The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old June 9, 2012, 04:19 PM   #1
the_don
Junior Member
 
Join Date: June 9, 2012
Posts: 3
help, damp black powder ?

hey guys i been reading post for about a week now and i am amazed at all the information and stories you have here.

anyway i got out my .50 cal cva inline muzzleloader to zero in my new scope and when i got to the range i found my powder pellets must have drawn damp over the winter months and wouldnt fire. just looking and handling the pellets you cant tell their damp but i only had 1 set of pellets fire out of the 10 i tried. and it is verry damp in the room i stored the pellets in. my question is, is there a way to dry these powder pellets or just take the loss and throw them out.
the_don is offline  
Old June 9, 2012, 04:30 PM   #2
g.willikers
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2008
Posts: 10,442
I've had success in drying BPowder out.
Just don't use the stove.
Try laying them out in the hot sun.
__________________
Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez:
“Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”
g.willikers is offline  
Old June 9, 2012, 04:35 PM   #3
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
Itll dry out and be fine, as a matter of fact you have to wet home made powder to screen it.
brushhippie is offline  
Old June 9, 2012, 04:47 PM   #4
g.willikers
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2008
Posts: 10,442
Yeah, as brushhippie says, BP gets wet a couple of times before we get it.
Probably, at some point during the mixing of the components, just for safety.
But, really, don't use the stove.
When I was a kid, one of the other kids in the neighborhood used to make all our fireworks for us.
One day he tried to reinvent the wheel, and was sure that heating up the home made BP would make it more potent.
You know those old movies, where things go blooey, and everyone in the vicinity stumbles out of the smoke all covered in soot and singed around the edges?
That's what he looked like.
__________________
Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez:
“Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”
g.willikers is offline  
Old June 9, 2012, 05:44 PM   #5
the_don
Junior Member
 
Join Date: June 9, 2012
Posts: 3
ok thanks guys .. i was thinking about just sitting it out in the sun for a while but wasnt sure if it would work, hope its dry soon this stuff isnt cheap no more, thanks again for all your responses
the_don is offline  
Old June 9, 2012, 07:54 PM   #6
mykeal
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 8, 2006
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 2,772
Um, bp pellets? Does bp come in pellets? Perhaps they're Pyrodex or 777 pellets?

Pyrodex and 777 degrade significantly when stored in open air, especially if it's humid. BP can be restored if dried out, but I doubt Pyrodex or 777 can. Even if it dries out I believe it'll still be damaged.
mykeal is offline  
Old June 10, 2012, 01:26 AM   #7
arcticap
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2005
Location: Central Connecticut
Posts: 3,166
They really should be stored in an airtight container just like with loose powder.
arcticap is offline  
Old June 10, 2012, 08:19 PM   #8
the_don
Junior Member
 
Join Date: June 9, 2012
Posts: 3
yeah theyre pyrodex pellets.. i have a box for them ordered, i had them in the sun for about 6 hrs yesterday and a few thismorning they seem to be ok all loads fired today
the_don is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 06:47 AM   #9
mykeal
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 8, 2006
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 2,772
Quote:
they seem to be ok all loads fired today
But at very likely reduced velocity.
mykeal is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 06:48 AM   #10
Mike Irwin
Staff
 
Join Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 41,374
There's a Revolutionary War account written by a soldier, letter to home, I think, describing how an entire wagonload of cartridges got soaked.

All of the cartridges were disassembled, the powder and paper put on blankets in the sun to dry, and then reassembled.

Sounds tedious as hell.
__________________
"The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza

Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.
Mike Irwin is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 06:57 AM   #11
mykeal
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 8, 2006
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 2,772
"You're in the Army now/You're not behind the plow..."
mykeal is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 07:40 AM   #12
Rifleman1776
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 25, 2010
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,309
Pyrodex is not black powder.
The pellets are ruined. Use for garden fertilizer.
Rifleman1776 is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 08:31 AM   #13
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
clearly if they fired they are not ruined ...and the way I understand it there is little difference between BP and BP subs, but Im sure Im wrong about that.... go ahead and pile on.
brushhippie is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 09:13 AM   #14
g.willikers
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2008
Posts: 10,442
The only difference that's been obvious, between BP and the substitutes, is the smell.
Or in the case of 777, thankfully, the distinct lack of it.
Don't care what you old timey traditionalists say, sulfur just downright stinks!
__________________
Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez:
“Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”
g.willikers is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 09:59 AM   #15
noelf2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 14, 2008
Location: Stuart, VA
Posts: 2,473
Quote:
and the way I understand it there is little difference between BP and BP subs
Depends on what you mean by "difference". The subs chemical/physical/combustion properties are way different, some more "way different" than others. They are very similar in that they all produce black powder like pressures and velocities with similar volumetric loads.

Quote:
The pellets are ruined. Use for garden fertilizer.
+1 Even if they fire, they can not be trusted to get the job done.
__________________
Liberty and freedom often offends those who understand neither.
noelf2 is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 10:14 AM   #16
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
they can not be trusted to get the job done.

Heck if they shove a ball out the end and it goes boom its gettin the job done....now if you're on your back and some guys standing over you with an axe....no I wouldnt trust them!
brushhippie is offline  
Old June 11, 2012, 02:41 PM   #17
noelf2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 14, 2008
Location: Stuart, VA
Posts: 2,473
Quote:
Heck if they shove a ball out the end and it goes boom its gettin the job done....now if you're on your back and some guys standing over you with an axe....no I wouldnt trust them!
Or if that no good rotton tree stump jumps up at you again...! I don't think I would want to leave one of them without putting a couple holes in it. God forbid my gun goes boom and the ball rolls out onto my foot in a situation like that.

Seriously though, those iffy pyrodex pellets would be better entertainment if pitched into a bonfire.
__________________
Liberty and freedom often offends those who understand neither.

Last edited by noelf2; June 11, 2012 at 02:47 PM.
noelf2 is offline  
Old June 12, 2012, 05:07 PM   #18
Smokin_Gun
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 4, 2005
Location: Mojave Desert, CA
Posts: 1,195
The differance is that subs ain't Black Powder and anyone that knows can tell you there is a differance ... get a Pound of KIK or Goex, and a lb. of Triple Se7en and try to get groups with 777 that you got with the Black Powder from the same Revolver ...
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so
__________________
"I Smoke Black Powder" "Favor an 1858 Remington"
SGT. Smokin' Gun, Mosby's Rangers 43rd Virginia Cavalry C.S.A.
SASS# 19634, ...
Admin:http://blackpowdersmoke.com/oldcoots/index.php
Smokin_Gun is offline  
Old June 12, 2012, 06:34 PM   #19
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
...not changing the fact that dampness is not going to render it useless. But thanks professor.... anybody that knows really should tell me, please explain. The way I understand it, it is made from the same ingredients with graphite and pottasium perchlorate blah blah whatever else they add, but once again ....pretty similar.

Last edited by brushhippie; June 12, 2012 at 06:46 PM.
brushhippie is offline  
Old June 13, 2012, 06:06 AM   #20
noelf2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 14, 2008
Location: Stuart, VA
Posts: 2,473
Ingredients aren't very similar. Not like comparing pancakes to waffles (same basic ingredients). More like comparing chicken and tofu. You eat them both the same way, but its harder to catch a tofu...
__________________
Liberty and freedom often offends those who understand neither.
noelf2 is offline  
Old June 13, 2012, 08:06 AM   #21
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
I guess what you read here (internet)is not necessarily true...what I found. anyway I have had wet powder since I make my own but have not had wet pyrodex....sounds like a good experiment and I am dying to know whats in pyrodex since I keep hearing how different it is but no real explanation....help me out fellers I dont like having bad info...



Hodgdon's Pyrodex was the first widely available substitute on the market. Pyrodex is less sensitive to ignition than black powder, and uses the same shipping and storage guidelines as smokeless powder. Pyrodex is more energetic per unit of mass than black powder, but it is less dense, and can be substituted at a 1:1 ratio by volume for black powder in many applications.[1] Pyrodex is similar in composition to black powder, consisting primarily of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, but it also contains graphite and potassium perchlorate, plus additional ingredients protected by trade secret.






now this is different, but not what we were talking about....


Hodgdon also makes Triple Seven, one of the family of sulfurless black powder substitutes. Triple Seven and Black Mag3 are more energetic than black powder, and produce higher velocities and pressures. Still burning carbon, the carbon-based fuel burned here is from the sugar family, not from charcoal.
brushhippie is offline  
Old June 13, 2012, 10:39 AM   #22
thallub
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2007
Location: South Western OK
Posts: 3,112
Pyrodex pellets have a black powder igniter on one end: Its darker in color than the rest of the pellet. The igniter end should go down the barrel first.
thallub is offline  
Old June 13, 2012, 05:24 PM   #23
brushhippie
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Posts: 70
http://www.whitemuzzleloading.com/black_powder.htm
This may help
brushhippie is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:40 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07926 seconds with 10 queries