Lordy...may have to change the name of the forum to "Muzzle Loading and Cowboy Action Shooting" if they start selling it in powder form! "It"?? What the heck am I yammering about? IMR White Hots, that's what! Have you seen this stuff? It's bloody well white as snow! And I've read that it's not a nitro based formulation. Go figure.
So what the heck is it? Anyone know?
It's sulfurless - that much we do know but then again black powder goes BOOM just fine without sulfur so that's not a huge surprise and 777 and several others are sulfurless as well already. And given that carbon mixed with saltpetre doesn't go boom (more like fizzle fizzle pffft - it's all the other stuff in charcoal that makes black powder work correctly, not the carbon) I guess that blackness really can be optional.
So what is this "IMR White Hots" stuff? Is it mostly saltpetre mixed with a laboratory developed chemical stew that optimally provides the same fuels that charcoal does in BLACK powder? And what's this jazz I read elsewhere about "ascorbic acid based powders"? Huh?? I mean aspirin is indeed a miracle drug but can a black powder substitute be made out of it? The notion boggles!
All of which makes me wonder how a ball milled mixture of saltpetre and sugar would burn? Hmm...it might smell rather nice...
Obviously with too much time on my hands I remain,
Oly in AZ
So what the heck is it? Anyone know?
It's sulfurless - that much we do know but then again black powder goes BOOM just fine without sulfur so that's not a huge surprise and 777 and several others are sulfurless as well already. And given that carbon mixed with saltpetre doesn't go boom (more like fizzle fizzle pffft - it's all the other stuff in charcoal that makes black powder work correctly, not the carbon) I guess that blackness really can be optional.
So what is this "IMR White Hots" stuff? Is it mostly saltpetre mixed with a laboratory developed chemical stew that optimally provides the same fuels that charcoal does in BLACK powder? And what's this jazz I read elsewhere about "ascorbic acid based powders"? Huh?? I mean aspirin is indeed a miracle drug but can a black powder substitute be made out of it? The notion boggles!
All of which makes me wonder how a ball milled mixture of saltpetre and sugar would burn? Hmm...it might smell rather nice...
Obviously with too much time on my hands I remain,
Oly in AZ
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