[andy]

dangerous. Dupont and Pyrodex have both blown up manufacturing plants. You can make black that will serve as a bomb, but when you try to GRANULATE it, for use in firearms, you blow yourself to where idiots belong.

There's no herds of bison anymore. 70 grs of powder, huge ball , pretty wasted on dogs and cats. If you seal up the case mouths of a brick of 22lr's, they're guaranteed good for 20+ yeaars. Ditto the case of 5000 that you seal up in ammo cans, and coat with varnish. YOu HAVE to get half of your diet from plants, or you will sicken and die. It's a LOT easier to use nets, trotlines, traps (made on the spot) to catch flesh food.

.22's will take deer, hogs, pronghorn, cougar, small bears, men. So there just aint THAT much that you NEED centerfire ammo for, or many .22's, for that matter.

Yes, in the early days of shtf, you might have to fire 50-100 rds of centerfire rifle ammo, mostly just to GET to your chosen retreat area. You should have 200 or so such rounds stashed there, however, along with 1000 .22's Also, if you've been doing things RIGHT, you have picked up LOTS of rifles, ammo, pistols, ammo, from the dead,eh? Most of the shooting, thereafter, BETTER be done with the suppressed .22 conversion unit, cause you don't want to have to leave the area where you've cached your goodies. If you don't know how to remain undetected, how to ambush-harrass people with a silenced .22 rifle, you'd better learn,that's all.

 

[Stillwater]

dangerous. Dupont and Pyrodex have both blown up manufacturing plants. You can make black that will serve as a bomb, but when you try to GRANULATE it, for use in firearms, you blow yourself to where idiots belong.

There's no herds of bison anymore. 70 grs of powder, huge ball , pretty wasted on dogs and cats. If you seal up the case mouths of a brick of 22lr's, they're guaranteed good for 20+ yeaars. Ditto the case of 5000 that you seal up in ammo cans, and coat with varnish. YOu HAVE to get half of your diet from plants, or you will sicken and die. It's a LOT easier to use nets, trotlines, traps (made on the spot) to catch flesh food.

.22's will take deer, hogs, pronghorn, cougar, small bears, men. So there just aint THAT much that you NEED centerfire ammo for, or many .22's, for that matter.

Yes, in the early days of shtf, you might have to fire 50-100 rds of centerfire rifle ammo, mostly just to GET to your chosen retreat area. You should have 200 or so such rounds stashed there, however, along with 1000 .22's Also, if you've been doing things RIGHT, you have picked up LOTS of rifles, ammo, pistols, ammo, from the dead,eh? Most of the shooting, thereafter, BETTER be done with the suppressed .22 conversion unit, cause you don't want to have to leave the area where you've cached your goodies. If you don't know how to remain undetected, how to ambush-harrass people with a silenced .22 rifle, you'd better learn,that's all.

I guess this must not be the Black Powder forum after all, isn't that right MELVIN?

Bill

 

[Half elf]

Although I hate to admit it, hes right. Black powder is not as easy to make as some think, and even harder to get ground in the right grain size. The grinding equipment must be absolutely spark/static free, and then the resulting "Flour" must be run through a seive to get the proper size. I have made small batches(2oz) and survived, but dont think I could make enough to sell WTSHTF. Black powder was one of the biggest non-potable items traded for during the old time rondevous, when a man could knap a new flint, and cast his own ball, but didn't make powder.

 

[Aslan]

I wonder if gun cotton could be used in lieu of blackpowder...

be a bit of an excercise to work upi a safe load.

:devil:

 

[Stillwater]

Although I hate to admit it, hes right. Black powder is not as easy to make as some think, and even harder to get ground in the right grain size. The grinding equipment must be absolutely spark/static free, and then the resulting "Flour" must be run through a seive to get the proper size. I have made small batches(2oz) and survived, but dont think I could make enough to sell WTSHTF. Black powder was one of the biggest non-potable items traded for during the old time rondevous, when a man could knap a new flint, and cast his own ball, but didn't make powder.

HE, No, Melvin isn't really right. My Uncle used to make it as a blasting agent, for removing stumps. Back, many years ago, when it was legal to do so, without a license and all the government involvement.

The problem with black powder isn't so much in the making of it. The problem comes when the CAKE, that was made, is ground up and screened. The fine dust, a bi-product of the grinding process is one of the most explosive things there are. It is as bad as flash powder, or grain dust, in grain elevators.

Bill

 

[mrostov]

It's called 'corning'. You soak the black powder in alcohol and keep it soaked until it's all corned and then you let it dry.

People on the frontier would sometimes be weeks from resupply, sometimes months. They would make their own powder and often not bother corning it. This type of un-corned powder, when used in a weapon, is called 'serpentine' powder.

They would also, in a pinch, make their own flints and sometimes even locally make their own bullets from lead ore, also known as 'galena'.

Imported French and English flints were often preferred. American powder in the 18th Century and early years of the 19th Century was also looked down upon. It was the dismal state of American powder that DuPont experienced during a hunting trip at a friend's estate, that he decided to go into business making quality powder in America (1802).

You can reload cartridges with blackpowder. You load it and tamp it down with a wooden dowel as you do. Leave no open space. You load the powder by volume, filling the case, tamping it down, to about 1/16" up past where the bullet seats so when the bullet seats it compresses the powder slightly. (Consult a reloading manual for precise info).

You can also reuse spent primers if you are truly hard pressed. You take the old ones, remove the anvil with a pair of tweezers, use a flat punch to reform the primer cup, put in the locally made priming compound (several recipes, you can also use the white tips of 'strike anywhere' matches) when it's in paste form, seat the anvil, and let it dry.

 

[Stillwater]

El poudre ***** ...

Mike:
My grandfather and uncle made black powder. My grandfather made his because of where he was in frontier Montana. Obviously my uncle learned it from his father, my grand father.

My uncle was a "POWDER MONKEY" for many years. Have you ever heard that term?

My uncle never went past the cakeing of the black powder in the manyfacturing process. Corning, as I knew it, was when the cake of powder was ground up. I always heard the unground lump of black powder called the cake. Both used wooden utensils to manufacture their powder in. Some where around here, I still have their manufacturing utensils.

You're right about Dupont getting into the powder manufacturing process, because of a dismal hunting experience.

Bill

 

[mrostov]

Yes, corning is where you grind up the powder in flakes. The term powder monkey is still used for a blasting expert. To get the best use of gunpowder it should be corned.

During the local manufacture of corned powder, you basically make a muddy paste out of the gunpowder with alcohol and then you grate it on a screen of some sort. Definitely a procedure for those who are not careless.

 

[andy]

the hell I aint RIGHT. There aint gonna BE any big game,so why bother with black powder? As if you are going to MAKE it past the first week or two of shtf.

 

[Stillwater]

the hell I aint RIGHT, dumbass. There aint gonna BE any big game,so why bother with black powder? As if your sorry ass is going to MAKE it past the first week or two of shtf.

Again MELVIN, you pontificate your ignorance.

Bill