Anyone ever made black powder?

[Ronald_55]

Just looking to discuss making black powder from scratch. I can read all day long on it, but has anyone tried it?

[Raoul]

When I was a kid. Charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter I believe. It would make a boom.

[Ronald_55]

I have been looking at it even beyond that. How to produce the ingredients too. More of a "I want to know how" than actually making it.

Right now, I would just buy it. If things got bad, it might be necessary at some point. Eventually ammo will run out if things are chaotic. It would take a bit of trial and error, but most calibers could be reloaded with it. You would lose some power, but it would still fire. Or at least you could revert to flintlocks if you could not make primers.  

Just get things in my head to explore. 

 

[Garufa]

A lot of caves in TN were mined for saltpeter back in the day.  Bat guano is full of it. 

[E4 No More]

2 hours ago, Raoul said:

When I was a kid. Charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter I believe. It would make a boom.

Me too. Surprised I didn't kill myself.  

[E4 No More]

25 minutes ago, Garufa said:

A lot of caves in TN were mined for saltpeter back in the day.  Bat guano is full of it. 

That's just bat  crazy! 

[Raoul]

We used to take pop cans and punch a hole in the center of the can to drain the soda (that's right...no pop top). Let it dry and fill it full of home made black powder. 

Then stick a sparkler in the hole. Set that sucker on a stand made of rocks, light the sparkler and stand back and wait.

If we had made a good batch that puppy would ignite, fly about 20 feet up in the air and explode.

Hillbilly terrorists......lol

[Ronald_55]

33 minutes ago, Raoul said:

We used to take pop cans and punch a hole in the center of the can to drain the soda (that's right...no pop top). Let it dry and fill it full of home made black powder. 

Then stick a sparkler in the hole. Set that sucker on a stand made of rocks, light the sparkler and stand back and wait.

If we had made a good batch that puppy would ignite, fly about 20 feet up in the air and explode.

Hillbilly terrorists......lol

My Dad bought a pound of black power as a teenager and using an old car part managed to tear a sizeable hole in the ground out in the pasture. 

I just took apart black cat fireworks and used that powder to be a nuisence. 

Glad to see we have some experienced powder makers

[RED333]

Making sulfur is the hard part, better to mine it or just buy some. Making charcoal is easy, using the right wood is the trick, willow is some of the best to use. There are more than a few ways to get the saltpeter. Chicken poo is good place. The process is a bit much but is doable.

Your best bet is to buy all the stuff https://pyrodirect.com/Category/black_powder

[seez52]

my brother inlaw is making some now. He's been piddlying with it off and on. Sent me a photo of his crystallized ammonium nitrate last week. It looked pretty good. I told him he was going to shoot his eye out. 

[RED333]

If you really want to not depend on anyone else, make your own primer compound and caps.

https://sharpshooter-22lr-reloader.myshopify.com/products/11-percussion-cap-maker

https://sharpshooter-22lr-reloader.myshopify.com/products/prime-all-repriming-compound

All this and a muzzle loader and you will not need ammo for a good bit. With a flint lock and shoot forever.