How to get a very fine powder?

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ymg200

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I am not doing reloading and I don't shoot black powder guns, so I don't have much experience with powders.
I need a very fine powder to make model rocket igniters. I am following instructions in this page:
http://www.jacobsrocketry.com/aer/homemade_wire-wound_igniters.htm
These instructions say that commercial powder is crushed easily by mortar and pestle, but I can't crush the powder that I got from ammo cartridges that I had. I got different grain shapes - cylindrical grain from a rifle cartridge and round flakes from a shot shell and from a pistol round. However, I wasn't able to crush any of these. Cylindrical grain gets squashed into flat, but it doesn't crush. Same result with round flakes.
I need a really fine powder to suspend it in the lacquer as per instructions above.
Making my own powder is not an option because I need a really small amount for igniters, so I want to find a commercial powder that can be crushed.
Thanks all for help.
 
I would think that FFFF black powder is what you would want as it is used to priming the flash pan of a flintlock. Another option would be flash powder if you can find it......it used to be used in the motion picture industry and for very old cameras.
 
The powder referenced in the article is BLACK powder--a mix of
Potassium Nitrate, Sulfur and Charcoal. You will not find it in
any modern ammunition. If there is a muzzleloader supply store
in your area they should have some. The finest you might find is
FFFFg.

If you locate some black powder, grind it in small quantities, and
have the tightly closed can of powder far away from the grinding
operation.


The powder in modern ammunition is SMOKELESS powder. It is not
the same as what the article is calling for.
 
Thanks all!
I did not realize that smokeless powder from modern ammo is that much different from black powder. The link that I referenced also shows the can of 4F Goex black powder, just like it was mentioned here.
 
I did not realize that smokeless powder from modern ammo is that much different from black powder.
Click to expand...

Smokeless powder is tremendously different from black powder.

If you use smokeless powder in a black powder firearm you will turn it into a bomb.

Google "smokeless powder used in blackpowder guns" and see the results.

Steve
 
The tool you need is a ball mill. Learn what your doing so the container filled with fine gunpowder and ball bearings exploding from static discharge wont be the last thing you see.
 
Last edited:
The tool you need is a ball mill. Learn what your doing so the container filled with fine gunpowder and ball bearings exploding from static discharge wont be the last thing you see.
Click to expand...

BP won't explode from static discharge and you don't use steel ball bearings. You use brass or lead balls because they won't spark.
 
BP won't explode from static discharge and you don't use steel ball bearings. You use brass or lead balls because they won't spark.
Click to expand...

This! Black Powder, particularly modern graphite glazed BP, is so electrically conductive that electricity passes over the outside of the grains with virtually no resistance, so there is very little heating.

This makes it very difficult to set off BP with a static discharge spark. There's a video on YouTube of a fellow using a taser to try and set it off - it won't.

He basically set out to make an electrically-ignited BP gun. It turns out it is quite difficult - you need a much more powerful spark over a much longer duration of time than your typical static discharge.

Also like Hawg said, you brass or lead balls, not steel, (nor glass, if you are thinking marbles).

Also you should only mill small quantities and your mill should be located outdoors away from stuff.

Steve
 
For the extremely minute amount of powder needed for model rocket igniters, just use a mortar and pestle and make it as you need it. You can start with any black powder granulation.
I have seen someone make priming powder by putting a small amount of FFg on a smooth surface and then using a brass powder measure like a rolling pin to crush the grains into a fine powder.
If you wear leather gauntlets while doing this, the consequences of an accidental ignition will be mostly a room full of smoke, as long as you are only pulverizing a half teaspoon at a time.
If you don't wear the leather gloves, an unintended ignition will include the odor of the hair burned off your knuckles.
 
Have 2-3 F Black Powder available and no 4-FFFFG for your rifles Flash Pan.
Try a ceramic burr coffee grinder and grind those larger grain sizes into a smaller grain so's to fire up you're Flint locks Pan. Ideal tool (link) every Rock Lock shooter should have. No need to pay a additional 22.00 $$ for a can of 4-FFFFG to use it sparely over the next 20-40 years. Make your own fresh Flash Pan powder before going shooting. Daily weekly monthly when ever.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U9SBYB2?psc=1
 
I tried grinding a small amount of FFF for priming, but it seemed to get too fine with no tooth for the spark to catch.
What I do lately is put a small amount of powder, say 100 grains, in an old aluminum screw-top film container with a lead ball and shake it for a while till it looks FFFF. There are quite a few primes in that amount of powder.
 
Grinding and compressing smokeless powder can cause an explosion. Don't do it!

Use only black powder. BP should be available at most sporting goods stores. Don't let them sell you Pyrodex. You want real black powder. You can safely grind small amounts with a ceramic mortar and pestle. Forget ball mills and all that stuff.
 
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