Achieved 1330 fps with my 1858 Remington

[phil97]

I was testing the velocities with my new batch of homemade black powder. This one is even more powerful than the last.

I shot it 3 times with a round ball and 1 with a 200 grain conical (the conical was powered by my old powder but the results are still relevant)



140 grain, .454 round ball velocities:

1: 1297 fps
2: 1261 fps
3: 1330 fps

Average Velocity: 1296 fps
Average Energy: 522 foot pounds



200 grain conical:

1: 1121

Energy: 558 foot pounds

I'm very impressed and very satisfied with these results

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oARwYenvZ5c

[Centurion]

Congrats! I obtained up to 1400 fps with my remmy with a RB, too, and almost 1100 with a 200 grns conical. Both with my homemade powder. Which wood are you using for charcoal? I found that depending on the density of each charcoal, quantities into the recipe must be changed. I. E. For a willow charcoal is possible to get a good powder with a 15% charcoal, but in case of using harder woods may be necessary to go up to 25 or even 30% of charcoal. And I never use more than 5% of sulfur as modern primers could ignite such powder anyway.

[Centurion]

It is important to tell that for all mentioned proportions I was talking of percentage to obtain a 100% of powder, by weight. So when I make a powder with a denser wood I tend to use (I. E. to get 100 grams of powder), 30 grams charcoal, 65 saltpeter and 5 sulfur.

[phil97]

Centurion, that is actually very interesting. I use grapevine charcoal. I was actually wondering if decreasing my sulfur percentage and increasing the charcoal would give me a bigger boom (as it would mean having more fuel in the mix, sulfur is only for lowering ignition temperature). Seems like my suspicions were confirmed. Now that you told me that I'll absolutely have to try it out when I make a new batch

[Centurion]

Sulfur is as you say, used to lowering the ignition temperature, and saltpeter is an oxidizer, wich helps oxygen to burn the charcoal. But 60 or 65 percent of it is all you need for such task in case your charcoal is very dense. If not, just decrease the amount of sulfur and try increasing charcoal by 10%. I. E. 25 grams charcoal, 5 sulfur and 70 saltpeter. Try making 100 grams for the first time and let us know your findings.

[Centurion]

Experimentation is the only way to find wich could be the best homemade gunpowder you are able to obtain with the ingredients at hand. My suggestions are based on my findings after experimenting with some very dense charcoal made of hard woods.

[phil97]

I'll absolutely give it a try next time and I will report my findings again

[rodwhaincamo]

What were the powder charges used?

[phil97]

72 grains of homemade black by volume. There's still only about 40 grains worth of powder in the chamber (homemade bp is not very dense)

[rodwhaincamo]

I’m at a loss here. 72 grns “volume” wouldn’t fit in a NMA chamber. Is it 40 grns volume that weighs 72 grns? Is this a 3F or 4F powder?

[phil97]

No, it's the opposite. 72 grains by volume. It fits because it's highly compressible. I fill the chamber up, ram it down, then fill it up one more time. It's also not very dense, which means I'm not overcharging the gun

[Centurion]

It's the same procedure I use to load my powder, which is also highly compressible.

[darkgael]

Question: do either of you use any dextrose in the milling process? How long do you mill the mix that you use?
Pete

[Centurion]

Not me. But I use to mill it for at least 3 hours (in my lead balls mill), and after that I mix it with jelly alcohol. When almost dry I screen it and let dry.

[phil97]

No, I don't use dextrin if that's what you're asking. I grind each ingredient separately in a coffee beans grinder to avoid any explosions. I grind for 30 seconds each. Then I mix it all with isopropyl alcohol and stir and mix for about 1 hour as the alcohol evaporates. When it stops being a liquid and turns into sort of a paste, I push it through a mesh screen and leave it to dry for a few days

[darkgael]

Dextrin. Ah. That is what i meant.
Thanks to you both for your responses. It is helpful to know that you both use alcohol. I have not tried that.
How much liquid alcohol do you use to process 100 grams of mixture?
How fine is the mesh that you use?
I am asking because I have never been satisfied with my own BP product and want to try a different method.
Pete

[Centurion]

Good morning! As far as I can see from both recipes, alcohol is not the most important part of the mixture. Both powders are highly energetic and the colleague uses isopropyl alcohol and I use jelly, which is made with water, glycerin and ethyl alcohol.

By the way, I use to add enough jelly to form a liquid compund...maybe 100 grams of alcohol per same quantity of powder.

And at last but not least, I 'm using a metal mesh of about 0.5 milimeters.

Anyway, I'm totally convinced that the most important ingredient is charcoal. Which wood are you using to make yours?

Regards!

[phil97]

I also use enough alcohol to turn it into a liquid. I found that having enough alcohol to dissolve the particles makes them become more intimately mixed with each others and burn better. I'll attach some pics of my bp for you to see the grain size

[Centurion]

It is very much like mine! Did you see the picture I attached to my past posting? I'm attaching another one.

By the way, I also make my own primers, so do you?

[phil97]

They do look similar! They're both greyish in color too. The commercial bp I bought is black, I heard it's coated in graphite for some reason. I don't make my own primers but I've seen some videos of people making them and it doesn't seem hard. It may be useful for a time when percussion caps get banned or when they become available only to license holders. So far here in Europe bp guns are mostly unregulated, which surprised me when I found out a few years ago. I just had to buy one!

[Centurion]

Super!

All commercial powders I know (with exception of substitutes) are black or almost black. I suppose it is because of the charcoal or maybe a graphite coating as you said, which is used to help the BP not to get wet.

In the other hand, I like to make my own caps just for fun, to test my self-reliance.

[noelf2]

No, it's the opposite. 72 grains by volume. It fits because it's highly compressible. I fill the chamber up, ram it down, then fill it up one more time. It's also not very dense, which means I'm not overcharging the gun

That's interesting. I compress / corn my powder to increase the density, but it's a laborious process. With your results, I may try your method.

I make a sulfurless powder using 4 parts KNO3 and 1 part willow charcoal (sometimes pine or cedar), by weight, that I just screen without corning and use it in shotgun shells.

[Centurion]

It is an almost traditional recipe. 80 percent saltpeter and 20 percent charcoal. Anyway, I would add more combustible instead of oxidizer. Maybe 70 to 75 percent of saltpeter and 25 to 30 percent charcoal. At least with my charcoal made with hard wood.

[ThomasT]

I was going to ask if anyone was compressing the powder into pucks like in the Brush Hippie videos and then grinding. Thats how I would like to do it. I bought 10 pounds of KNo but never got any further with making BP.

But I have around 35 pounds of Goex on hand so making a batch hasn't been a priority for me. But its interesting to read about.

[rodwhaincamo]

phil97: I’d like to know more about your process. I’ve been mildly interested in trying it myself, but know that if something goes wrong it’s not just my hind quarters dealing with it. Of course I figured I’d go small, but I’m rather apprehensive.