Homemade BP

[Bill in Oregon]

There is a thread on Castboolits on this topic that is 380 pages long, but right near the end I saw this link to this Youtube. I have to say I am astounded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTV5I8HDX1I

[JimT]

I shot up a pound of home-made black powder this summer. A friend in Missouri makes it and it works quite well.

[GunnyMack]

This testing has to be either pre or post covid as NOBODY would have wasted a whole roll of toilet paper during!!
Very impressive velocities for home made bp.

[Bill in Oregon]

There is a series of Youtubes on each step of safe manufacture at home by the fella at Hoffman Reproductions.

[Griff]

Color me scared! But, it may become necessary the pessimist in me sez! Nearly all my favorite cartridges are originally BP rounds... I have loved the .30-30 the longest, but the .32-40 is rapidly gaining ground!

[JimT]

Color me scared! But, it may become necessary the pessimist in me sez! Nearly all my favorite cartridges are originally BP rounds... I have loved the .30-30 the longest, but the .32-40 is rapidly gaining ground!

people been making it for millennia and rarely do they blow themselves up ... put your pipe or cigar away during the process ... you should be fine

(my solution is to let my friends make it)

[Griff]

Color me scared! But, it may become necessary the pessimist in me sez! Nearly all my favorite cartridges are originally BP rounds... I have loved the .30-30 the longest, but the .32-40 is rapidly gaining ground!

people been making it for millennia and rarely do they blow themselves up ... put your pipe or cigar away during the process ... you should be fine
(my solution is to let my friends make it)

I like your solution... I just gotta find those friends!

[Grizz]

I think this goes well with blacksmithing for the end of the world as we know it movie. Plus it's one more project I can put off . . . LOL

[Nath]

Color me scared! But, it may become necessary the pessimist in me sez! Nearly all my favorite cartridges are originally BP rounds... I have loved the .30-30 the longest, but the .32-40 is rapidly gaining ground!

people been making it for millennia and rarely do they blow themselves up ... put your pipe or cigar away during the process ... you should be fine
(my solution is to let my friends make it)

I like your solution... I just gotta find those friends!

I can send you a bucket of urine Griff, free of charge sans postage

[marlinman93]

As kids around 12 years old my buddy and I made up BP from a formula we got in a science book at the library. Had to buy some from the local pharmacy and he asked what we needed it for? We thought he might not sell it if we told him the truth, so we told him a science project for school.
If a couple 12 year olds could make it successfully and not blow ourselves up, then it's probably safe to say most adults shouldn't have a problem.
Potassium nitrate, and sulfur are easily purchased at Amazon, or numerous places. Charcoal briquets can be bought anywhere, and easily ground up. The formula is 15-3-2 which is 15 parts potassium nitrate, 3 parts charcoal and 2 parts sulfur.
The tricky or most dangerous part is once the parts are all mixed together, and any dust from the dry mix can be easily ignited. So having a small container handy to put it into OUTSIDE the shop is a good idea. Then add water until you can make a dough ball using your gloved hands. Then the dough ball gets flattened and pushed through a coarse screen, and gradually smaller screens until it's the granulation you want. Then just let it dry and it's ready to use.
We as kids of course built firecrackers with ours, or piled it up and used a fuse to make a quick harmless explosion.

I don't plan on making any these days as I buy my BP by the case from Buffalo Arms, so I've got more than I'll probably go through with my shooting needs. But if things got bad, and someone needed it, it is an option.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, we did the same thing, buying the saltpeter and "flowers of sulfur" at our Rexall drug store, but we had heated debates as to whether flowers of sulfur was the same thing as gunpowder sulfur. I burned off more eyebrows making flash powder with zinc dust from the Sherman Williams factory just east of Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington.
It has become clear in years of reading that it is actually the charcoal that is the absolutely crucial ingredient. Never thought that as a kid.

[gcs]

Read somewhere that willow charcoal was the best for BP, even gave a "recipe" on how to make small batches with a coffee can, i believe...

[Bill in Oregon]

Yes, willow, hazel, and in Europe, alder buckthorn are considered prime sources. Some of the guys get great results with charcoal from balsa, of all things.