Powder question

Hi to all
I have just been given a pound of "Schuetzen" black powder. I see that the factory container is marked "HARZER POWER" "(reenactor). I assume that this stuff is intended for blank firing demos. My question is, can it be safely used as a propellant in a rifle? If so, where should I start as far as a charge is concerned? Or, should I donate it to a reenacting unit in the area?
Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

IMO if you have any uncertainty donate to a re-enactment group. they can make smoke with it shooting toilet paper wads.

 

[dlemaster]

I've never heard that name before, are you sure its not Hazard Powder Co. ?

Regards, Dave

 

[ol vern]

Number one rule with gun powder.

If in doubt pitch it out!

It's not worth risking injury to your self or others to save a few bucks
:nono: :nono:

 

[spitpatch]

You did not say what cal and projectile you are using. And like the fellow says if in doubt throw it. Put it on something you want to grow, makes good fertilizer.

 

[mmahlock]

According to the Schuetzen Web site the Schuetzen Black Powder Sporting Black Powder
is manufactured as follows:

Type Granule Size

1Fg ...............1.2 - 1.6 mm
2Fg ...............0.67 - 1.36 mm
3Fg ...............0.508 - 0.87 mm
Reenactor......0.226 - 1.6 mm

It would appear that the Reenactor powder is a combination of just about everything from typical 4Fg to 1Fg. With that range of granulation its hard to say just what charge to start with. A 2Fg charge maybe?

 

[boar]

I would compare it under magnifying glass to 2ff and 3ff to see what it is closest to. I would do a burn test on it to. I check my horns sometimes with the glass to see what is in it. Forget to mark once in a while. Old age thing. Dilly

 

[Birddog6]

:bow: My thoughts exactly....... :bow:

 

OK, did that. It looks as though they swept the powder house floor, and dumped it all in a barrel.
Then they took a pound at a time out of the barrel and put it into one pound cans. There does not appear to be any uniformity at all. I found granules smaller than 4F all the way up to granules larger than 2F. I have no idea what size they may be called.
After taking a good look at this stuff, I don't think I will attempt to use it as a propellant. I can't see any way to insure load uniformity with it.
Looks like it goes to a reenactor buddy of mine. Thanks to all

 

[paulvallandigham]

If your buddy is part of a cannon crew, the crew can dispose of that powder in the cannon. We used 1/4 Lb. powder, to 3/4 lb. flour to get the same noise shooting blanks as we would shooting 1 full pound of powder. Same amount of smoke, too.

Another thought is to buy some screens from Harbor Freight, and screen the powder into FFg and FFFg and then priming powder.

 

No cannons, they fire the stuff in Brown Bess muskets. (Pedersoli) Revolutionary War infantry group. This is who I got it from, so I guess I can give it back. Thanks for the help.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Back 20 years ago, the companies mixed granules up to get a certain ratio of powder to velocity, and didn't spend a lot of time worrying about whether the powder might settle, with the fines working to the bottom, and the larger granules working to the top. Since BP Cartridge shooting gained popularity, the companies had to change their tune, and most powders you buy today are screened. Graf & sons, which markets its only brand of powder, used to sell a screening box, which my brother bought a few years back. We have used it to sort old powder we inherited from Dad, and a couple of cans of powder each of us has had for way too long! Then more recently, after a trip to Friendship, we screened some newly purchased powder, including a pound of Swiss 3F. Neither the Goex or Swiss yielded enough fines to make the effort worth doing. By comparison, with one old can of powder of Goex FFg, we got 4 oz of FFFg, and 1 oz. of FFFFg, so that 5 oz. out of 16 were not FFg powder. That can be the kind of thing that drives target shooters nuts.

I have not bought Wano, or Schuetzen, or Graf powder recently, and have not screened them. I would suspect that the Graf powder, and Schuetzen( made by the same company?) would be screened, too. However, I have no way of knowing whether that is true or not.

 

[Birddog6]

There is one guy that can tell ya for sure, the Mad Monk. I don't know if Bill posts on sites anymore but I can assure you he knows who is doing what with powder, as he used to do tests for them all the time. And he has records of the tests & a remarkable memory.

:thumbsup: