If you’re reading this blog, there’s a better-than-average chance that you, like me, are interested in survival, fieldcraft, and the technology of bygone days. One of said technologies that has long fascinated me (so much, as a matter of fact, that I own a functioning replica of a brass-framed, 1851 Colt Navy Model revolver) is the good, old-fashioned black powder firearm.
Black powder weapons have long since given way to more modern arms, as the more powerful smokeless powder (a.k.a. nitrocotton, guncotton, etc.) cartridges they fire have rendered black powder obsolete at worst, and a curiosity at best.
For the survivalist, though, there are many benefits to owning a black powder firearm. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, production of fixed-ball, metallic cartridges will either be greatly reduced, or cease altogether. Even the “serious” shooter, outfitted with a complete set of reloading equipment, will eventually find himself running low on powder, primers, bullets, cases, etc. As the production of nitrocellulose is a complicated and somewhat risky operation, requiring sulfuric and nitric acids, strict temperature control, etc., and as metallic cartridges require specialized equipment to manufacture, muzzle-loading, percussion or flintlock firearms become all the more attractive to those anticipating a prolonged period of social upheaval or economic collapse, with the disruption of the flow of goods and services one would expect in the event of either.
Bullets for either weapon are easily made, requiring only molds, a ladle, a heat source and a supply of lead. Flintlocks don’t require primers (other than a small amount of powder added to the flashpan), and percussion caps are much more durable (and easier to re-use) than standard rifle primers. For these reasons, among many others, every survivalist should consider adding a black powder weapon to his/her arsenal.
Another of these “obsolete” weapons' selling features is the fact that the propellant powders they employ are relatively easy to make. In this article, we’ll explore the powder-production techniques of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, with an eye towards adapting them for use in a “survival” situation.
Whereas it isn’t strictly germane to the topic at hand, I feel compelled to mention that many of my own ancestors, the Beans of East Tennessee, made a living as powder makers and gunsmiths. As the fruit seldom falls far from the tree, I found myself unknowingly following in their footsteps, at the tender age of fourteen.
Sadly, I later found that I was one of the very few modern Americans of any age – being a teenager at the time had little bearing upon the matter -- who even bothered to learn this dying art. Like all too many “old fashioned” skills and processes, (curing, smoking, pickling, tanning, brewing, vintage, weaving, smithing, etc.) powder making has been relegated to the dustbin of obsolescence by generation after generation of increasingly smug, effete “modern” Americans, all of whom have come to take life’s necessities for granted. Tragically, the powder-maker, like the cooper, the chandler, the brick-maker and the potter, has become a quaint figure – a dim reminder of the distant past – at worst, and a part-time hobbyist or history buff, at best.
End editorial -- for now.
At the time, my friends Sammy, Sean, and Russ (along with Yours Truly) were typically curious and mischievous teenage boys. We were interested in anything and everything that was slightly outré, especially if said things exploded and/or combusted. We were the kind of kids who spent hours scraping the filling out of fireworks, mixing our own incendiaries, and playing around with all manner of improvised weapons. I’d imagine that for Sean and Russ, it was merely a phase, but Sammy and I were convinced that the real-life Red Dawn was right around the corner, and that Ivan and his minions might come rolling across the Elbe at any moment.
As we lived only a mile or so south of Campbell (USAREUR-HQ, in those days), it seemed quite reasonable to assume that did the Russian bear opt not to nuke us clean off the map, he’d surely be paying such a strategically important target an uninvited visit. Granted, most of the “toys” we made would have been of use only as antipersonnel devices (chucking pipe-bomb filled with flash powder at a T-72 is, after all, roughly as effective as trying to kill a razorback with a pea-shooter), but the knowledge we gained from doing so eventually led us to bigger and better things.
Our curiosity piqued by the results of our crude experiments with fireworks and model rockets, we committed ourselves to learning how to make our own pyrotechnic and explosive compositions. Hell, the very thought of manufacturing my own gunpowder made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, just like hearing that slightly off-key sax solo in Rosie and The Originals’ “Angel Baby…”
I suppose that nowadays, we’d be branded “terrorists,” tortured, and sent to Guantanamo without trial. In those days, though, we were just boys being boys. The damage the hand wringing and fear mongering of generation after generation of liberals (and their spiritual brethren, the neocons) has done to us as a nation is, to my mind, incalculable, but I digress.
