Has anyone ever made their own smokeless powder?
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Has anyone ever made their own smokeless powder?
And tried it in a rifle?
Yes
Answer for me at least is, No! NO!! NOOO!!!
For basic nitrocellulose (guncotton) base, you need cotton and nitric acid, the second one being hard-ish to come by, but feasible, yes, if stuck, not sure you'd save money but a crude nitrocellulose powder, yes.
If you plan to make a double base powder, you need to make/acquire some C2H5(NO3)3 and good luck with that as you likely will be breaking the law having such stuff, never mind the sheer reckless danger to your eyes, limbs, head, family, neighbours. Think Abu Hamza.
Attachment 107246
The other way to go is to make smoke-less black powder, sans sulphur. Legal (if you make it for a legal purpose!), much safer, especially if you make it with the wet mixing method. Here is the thread:
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....e-found-46915/
Ive not made it but 25 something years ago when I worked for a paint maker who produced furniture lacquer, the major ingredient of which is nitrocellulose after quite a bit of research and experimentation I did load a hell of a lot of shot shells with it.
I never tried it in rifle cartridges as its burn rate was fast due to its fibrous nature also as its only nitrated to 10-11% not 14% like guncotton it left a little residue.
We tried making black powder at boarding school, it was a failure, which was probably lucky for us as it was not a school or hostel experiment, just boys doing dumb stuff in the hostel bathroom!
Making smokeless gunpowder Think P lab
Mix em up, roll it into a sheets, dry and then pop it into your wifes blender for 30 seconds.
Add two grams of Propane-1,2,3-triyl trinitrate per 100 grams into the mix for every 1000m/s desired increase in burn speed.
For triple base, collect seagull crap off local rocks and add liberally to said mixture.
I think you will also find that you need a licence to manufacture any form of explosive and discussing such on an open forum is probably questionable.
many years back i had a recipe for "white powder", and no it wasnt a drug
it involved ascorbic acid, sulphur and powdered sugar.
it never did get used in a firearm but had similar pressures and burn rate as black powder. it produced a white vapour that was more steam than smoke and dissipated quickly. from what i hear it was popular in the Caribbean in years long ago
They sell nitric acid on TradeMe. But gun cotton can be made quite simply with concentrated sulfuric acid and potassium nitrate. This man does it on youtube. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4G5rqKAJYQuote:
Originally Posted by Cordite
Its the nitrogylcerine that I'm more worried about making and handling.
I've read on another forum that your powder also needs to be processed into "Ball Powder", it sounds right but I dont trust advice on forums, people are keen to say any old thing. According to wikipedia smokeless powder also contains a number of other additives
Smokeless powder is chemically complex and that does not mean you can not make it. Just that if you stuff it up you may die.
You can do anything if you acquire the appropriate licenses.
As I said, rather go learn from Ullrich about smokeless black powder. In NZ there's no economic, practical or safety reason to play with nitrocellulose smokeless, whether single or double based. You can even buy modern gunpowder without a license for goodness sake!Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleGribble
gentlemen -in view of unfolding events in CHCH Iwould repsectfully suggest any further DIY somkeless explosive discussion is halted ad infinitum
My understanding is that making your own gunpowder (explosives) is illegal without the proper permits. And that’s all I have to say about that.
No one can stop a determined Darwin Award contestant.
Then let's not talk about guns either. I wish we were as sensitive when some poor buggers get murdered by drones in Syria or Pakistan.Quote:
Originally Posted by kotuku
I have always assumed you could make your own black powder for legit uses in NZ. There is however a law against publishing directions on how to make explosives.Quote:
Originally Posted by tanqueray
You could call gunpowder an explosive, but at the same time, with a FAL you are allowed to have less than 15kg of black powder. Transport regulations don't really come into it. I don't think there is a law against someone making gunpowder for themselves for hobby purposes. (maybe @systolic knows the law better). Different I expect if you do it for a living, have employees, sell it etc. Interestingly, gunpowder / black powder is defined legally as a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal, so sulfur-free gunpowder would not fall under black powder regulations, but I don't really see any need for having >15kg of any propellant type sitting about - if someone had such amounts I'd worry about a modern gunpowder plot being afoot.
