Anyone make their own powder?
 

I was digging through my gun safe tonight and came across my old T/C hawkens and I dug it out and got to thinking how neat it would be to actually take a deer with it then I got to thinking how it would be pretty neat to do it as traditional as possible, Im thinking about ordering a mold to make my own 50cal. lead balls and I thought it would be interesting to make my own powder to, I dont even know if you can buy the stuff to make it anymore but it was just an idea I had so I figured id ask...

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

Im not sure if its legal or not. I shoot so much that ive seriously thought about making it myself. Even found an internet print sheet that goes into detail and how to do it. Dont make a big bunch of it. I'd play it safe and mix a little at a time. Sure would be nice to beable to make it yourself. The figures i came up with was $60 for 14lbs.

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

The problem with making powder is; It is a dangerous hobby. We had a plant called Badger Ordinance which was made explosives and powder for the second world war, and they were always having things blow up. Even under strict conditions, accidents can happen. Consistancy is hard to achieve with primitive equipment. Your homeowners insurance might have something to say about the idea.I would guess with the new Federal Restrictions out there, Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms might pay you a visit. Also if you want cheap powder and want to be primitive, get some Goex. Goex has been in business for ever. You'd technically be shooting the same stuff today that they were shooting many many years ago. If you purchase the powder in bulk, you can get it for as little as $11.00 - $13.00 a pound.

Another source for cheap powder is wait for a Wal Mart (if they still carry the stuff) to have their annual sale. I used to pick up Pyrodex and Triple Se7en real cheap compared to normal prices.

As for casting roundball.. that is a great hobby. Get a LEE mold. They do not break the bank and cast a very good roundball. I have been casting my own for many years.

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

I'll tell ya what SHOULD be illegal is that avator of yours ROR4X4!Dat jus aint rite!!!! :D

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

Funny you should mention it, I was thinking about this the other day. I probably won't ever try it but for some reason something made me wonder about the recipe of days of old before we had stores all over the place.

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

What is the general process of making powder?

Tom

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

I made some when I was about 10 years old and it did not work all that well. The process to come up with real functional black powder is a little more complex than the procedure I used back then. I just mixed the components and made a slurry with water and let it dry out and broke it up into grains. It would sort of burn and I managed to get a firecracker to go poof but that was about it. As stated before if it is even legal it is quite dangerous and my opinion is to let it be and buy the real stuff. I hesitate to access any information like this on the internet due to the tags that are associated with these type of sites. I would prefer that the Feds would leave me alone and not come to my house to check out a potential threat to the homeland. That said, I am out of this one.

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

Try www.unitednuclear.com/bp.htm Harold

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

Yes, it is possible to make black powder. Have done it many times for my bomb disposal classes. Got antsy every time i made the stuff. You end up with just that-powder. It will not stay mixed very well:It wants to separate into charcoal, sulfur and nitrate.It isvery hydroscopic.Black powder is very sensitive to static electricity, friction and sparks.It's called "serpentine powder" and does not have much power. In old time cannon much of the force ofit's burning was vented through the touch hole.

It is very impractical and very dangerous to make grained powder. It has to be mixed with water to make a paste.It is then rolled by a large heavy stone or metal wheel until dry. Then it is broken up in small pieces and sieved.It is in the rolling and breaking process where things go boom.

Parts of Delaware and MD are still littered with the remains of DuPont black powder mills. Making black powder now days is a good way to be accused of terrorism.

Take cayugad's word for it, itain't worth it.

"The problem with making powder is; It is a dangerous hobby. We had a plant called Badger Ordinance which was made explosives and powder for the second world war, and they were always having things blow up. Even under strict conditions, accidents can happen."

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

Thats pretty much what I was thinking to just going completley traditional and go back to the ways it was done before stores and all, its probably not something I would ever do either I dont have that much time and I tend to lose interest pretty quickly but it was just one of them thoughts I had.... Thanks for the replies!

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

I will agree with everyone that posted against making your own powder. The only reports I have ever read from those that survived making the powder was their product fouled horribly and was so anemic you could throw the bullet as far as that powder shot it. If you think it is not dangerous go to the E.I. DuPont museum on Brandywine creek near Wilmington DE and ask the tour guide how that 5 ton pressing stone got 40 yards away from the pressing shed.

RE: Anyone make their own powder?
 

As Cayugad says, it is plumb foolish to try to made black powder! There may be a few individuals around who are competent to do this, but I sure doubt it.

Even the companies that have been making it for hundreds of years still lose a plant now and then. The fellow who invented Pyrodex was killed when the Pyrodex plant blew up. GOEX lost the factory that was making ClearShot, and true BP is worse!

If you make it is small quantities, you may not be killed when your "factory" blows up, but you cannot expect to be able to make a consistent product that will deliver uniform performance.

I used to make it when I was a kid. You could buy the ingredients at a drugstore-potassium nitrate (saltpeter) and sulphur. Made my own "charcoal". But I didn't know about the "corning" process then. So my powder really was POWDER!

I just mixed up the ingredients, then packed the stuff in the little home-made rockets I had built and lit them with a match. Some flew, some blew up, some just sat there and melted! I was lucky I didn't ever sustain a serious injury. But none of the powder I made was of firearmsquality!

In the early days of the U.S., practically every populated area had its' own powder mill. These were blowing up all the time, and the quality of the powder was totally uncontrolled. Some was usable, some was NOT! The French made the best powder in those days, LaVoissier (SP??) having worked out the formula and methods for the King of France.

The DuPont brothers, upon arriaval in the U.S. tried to use some of our powder, and found it appalling! They started making powder, AND THE ENTIRE DuPont FORTUNE was based upon makling good powder. But even DuPont got out of the powder business not too many years back.

I still have a pound of DuPont FFg........