Making 18th and 19th Century Gun Powder

[RobD]

Today, we call the gun powder made and used before the inception of the 20th century "black powder", mainly to distinguish it from modern gun powder that's mostly nitro based.  The ingredients and methods for making black powder are readily available online and libraries around the globe.  There is no reason to not talk about and fully understand what is black powder and the many ways it was and is produced.

BE AWARE OF YOUR LOCAL LAWS CONCERNING HAVING AND/OR MAKING AND STORING BLACK POWDER

Why make your own black powder?  Availability is not easy these days and there is always the possibility it will cease to be sold.  It will be lots cheaper to make good black powder considering its astronomically rising purchase pricing.  Self sufficiency - if you have a flintlock gun, all you need is black powder, a rock to make sparks, and either some lead to cast a ball or if the gun is a smoothbore then something(s) to stuff down its barrel.

There are MANY online videos concerning making black powder.  Here's one that I like ....

[RobD]

I hate it when the truth hurts, but good folks are gonna get squeezed even more in the coming months and years when the price of the holy black skyrockets ... or becomes unobtanium.

You read that here.

However, the smokeless nitro based subs will still be around, but they ain't gonna work well if at all for the flint guns.

[KDubs]

I found times gone tech awhile back, he doesn't have a big following but I subscribed.
 I found him when I started researching make BP .
 Like how he described and tested serpentine, screened and press powders.
 I tried the big C clamp pressing method use shows but ended up with the 20 ton harbor freight press.
 With the price of Swiss here, about 56$ per LB and goex unavailable it just makes sense to make your own.
  And for those of you worried about pressing and grinding and grading etc
 Screened powder is the easier way to go and works pretty darn well too, just use alittle more that you would compared to pressed powder
IIRC that's the way it was made until the mid to later 18th century.
 Don't need any special equipment either, just a way to mill it , a harbor freight rock tumbler will work for that in small batches and a kitchen screen type strainer will work .
 Go make some powder dang it!!
Kevin
 
 

[RobD]

Right on, Kevin!

Don't need to press pucks, screening will render good powder.

Milling is Important ... it's done with DRY*** powder, just a cheap rubber lined mill and some lead balls is all that takes and there is nothing that will kick off powder milled that way.  If yer the least bit concerned (as I'll admit I was!) take the mill outside and run an extension cord to where the milling is done far from yer dwelling and do just a small 1/2 or 1/4 pound mix.

After milling, the powder is wet down with a bit of plain water (NO chance of ignition!) then pressed into a screen and left to fully dry.  Done. 

***DRY powder means that all three ingredients need to be as dry as possible.  Potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur are very hygroscopic and will pull in water from the air which will change the 75-15-10 mix ratio and the resulting powder will not be as efficient or strong.  Using a food dehydrator for the ingredients will fix that issue.

[RobD]

The rest of the Times Gone Tech videos on making black powder ...

[RobD]

Jake's interesting take on making black powder that can be better than top shelf Swiss.

[KDubs]

Yep, another favorite of mine.
 I pretty much follow his lead on how to do it.
 Kevin

[Salty]

I?d like to try this. Not sure how my neighbors will react to the noise.

[Nessmuk]

I thought it would be harder and more dangerous. When my current stock gets low i think I'll try it.

[RobD]

I wouldn't wait to begin to both think, acquire chemicals and tools, and begin to make powder.   It'll take bit of time to get Your process down and test out the potency of what you've made.

[KDubs]

I agree rob, y'all need to get after it, takes a bit of learning but it really is easier than one would think.
 You can get potassium nitrate, sulfur of Amazon or any number of online companies.
 Charcoal you can make yourself.
 Plenty of online instruction there.
 I use alder smoker chips from the local store.
 Kevin

[Nessmuk]

when I get down to 20lbs left, I will. should be in a couple year.

[Nessmuk]

a quick question. How well does your homemade powder work with smaller calibers? .32, .36, .40?

[RobD]

a quick question. How well does your homemade powder work with smaller calibers? .32, .36, .40?

I don't know, I've only used it with .54 and .62 bore sizes, rifle and smoothbore. 

[KDubs]

a quick question. How well does your homemade powder work with smaller calibers? .32, .36, .40?

Not sure but imagine would work just as well
Kevin