal does make a big difference. Check out this page if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/charcoal.html
 
You can use just milled and screened powder, but will get better results with corned powder.

That said, the screened kind will work fine, just weigh out your charge, or pour the cylinder full of powder, which I have done. It works well, plenty of power. Just not a whole lot of consistency.
 
The old timers (1300s) would just mix the ingredients up raw with no corning or anything, called it "serpentine powder" if my mind recalls. Dangerous, unstable, and not as potent as modern powders.
 
There is a huge thread over on castboolits.com about making your own powder.

I have bought a Harbor Freight rock tumbler but that's as far as I've gone so far.

The long and short of it is:

Soft woods make better charcoal than hard woods.

But I found that even if you just buy the ingredients ready-to-use from a fireworks manufacturer you can still make BP for about $5 a pound, in theory.

If you only press your damp green powder through a screen, it will function but it is "fluffier" than commercial powder and you will need more of it by volume than commercial powder.

The best way is to use a hydraulic press and an aluminum die and insert (guy on the forum above sells them) so that you compress the damp green powder into "hockey pucks". This is called "corning" and is how commercial powder is made. You let them dry completely, then grind them and sift them through screens to get the desired size granules.

As I recall from the forum thread, some folks were reporting more consistent velocities with home-made powder than with top-grade commercial powder like Swiss.

Steve
 
I have used pine charcoal made from 2x4 studs. It has plenty of power when compressed (corned), granulated in a ceramic coffee grinder, and screened. It just leaves more fouling than willow.
 
The batch I was working on turned out very well! I would say it has about 2/3 the power of Pyrodex. I am just using it in powder form, its a little harder to load that way but easier to make.
 
Corning and grinding looks to be the tricky part, especially the grinding. I'm saving my efforts for when I can't get store bought. That isn't the concern it used to be in my mind. I do thank you for keeping the technology alive in the private sector.
 
Hubble Bubble

Has anyone tried well mixing dry very fine powders in the serpentine tradition, adding water and cooking it (al-la 60's Military manual)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj-HGHzCFos
There is a point where he puts the hot wet mix into alcohol and then the whole into a muslin cloth and squeezes it out by hand.
This is where I think putting the bag in a cylinder with a sieve on the end and pushing a piston against it would drive out the water, and compress the powder into a solid without using alcohol.
Would just pressing the water out give a good cake, or is the alcohol a total necessity (then press it)?
Seems to me the alcohol is just to drive the water out for the hand made process, and "water cake" would dry out after a few days in the sun or a couple of hours in a low (electric) oven.
Thoughts?

Also if you do make a solid cake how do you go about turning it into a 2F powder grain?
 
I will try another small batch with willow charcoal and corn it differently.
Click to expand...
Not just any willow. Black willow.
(Weeping willow) is not a preferred ingredient in the making of homemade B/P.

Corn powder:
Raw Meal powder that is Spray Dampened lightly with distilled water then compressed in a {piston type of mold} with Hydraulic pressure applied. Thus creating a disk shaped form of tightly compressed powder.

Disk is then removed from its mold and allowed to dry. Once fully dried. Disk is then broken into smaller pieces, sieved to size thru screen/s approximate in size to >F-size kernels.
Left over powder not meeting the F-size wanting is simply recycled.

Corn powder is best used in B/P handguns.

Corn powder Plus's? _ It seldom settles beyond the point it was originally rammed too. (A necessary requirement for B/P pistol use.)

Corn_ Is alot less barrel fouling than Screen Powder.

Corn powder is a Universal powder. Can be used in B/P pistols or long barrel B/P firearms.


Corn it's Negatives? More laborious to make. Requires more tools to make.


Simple Screen powder on the other hand:
Is raw Meal powder: that is spay dampened lightly with distilled water and hand formed into a lightly moistened Ball.

By hand the Ball is forced thru a screen approximate in size to the F-size wanting. Those screened powder kernels are captured below its screen on a flat tray surface and allowed to dry.

Screen B/Powder is Primarily used in B/P long barrel firearm applications.

It's Negatives:
Screen powder will settle some in level height after being rammed and is more barrel fouling than Corn powder. Not as versatile in use as corn powder is.

Screen powder Plus's?
A shade Easier to ignite than Corn powder. Quite often faster burning than Corn powder is.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top