Post deleted by Claude

[musketman]

I've always pushed the ball down until I just feel the resistance of the powder. After reading this I might start putting a little more pressure on the powder. I'm thinking more pressure might also give less fouling if it causes the powder to burn faster. What do you think?

Old Salt

Does it cause the powder to burn faster?

I would say no, powder has a "fixed" burn rate, it will cause it to burn more efficiently though...

Best way to find out is to load with light and heavy pressure against the powder, then compair groups...

This may be one of those personal preference thingies, some thump the projectile hard against the powder while others stop at the first sign of resistance from the powder...

I give it a medium thump after I feel the powder make contact with the patched roundball, this "crunch" lets me know I am firmly seated against the powder...

 

[Gary]

Hey Old Salt. I caught the original and it was on the mark. I've read the same thing elsewhere. However, "Kids, don't try this at home" and liability prevails. Like most members, I'll buy my powder. Homes are a bit expensive to replace nowadays.

 

[Zonie]

"I've always pushed the ball down until I just feel the resistance of the powder. After reading this I might start putting a little more pressure on the powder. I'm thinking more pressure might also give less fouling if it causes the powder to burn faster. What do you think?"

First off, I don't agree with the statement about black powders burning rate being greatly effected by the gas pressure in the closed container.
Smokeless Powder (which is not technically an explosive) is definately driven by the chamber pressure and as we all know, there have been a lot of different ways invented to control this.
Black powder IMO is a relatively weak explosive. The chambers temperature rise due to the increased pressure does ignite the powder faster, but this quickly reaches a point that the powder cannot burn at a higher rate.
That is why adding 15 grains of powder to your muzzleloaders load doesn't add a tremendous increase in chamber pressure, or velocity.
IMO, the increase in velocity is because there is more powder to sustain the pressure for a longer period of time. (As we learned in Physics, force X time accelerates an object to a higher velocity.)

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE
Many years ago, Turner Kirkland (founder of Dixie Gunworks) filled a breeched 1 foot long barrel with black powder. He then plugged the open barrel with another breech plug. A small hole in the barrel was rigged with a fuse which was lit.
Everyone stood back a looooooooong was away and watched it go off. A tremendous gas jet came out of the touch hole. That's all that happened.
I'm sure that if he had used Bullseye or most other smokeless powders it would have blown the barrel to hell and back.DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE

As for how much fouling is produced, I think it is more a function of the quality of the ingredients than how firmly the powder is compacted.
For example, I can shoot 30 shots using Swiss FFg and not have to wipe the bore once.
If I'm shooting some of my Elephant FFg, I'm doing good to get off 6 shots before I either have to wipe the bore, or pound the ball down the bore.

For the best accuracy, use good powder and consistency in loading pressure, shot after shot.

 

[Rebel]

If you are using Pachyderm Poop, you are indeed lucky to get 5-6 shots before swabbing the bore. Stuff is down right nasty when it comes to fouling.

 

[robinghewitt]

Many years ago, Turner Kirkland (founder of Dixie Gunworks) filled a breeched 1 foot long barrel with black powder. He then plugged the open barrel

Whitworth did much the same experiment to prove how tough his barrels were, same result. I think the pressure from the burning powder compresses the rest of the charge into a relatively slow burning plug.

To get an explosive detonation you'd have to leave a big air space so the flame could flash over and light it all at once. The ancient Chinese knew that loosly packed was an explosion, tightly packed was a rocket (flying fire).

:results:

 

[Gary]

Well, one Chinese emperor didn't git it right. He tried to become the first astronaut (or is it aeronaut). He got himself blown up instead. When they called him the Celestial Emperor, they meant it, literally. :crackup:

Whitworth's test was to prove that his fluid steel barrel was superior to other patented steel. Within years of proving it, other makers in the UK used the same process.

 

[Zonie]

My best guess as to why the finer powder burns faster is because it has more surface area and the powder burns from its surface inward. That means it will burn faster.

To make a not so simple example:
Lets say we have a 1 inch by 1 inch by 2 inch long rectangular block of powder. The surface area of each end is 1X1 or 1 square inch , each of the 4 sides is 1X2 or 2 square inches on each of the long sides.
That adds up to a total surface area for the block of the ends, (1+1=2 square inches) and the four long sides (2+2+2+2= 8 square inches) for a total surface area of 10 square inches.

Now, if we cut the 2 inch long length exactly in half, we end up with 2 1X1X1 inch blocks. Each side has 1X1 or 1 square inch of surface area. Each block has 6 sides so each block has 6 square inches of surface area, so both blocks sitting side by side have a total of 12 square inches of surface area.
By making the blocks "finer" we increased the surface area from 10 square inches to 12 square inches without adding any powder weight.

Clear as mud. ::

 

[lanedh]

Old Salt:

I believe the reason fine-grained powder burns faster than coarse-grained is because the finer grain size exposes more surface area to combustion; analogous to why chipped ice cools a drink faster than the equivalent weight of cube ice.

Potassium nitrate/KNO3/saltpeter gives off oxygen when heated, thus fueling the admixture of charcoal and sulphur.

Gunpowder burns when exposed to sufficiently high temperature; high explosives (dynamite, TNT, C-3 and the like) explode when exposed to shock.

v/r, Bluejacket

 

[Stumpkiller]

I thought the advantage of dynamite (Trinitrotoulene) was that it did NOT explode when exposed to shock???

Dynamite is quite insensitive to impact, friction and shock. A stick will not even explode in a small fire. A small explosion will detonate dynamite; a blasting cap or similar device is used for this effect. Dynamite can also be detonated by soaking it in gasoline, and then burning it.

If dynamite is improperly stored and the nitroglycerine begins to sweat out THEN it is prone to surprising the handler who shocks it.