Real black powder

[BackDraft]

Like DIY percussion caps, learn how to make your own homemade black powder. There is a learning curve like everything else, but it is not as difficult or dangerous and some would make it out to be. You can make very fast and relatively clean black powder with a small ball mill or rock tumbler, a small digital scale, sizing screens, various and sundry containers, 70/30 isopropyl alcohol, DIY charcoal from willow or grapevine or mesquite or mimosa or a number of other woods, and potassium nitrate and sulfur of good purity. Five dollars a pound versus I cannot find it and $30 a pound is a pretty good motivator.. Have to deep your work area clean and be double sure there are no ignition sources close by. Lots of good info on the internet. Try it as you just might like it!

Careful. That particular subject gets shackled fast to avoid getting the forum shut down.

 

[Mad L]

Is sometimes hard to find, I use Triple 7 and satisfied with it.
So here a question. If you could get real black powder would you go back? Or would you stay with the substitutes?
Personally, I kinda like 777 over the real stuff.

Is this supposed to be a joke thread?
1) For some of us in gun unfriendly states: Black Powder has always been "hard to find" but NEVER impossible to get.

2) I have never 'had' to resort to substitutes and never ran out of Black Powder.
I wouldn't even know how to load 3-7 and don't care to.

So to answer your funny question: I have always been able to get Real Black Powder for I have an Internet connection and a stupid Smartphone.

Now, should for some reason I did run out and another 2020 China-like attack shuts everything down:
NO, i will not, never will play around with 'substitutes' for I will Make My Own.

..oh, and i will never put windex or break fluid or other junk down my barrel - no need as i can also get Real Cleaners and Real Lubes too.

 

[Mad L]

I only use substitutes. In California we're allowed to have only one pound of black powder.

I left Cali 5 years ago, with me I had over 8 lbs in my trunk.
I would drop by my favorite firing range once a week and by 1 lb. 2F and 1 lb 3F (1 lb each per person). It was the Only place I could find it over the counter.
I ordered 5 lbs online....Pasadena city code says "5 lb per person"

Gov Newsom has no way of knowing how much you have.

 

[Mad L]

Gents if you live in free states it all seems like a simple choice. But in the Northeast it isn't. You will never, ever find black powder in a gun shop here. So your only option is the internet, which gets expensive. But LGS do carry Pyro and T7. So what I do is use T7 in my in-line and new-to-me percussion gun, and save my black for my flintlocks. This works fine, and I can nurse my supply.

Sentry44

Psst; if you live in California, Nevada, Idaho, and I think even Arizona you will "never, ever find black powder in a gun shop" either.
But guess what?
It NEVER stopped us from getting it! Ever!
If you want it, it's out there. If you want Door Dash to bring it to you...your out of luck, only UPS and FedX delivers.

 

[Mad L]

Just for giggles I just went to Graf’s website and looked at per pound cost if I ordered 5# of Schuetzen powder. With shipping and hazmat it was a bit over $152 or about $30 per pound to my door. If I bought their Grafs it would be about a buck a pound less and Swiss is about $7 a pound more. To put that in perspective that is probably what someone pays for a couple of rounds of golf if they use a cart at a public course.

At 18 holes per round that would be 36 shots for two rounds, provided the golfers don't chase me off I would still have over 4 and a half pounds left to come back and play All Week!

FOUR! BOOM!

 

[Sam squanch]

What will we do when UPS and Fed ex stop delivering it?

 

[jfaldo]

What will we do when UPS and Fed ex stop delivering it?

I was under the impression that UPS already did stop delivering it.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

No real or fake black powder in cartridge guns.

Do use real in the flinter, fake in the revolver, and holy black in the 45/70 cartridges.
Sometimes even put in a grain of green dot, so I make the 1450fps.
Just dont tell any body.

 

[Boatncamp]

Gents if you live in free states it all seems like a simple choice. But in the Northeast it isn't. You will never, ever find black powder in a gun shop here. So your only option is the internet, which gets expensi

It is not your only solution. Do what I do, that is to buy "the Holy Black" when I am on vacation in free America. Due to shipping, storage and other general NY BS you cannot buy black powder here in NY so I simply buy it when visiting my son in MO. Very easy to walk into most any gun store there lay down your drivers license as they do have to keep records, pay and bring it home. I am not a big shooter so a couple of pounds lasts me the year and may another one or two for friends. NO hazmat or shipping expense!