At any rate, my search for gunpowder recipes led me to that most sinister of “forbidden” books, the veritable Necronomicon entitled: The Encyclopedia Britannica. If was from the pages of this Lovecraftian tome that I breathlessly copied the arcane formula I so eagerly sought: 15 parts niter, 3 parts charcoal, and 2 parts sulfur. I later learned that the very earliest gunpowder formula (invented by the Chinese during the Middle Ages) consisted of equal parts of all three materials, but that by the nineteenth century, the 15/3/2 ratio had become industry standard. Nowadays, I find that bit of information rather interesting. In those days, though, I probably wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass.
Being keen to try it out, my friend, Sean, and I “liberated” the required chemicals from Mr. Stillwell’s supply closet (These days, I suppose his classroom would be invaded and occupied for equipping “terrorists,” and that he himself would be given a show-trial and subsequently executed, but again I digress, and bitterly, at that) and set to work that very day.
I still clearly remember that afternoon in the autumn of 1981, when, breathless with anticipation, we touched a match to a small pile of our concotion, and were rewarded with a flash; a cloud of dense, white smoke; and the sweet, sulfurous smell of success. To a man – er, make that “to a boy” -- we were positively delighted. Patting ourselves heartily upon the (collective) back, we then divided the batch evenly and went our separate ways. We also later relieved Heidelberg American High School of enough potassium and sodium nitrate to make corned beef of every cow in the entire Bundesrepublik, but that’s another story.
At the time, I had absolutely no clue as to what the hell I was doing, so my first attempt at making a proper “IED” (God! but how I love all this “War on Terror” jargon!) was a dismal failure. The encyclopedia, you see, had given the formula for black powder, but hadn’t provided a word of information concerning the manufacturing process. As the omitted information was absolutely vital, my bomb proved a dud. Imagine my red face when, instead of exploding, it spun around like a whirligig -- hissing, sputtering, and spraying a shower of sparks all the while. Had the device functioned as intended, I’d probably be plucking shrapnel from my scrawny ass to this very day, but that’s neither here nor there. Oh, I’d followed the formula to the letter – insofar as composition was concerned. What I didn’t realize, though, was that my failure to observe the proper procedure had resulted in the production of meal powder, not gunpowder.
In order to prevent the curious survivalist/experimenter from repeating my mistakes, I’ll list gunpowder formulae from various nineteenth and early twentieth century formularies, along with proper manufacturing instructions.
Disclaimer: This information is presented solely for information and entertainment purposes. This is a nice way of saying that I assume no responsibility, should the gentle reader blow his own ass to one of the moons of Neptune. Furthermore, I’ll add that anyone wishing to make his own “musket food” should also check all state, local and federal laws before attempting it. Remember: You no longer live in a free country, so even so much as evincing familiarity with the knowledge our ancestors passed down to us is probably considered some manner of “thought crime,” if not an outright act of terrorism.
Sad, actually. I suppose the motto of the ‘00s will be “When knowledge is outlawed, only outlaws will know shit from Shinola.”
Before I proceed, I’d like to add that black powder should only be employed in weapons specifically designed to fire it. Under no circumstances should it ever be employed in a semiautomatic weapon, as it’s generally too weak to cycle the action properly, and will foul a gas tube no time at all. The gas tube isn’t the only thing it will foul, by any stretch of the imagination, though. The stuff also leaves an incredible amount of residue in the bore, so a thorough cleaning after each use is of the utmost importance.
Let’s see…What else? Oh yeah! Just a little general info.
Contrary to popular belief, black powder isn’t an explosive-proper, but rather a combustible. One could ignite a heap the size of Rosie O’Donnell’s ass and George Bush’s ears combined, and still have nothing more than a very large fire (and a hell of a lot of smoke) to show for having done so. The horrific powder mill explosions of the nineteenth century weren’t the result of any inherent power on the gunpowder’s part, but rather of the superfine particles being diffused throughout the air inside the mill. As most people know, the same thing can happen whenever any flammable dust is thus diffused. For this very reason, similar explosions have occurred in flour and sugar processing plants. The US Army itself has put this principle to use, and actually trains certain Special Ops personnel to make IEDs from a cat food can filled with C-4 and powdered aluminum, atop which a five-pound bag of flour is placed (TM 31-210, pp 12-13).
Good thing our boys never provided the Afghan Mujahideen with this kind of information twenty-odd years ago, when Ivan was the villain du jour, isn’t it? As so many of ‘em later joined the Taliban and thereafter ended up in cahoots with Osama-Lama-Ding-Dong and al-Qaeda, they might very well have passed the technique on to ‘em!
