Posted on 05/24/2016 9:25:36 AM PDT by w1n1
Black Powder - Invention to Explosion
It is believed that the Chinese have been using black powder for about a thousand years and they are generally credited with its invention starting with fireworks. Around 700 years ago someone came up with the idea that if you put some black powder in a tube with a rock it would expel the rock out at sufficient velocity to make it a weapon. Another early idea was to use reinforced bamboo to shoot arrows and darts. No one knows who thought of this, but they did indeed change the world. The general consensus is the Chinese and Arabs were among the earliest to use guns in war.
Black powder today is just that – black. But black powder from centuries ago used to be gray and much weaker.
Today, it is common to find powders that include a mixture of saltpeter, charcoal and sulphur.
The guns of the 13th century bore little resemblance to today's weapons, and the black powder formula is essentially the same as it was then, although the older powders were weaker and gray in colored. One of the few improvements included making powder with water, so it could be made into a cake-like compound. That seemed to make it more reliable and safer. A popular formula today is 75 percent saltpeter, 15 percent charcoal and 10 percent sulfur. There are and have been other formulas used throughout the centuries, and as time went on they improved the formula and strength. Even today, powders are better than just a few years ago.
What are the characteristics of this ancient propellant? First, it is considered an explosive as opposed to a propellant such as smokeless powders and black-powder substitutes. This means that it is highly regulated and harder to buy. If you want to sell black powder, you have to get a special license issued by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE or ATF), and you must have special storage containers. Read the rest of the black powder story here.
I remember making black powder with a Gilbert Chemistry Set in the mid-1950s. They actually gave you enough ingredients to make 2 or 3 fire crackers.
In today’s chemistry sets, you’d be lucky to get baking soda and vinegar.
Oops...mis-read the title.
I made my share of black powder, and even managed to make some nitrocellulose (smokeless “guncotton”) once. It was actually a lot of fun.
That has always struck me as odd, as smokeless powder can be detonated much easier than black powder. Though black powder has long been used as a low explosive blasting powder. When it explodes, it only deflagrates.
Love the smokey goodness!
Hate cleaning my Uberti 1847 Walker Colt afterwards. It’s practically a complete rebuild.
I’ve thrown a match into a FULL 1 lb container of Hercules Red Dot. All I got was a rocket exhaust 10 feet high. Do that with black powder and you’re in for a world of hurt.
Oh, you said black POWDER??
Never mind.
I had a can of black powder on my table and a friend convinced me to let him light some. I put one cap full in the ash tray. He lit it with his cigarette and it singed all the hair on his arm to his elbow before he could move his arm back.
***One of the few improvements included making powder with water, so it could be made into a cake-like compound.***
In THE AGE OF FIREARMS by Robert Held, he states that urine was used to dissolve and mix the ingredients. The urine of a “wine drinking Bishop” was considered the best.
I haven’t shot muzzle loading revolvers for forty years! Same reason. I do shoot muzzle loading and cartridge rifles with black powder. Much easier to clean.
I still have a Thompson Center flintlock rifle I bought in 1973. Never fired it as a flintlock is a booger to clean.
On the other hand, my Lyman Great Plains rifle gets shot ever so often. I rigged up a simple holder to both shoot and clean it quickly.
If you can shoot a flintlock accurately, you can shoot anything.
The firing lag time is hard to get used to.
The pan whoosh!
Then the bang!
I’ve had the Great Plains rifle, 54 caliber, for 25 years. I call her “Ole Betsy”. Love it! Taking it elk hunting this year so when I jump them in their beds I can get a shot. Follow up shots with a S&W 629, in 44 mag ... Ole Betsy takes a while to reload.
Yea but you get to reply to “what are you doing later” with “going home to clean my nipples”...
-—The urine of a “wine drinking Bishop” was considered the best.
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LOL
My Grandsons’ First experience with a rifle ,,,
Hawkins. .32 caliber cap and ball.
I’ll never forget It !
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