Thread: Proper black powder

Originally Posted by MSL

My mate makes his own using willow from my place, goes bloody well.

^This.
Beggar paying $90/lb for the stuff. Farm supply store, a 50# sack of nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal (make or buy) probably run you less than a hundy. mill it all together 75:10:15.
In my mill 3 hours gets approx FF-FFF grade.

My last batch I used some "gourmet" braai charcoal, so now I have Gourmet Gunpowder.

Originally Posted by mimms

^This.
Beggar paying $90/lb for the stuff. Farm supply store, a 50# sack of nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal (make or buy) probably run you less than a hundy. mill it all together 75:10:15.
In my mill 3 hours gets approx FF-FFF grade.

My last batch I used some "gourmet" braai charcoal, so now I have Gourmet Gunpowder.

You guys wanna be careful what you say online. it is illegal to manufacture powder without the proper permission slip from the gestapo. I mean from the Gummint.

Originally Posted by Tommy

I have a couple of small gem tumblers, what would be good to use during a wet tumble as milling stones? Glass (ie marbles)? Stainless balls?

Most people out there use large lead balls as they do not increase risk of sparks. Long tumble times are not as necessary when you wet tumble.

The problem with steel balls is the tiny risk of sparks.

Glass is really bad worse idea - remember your physics teacher use of a dry glass rod and a dry animal skin (claimed it was a cat skin!) to create static electricity?

I'd consider grounding the tumbler unless it is properly wired up with a return/ground wire through the plug, even use a little brass brush touching the tumbling cylinder as it goes round. You can get those out of an old tumble drier.

But keeping the mixture wetted is the main thing in avoiding static electricity charges building up.

Originally Posted by 40mm

You guys wanna be careful what you say online. it is illegal to manufacture powder without the proper permission slip from the gestapo. I mean from the Gummint.

It is illegal to buy or store black powder (legal definition: mix of salpetre, sulfur and charcoal) without a FAL, and you may not have more than 1.5kg of it sitting about.

But is it really illegal to manufacture small amounts of black powder IF you have a FAL + lawful purpose? I don't think so, but someone PLEASE correct me...

Most legislation I could find rightly (and practically) focuses on possession and establishing that someone has a lawful purpose for her possession of black powder. It's of course hard to prove someone manufactured the BP she was found in possession of, so more practical to focus on the element of her possession-without-lawful-reason of black powder. Likewise as with other explosives, the pertinent question is lawful possession and purpose. There are sensible health and safety rules for handling, storage and transportation you must adhere to.

Originally Posted by Cordite

Most people out there use large lead balls as they do not increase risk of sparks. Long tumble times are not as necessary when you wet tumble.

The problem with steel balls is the tiny risk of sparks.

Glass is really bad worse idea - remember your physics teacher use of a dry glass rod and a dry animal skin (claimed it was a cat skin!) to create static electricity?

I'd consider grounding the tumbler unless it is properly wired up with a return/ground wire through the plug, even use a little brass brush touching the tumbling cylinder as it goes round. You can get those out of an old tumble drier.

But keeping the mixture wetted is the main thing in avoiding static electricity charges building up.




It is illegal to buy or store black powder (legal definition: mix of salpetre, sulfur and charcoal) without a FAL, and you may not have more than 1.5kg of it sitting about.

But is it really illegal to manufacture small amounts of black powder IF you have a FAL + lawful purpose? I don't think so, but someone PLEASE correct me...

Most legislation I could find rightly (and practically) focuses on possession and establishing that someone has a lawful purpose for her possession of black powder. It's of course hard to prove someone manufactured the BP she was found in possession of, so more practical to focus on the element of her possession-without-lawful-reason of black powder. Likewise as with other explosives, the pertinent question is lawful possession and purpose. There are sensible health and safety rules for handling, storage and transportation you must adhere to.

I got that from Van Tiel pyrotechnics.
id be surprised if it was not illegal to do so.
I had my pyro ticket and know that to manufacture pyro stuff you need the right ticket etc and magazine to store it in, and an exclusion zone for the manufacturing site etc etc etc etc etc
lots of rules, and im sure they are the same for powder too. Best to check on it if you are keen though.

Originally Posted by Cordite

It is illegal to buy or store black powder (legal definition: mix of salpetre, sulfur and charcoal) without a FAL, and you may not have more than 1.5kg of it sitting about.

But is it really illegal to manufacture small amounts of black powder IF you have a FAL + lawful purpose? I don't think so, but someone PLEASE correct me...

Most legislation I could find rightly (and practically) focuses on possession and establishing that someone has a lawful purpose for her possession of black powder. It's of course hard to prove someone manufactured the BP she was found in possession of, so more practical to focus on the element of her possession-without-lawful-reason of black powder. Likewise as with other explosives, the pertinent question is lawful possession and purpose. There are sensible health and safety rules for handling, storage and transportation you must adhere to.

I did actually look this up (quite a while ago). It's one of those stupid legal grey-holes. You can HAVE it, but you can't make it (outside an approved manufacturing facility) and no-one can sell or give it to you. And the limit was 10lbs.

Originally Posted by 40mm

You guys wanna be careful what you say online. it is illegal to manufacture powder without the proper permission slip from the gestapo. I mean from the Gummint.

Sorry, That must be my dyslexia playing up. What I meant was "not me"

(If the cops have time to harrass me then I damn well expect ALL the other crime is solved and they literally have nothing better to do.)