 

[Mad L]

What will we do when UPS and Fed ex stop delivering it?

When no one will deliver then the top suppliers will have no way to sell enough to make it worth THEM stocking it...they will stop buying it (may not even be able to 'get' it themselves.)

We will Make it ourselves.
...but some will choose to use subs, and They will miss out.

 

[tomm9903]

My dad taught me how to make it when I was a kid. He probably regretted it when he saw the craters in the back yard from me blowing up ant hills.

 

[CaptainVane]

Is this supposed to be a joke thread?
1) For some of us in gun unfriendly states: Black Powder has always been "hard to find" but NEVER impossible to get.

2) I have never 'had' to resort to substitutes and never ran out of Black Powder.
I wouldn't even know how to load 3-7 and don't care to.

So to answer your funny question: I have always been able to get Real Black Powder for I have an Internet connection and a stupid Smartphone.

Now, should for some reason I did run out and another 2020 China-like attack shuts everything down:
NO, i will not, never will play around with 'substitutes' for I will Make My Own.

..oh, and i will never put windex or break fluid or other junk down my barrel - no need as i can also get Real Cleaners and Real Lubes too.

I’m glad you were amused by a legitimate question. Most of us dont like paying a hazmat fee on top of powder cost and shipping. T7 is half the cost of BP. Stay entertained.

 

[azmntman]

Psst; if you live in California, Nevada, Idaho, and I think even Arizona you will "never, ever find black powder in a gun shop" either.
But guess what?
It NEVER stopped us from getting it! Ever!
If you want it, it's out there. If you want Door Dash to bring it to you...your out of luck, only UPS and FedX delivers.

AZ has one single vendor down south of Phoenix somewhere with Thunderbird in the name. To far for me and need an appointment to pick it up as they store off site.

 

[azmntman]

I’m glad you were amused by a legitimate question. Most of us dont like paying a hazmat fee on top of powder cost and shipping. T7 is half the cost of BP. Stay entertained.

I'm entertained! Here Triple & (and I have several cans) is $38.99-48.99 depending on where you find it. Black on line 10lbs at a time is under $30.00. So I guess I suck at math? Triple 7 is much more expensive, although available, Carry on.

 

[Mad L]

I’m glad you were amused by a legitimate question. Most of us dont like paying a hazmat fee on top of powder cost and shipping. T7 is half the cost of BP. Stay entertained.

Pssst: NONE of us 'like' paying Hazmat or Shipping.

It seems like most say T7 is $30 and up....I will go with my Super Expensive $25-$27 lb powder (that is including shipping and hazmat and $0 gas or time to go pick it up)
I will 'laugh' all the way to the bank with my savings...or use it for RB, Patch material, bear grease, etc.
A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned.

 

[Sam squanch]

AZ has one single vendor down south of Phoenix somewhere with Thunderbird in the name. To far for me and need an appointment to pick it up as they store off site.

Do you get a free bottle of thunderbird with every purchase?

 

[TDM]

Do you get a free bottle of thunderbird with every purchase?

That stuff would probably make a good bore cleaner.

 

[azmntman]

I never been there. Zonie used to direct locals there. Probably not. And ya I would bet mixed with my dehydrated water (almost sold out) it should cut that residue down nicely.

 

[rp77469]

For folks quoting prices, here is a photo I took last fall at a wallyworld in east TN. Never heard of Blackhorn, but that is a half pound bottle. Caps were $5-ish for the few seconds they were in stock, I presume, but I did not take a picture of that empty hanger. $104 a pound for something unusable in my flinters. Not! (Pyrodex price looked ok for caplockers, but I never saw it in stock)

C'mon Estes!!!

 

[joevic57]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it the substitutes are supposedly easier to clean up after shooting than that nasty old smelly black stuff. My shooting is done primarily with revolvers in which I use only black powder and always will. If you use enough of the right grease and in the right places in these guns clean up is a snap and no water is needed....water does what to metal and hot water removes the seasoning in the barrel for goodness sake. Sadly, many have not ventured into black powder shooting because they have been convinced that clean up is hell on earth. For revolvers, grease the barrel and cylinder arbor before shooting. I use a mixture of Crisco and beeswax. And when loading, I use a stiff fiber wad over the powder followed by a little "ball" of my grease under the bullet if I am going to be shooting several cylinders. Any fouling is soft and easily removed with paper towels or dry patches. That's my story, and I am sticking to it because I am always right...smile!