Nitrating paper by dissolving smokeless?

[wogpotter]

Anyone tried this stunt?
Supposedly you dissolve a little single-base smokeless powder in acetone, soak the rag fiber paper & allow to dry.

[Edward429451]

I stopped blowing my eyebrows off when I was about 19. What's it for?

[arcticap]

It's said to act as a binder or glue for the paper when constructing paper cartridges and for enhancing the combustion of the paper.
The solution can simply be brushed on to the paper

[wittzo]

It's also known as water glass, they used them to seal paper shotgun shells.

[Jim Watson]

Water glass is sodium silicate, not the same stuff and not flammable.

[wogpotter]

This is definitely supposed to be flammable!
As he said it's to fabricate paper cartridges for BP shooting.

The nitrating is to make the paper rapidly & completely combustible, rather than having to wet swab between loads to clear smoldering fragments that could ignite the next powder charge while loading.

I did not know of the glue function though, thanks.

[Hawg]

All you need is tea bags. They're pretty tough and burn completely. Don't even have to prick them, the caps will blow thru them.

[wogpotter]

All you need is tea bags

Hmmm.............


You got a "How to" on that for a .44 pistol load with RB & a wad

[Hawg]

Not with a wad. I use flo thru bags cut along creases. You can get more from each bag with more precise measuring but I'm too lazy. Run a thin strip of Elmers glue along one end and wrap around middle of ball. I have a dowel slightly smaller than a .44 ball with one end cupped so ball stays put. Wrap paper around dowel and glue. Slide it off and when it dries fill with pre measured charge. Twist or fold end and tie off with thread. Cut off excess and you're done.

[wittzo]

Someone talked about mixing acetone with smokeless powder to make water glass a while back. They didn't imply that it was flammable, it was just to act like a glue to hold the overshot wad in place and to seal it. During the drying process, the acetone evaporates, leaving behind a chemical compound to act as a bonding an sealing agent. It just moves along. I guess an old timer who reloaded his brass or paper hull shotgun shells would have a jar of water glass handy to glue his paper cartridges too.

Mixing potassium nitrate and hot water is a different thing, though. That's what makes flash paper flash.

I use rolling papers. I rely on the rammer to crack it open in the cylinder. I make them tapered so the powder end goes in smooth. I had one delayed shot the first time I ever used them. They work okay for me ever since without pricking them.

[4V50 Gary]

Thank you Hawg for the tea bag suggestion.

[DustyBottoms]

Another sausagegravyandbaconoverbiscuitswithscrambleseggsandcheese thread full of WIN!

[Wildalaska]

Thank you Hawg for the tea bag suggestion.

I agree, but what do you do with the tea

WildlookapoemAlaska TM

[arcticap]

Depending on the amount of smokeless powder added to a small volume of acetone, the solution will become syrupy.
What I read mentioned to just mix up a teaspoon full.

[madcratebuilder]

I agree, but what do you do with the tea

Anything but pay tax on it.

[Hawg]

I agree, but what do you do with the tea

I use cheap tea and throw it out.

[Wildalaska]

I use cheap tea and throw it out.

Do ya put on warpaint first

WildandtraveltobahstonAlaska ™

[zippy13]

Hawg Haggen,
Have you ever used recycled teabags?
Just curious.

[Hawg]

No to warpaint and no to recycled.

[wogpotter]

Thanks, Hawg, I'll give that a try.
As for the flammability of re-dried dissolved smokeless it is, it really is (trust me).
As for the glue aspect I have yet to test that.

[Andy Griffith]

There are much simpler ways to do it and not as dangerous or as expensive...

Paper:

Order some "tea bag paper"- not the decorative kind, but the kind to actually make a tea bag out of (I personally haven't tried this).

Or, get some "onion skin paper" which is very, very thin paper- just a bit thicker than rolling papers. Make certain it is 100% cotton bond- it burns clean.

Then, just soak the tea bag or onion skin papers in a water/saltpeter solution and then let dry. This is a much safer way to make more combustible cartridges.

As for using acetone to dissolve the single base smokeless powder is literally playing with dynamite. Do you remember the John Wayne movie The War Wagon where they took the bridge out with nitroglycerin? Although this wouldn't be quite the same- the acetone would liberate the nitroglycerin compounds from the cellulose base and make it unstable- don't drop or rattle the jar! Once you had the paper soaked, you'd have a form of guncotton, which has been known to spontaneously ignite. Also, there is no way to judge how much nitro was soaked into the paper that you used to make the cartridges- and it could (but may be a long shot) increase the pressures dangerously.

[Baryngyl]

There is no nitroglycerin in single base smokeless powder.


Michael Grace

[Hawg]

Then, just soak the tea bag or onion skin papers in a water/saltpeter solution and then let dry. This is a much safer way to make more combustible cartridges.

Why soak it if you don't need to?

[Andy Griffith]

Why soak it if you don't need to?

Some people do...I don't know- it's above my pay grade.
I've never tried the onion skin paper unsoaked- I guess I will now.

[Hawg]

I havent tried onion skin but tea bags work really well