I loaded up some homemade bp into 45 colt cartridges. I was happy with the results. I figure it was about
2f to 3f in grain sizes . Weight wise it was lighter than commercial and I did find just a tad less power. But it did go boom with lots of smoke and fire. If I would compress the powder into pucks and then break it up I believe it would be on par or better than commercial bp.
I think I figured out about 250 rounds per lb of powder so it does go quick.

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Right on man. What's your recipe?

Is it cheaper to make then buy?

75% potassium nitrate
15% charcoal
10% sulfur
(all by weight)

The pot nitrate came from the local feed store. They sell it in bulk.
The charcoal I made from cooking red cedar fence board. I crushed it up then in a ball mill for 2 hours.
The sulfur is again from the local feed store. Bulk again and I got the powder sulfur.

I mixed by weight 19.2 oz pot nitrate, 3.7 oz charcoal and 2.7 oz sulfur. Then into a homemade ball mill for 2 hours. YOU MUST DO THE MILLING OF ALL 3 INGREDIENTS TOGETHER IN A REMOTE SAFE PLACE. My ball mill works real good. Built it by the book. A good gallon size jar with 62 cal lead balls. I belong to the APC forum which gives you a wealth of info.

Then I measure out by weight 6 oz milled powder. I add 1.5%  homemade SGRS. Then in a mixing bowl spray in enough water to work the mixture into a clay like consistency. I then screen it thru 8 mesh. I find lightly grating it gives smaller grains. I dry it out then screen it thru a window screen mesh. What fall thru I shoot what stays will be used for fireworks.

Depends on how much bp you use. Raw material wise if you can get it local it helps.
5 lbs pot nitrate was $7. Sulfur same price. I made my own charcoal and depending on what you have available could be free
or cost you a few dollars.

Your up front cost is the ball mill. The sky is the limit on it. If you buy one you looking any where from harbor freight to a few hundred dollars. I made my own .

I figure I need at least 10 lbs of powder to break even on what I spent to do this. I do it because I can and it is a learning experience.

Is the Pot nitrate sold  as fertilizer? Do you need to sign for it?

They sell it as stump rot or you can use it as a fertilizer. I knew about it because I had bought it in the pass to use as stump rot. You do not have to sign for it that I know of.

I just got some KNO3 stump remover a couple weeks ago for making slow match.
No signature required.
Spectracide Stump Remover is what you seek, got mine at Menards

Very interesting.  This is what Eugene should have been cooking up on The Walking Dead, instead of magically pulling a new cartridge out of who knows where or how.  

Also seems like a good way to blow yourself up.  Be careful, OP.

Always wanted to start doing this, just cause.

Cool project!

OP:  have you compared velocity to standard black powder?

SGRS?

Made my first black powder yesterday and today, op. Ended up with about 1.5 lb. of roughly FF and FFF.
I don't know how much total I could/will have with all my ingredients but it looks like several pounds


I bought a lb. of potassium nitrate and several lbs. of sulfur online. Picked up a couple of bottles of Spectracide Stump Remover from Lowes, too.
Made my own Dextrin (5%) and charcoal (2x4 spruce)
3 lb. HF Tumbler

The tricky part was using just the right amount of water. Either it would not readily drop through the screen (18ct.) or it would just dust through. Finally got what I think is right, though.

Used it in my .45 cal. flintlock rifle today. Very satisfying

Will chronograph Goex and mine, soon

Um, what he said.

You guys are doing better than your forefathers of 1775.  Many newspapers of the time printed instructions on how to make blackpowder but the end result was of varying power and consistency.  The nation's powder problem wasn't really solved until the French became involved and shipped us their powder.

That would probably be a result of the ingredients used and the QUALITY and PURITY of said ingredients.


Garbage in garbage out. Once you nail down quality control the power and consistency goes way way up.

Pretty cool

haz cannon?

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It is a rice base starch used as a binder. More common binder in the US is corn base binder called dextrin.
It is used to keep your granules from crumbling and turning back to a powder. If you compress your meal then break it up you do not need a binder. I plan on doing the compression method later.

Thanks again OP!

Could you try your creation in a cartridge gun?

There is a Glock video at this link:  Check this out (you have a mission):

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1994301_alternate-universe--no-smokeless-powder.html

The picture of me shooting in the original post is me shooting a 45 colt in a black hawk. That is a cartridge round. My powder is less dense than commercial powder because I do not compress the meal. Once I get that done I plan on shooting bp in a 45 auto either in my glock 21 or one of my 1911s. Too many irons in the fire so it will be some time before I get to do a compression jig and 6 ton press.