Then we’d all really be in a world of shit! Why, the very thought of those Mideastern miscreants using dust bombs to blow up our nation’s outhouses, tool-sheds and Porta-Potties (they hate us for our freedom to use portable toilets, you know. Fox News said so, ergo it must be true…) sends shivers down my spine!
As previously stated, gunpowder isn’t an explosive-proper, but rather a combustible. When exposed to sufficient heat, it decomposes, releasing quite a bit of gas, but far less rapidly than a true explosive. Therefore, the “explosion” of a gunpowder device, unlike those employing true explosives, is the result of the gases expanding rapidly while confined. Explosives-proper decompose with sufficient rapidity and violence to render confinement unnecessary. For all that gunpowder is small potatoes when compared to flashpowder or (God forbid…) aromatic nitro compounds and nitric esters, it’s still very dangerous when confined. For that reason, I recommend that survivalists only make it in small batches, as necessity demands, and that the powder be stored in a tightly sealed container, well away from heat or open flame.
I’ll also mention that there’s a tragic abundance of garbage out there on the Internet, most of which is only good for getting the ignorant and/or inexperienced killed or injured. Among this garbage can be found various formulas including potassium chlorate. Disregard any such recipes entirely! Potassium chlorate is very, very dangerous, even when employed alone. When mixed with other chemicals, such as red phosphorous and antimony sulfide, for example, it can explode spontaneously, resulting in serious injury or even death.
Chlorate mixtures work well in certain pyrotechnic devices, but are entirely too dangerous to use in black powder firearms. As was discovered well over a century ago, such mixtures are far too powerful to use in small arms, and should never be employed in this capacity – unless the black powder enthusiast wants his weapon to become permanently affixed to his skull. Any article that claims otherwise is probably bullshit, written by some half-witted teenager who has no idea what he’s talking about.
Remember: If it contains chlorates, don’t even think of using it in your musket or pistol. As Popular Science’s 1932 Manual of Formulas, Recipes, Methods and Secret Processes says: “This observation will eliminate this one hazard of the home manufacture of fireworks.”
Enough about the general principles, then. The formulae follow.
The first recipe is a “cheater” of sorts, in that it isn’t from an old formulary, but rather the US Army’s own Improvised Munitions Handbook (TM 31-210). Yes, Virginia, we train our own troops in the making of the dreaded IEDs, and have for quite some time. If you didn't know that, please leap from the highest building in your city and stop making the rest of us pay for your ignorance and stupidity.
Moving right along...
The formula is workable in a pinch, and made from readily available ingredients, but it’s far from being one of my favorites. The mixture contains sugar, as a result of which it leaves the bore coated with carbon deposits that are nightmarishly difficult to remove. In my experience, the best use for the stuff is getting stubborn campfires going -- for all that it’s so hygroscopic; it isn’t even ideally suited to that less-than-exciting purpose.
The basic formula is 2 1/3 cups granular potassium nitrate, 2 cups granulated sugar, and 1/8 cup rust, if available. 3-1/2 cups of water are added to a pan over a low flame, and the potassium nitrate and sugar stirred in until they dissolve. Next, the rust is added, and the temperature increased until the solution reaches a gentle boil.
Continue stirring until the liquid is reduced to its original volume, then continue stirring (this one requires quite a bit of stirring, by the way. You’ll probably have forearms like Popeye’s after making a few batches). When the stuff reaches the consistency of porridge, it is removed from the heat and poured onto a metal, glass or heat-resistant plastic sheet and spread out to cool. When it’s cool, score it into 1”, criss-crossed squares with a spoon or spatula. While it’s still moist and soft, but not sticky, rub it through ordinary window screen, until worm-like particles are formed. Then let it dry completely, and store in a watertight container.
The army has dubbed these compositions “red powder propellant” and “white powder propellant.” The “red,” of course, refers to the color imparted by the rust. I’ve never found either to be especially powerful -- especially when compared to store-bought black powder or Pyrodex -- although theoretically, the extra oxygen from the rust (iron oxide) should make the red the more powerful of the two.
The next two formulas are from The Manual of Formulas, Recipes, Methods and Secret processes, cited above. The first, for black powder-proper, consists of 1 lb potassium nitrate, 3 oz. sulfur, and 2 oz. charcoal.
Don’t just mix up a batch, though. There is a certain set of procedures that must be observed in order to make it work. I’ll include them at the end of the article.
The second is a meal powder formula. I don’t have much use for meal powder as a projectile propellant, for all that it works well in homemade bottle rockets, squibs and whirligigs – the only use to which I’ve put it since learning the difference between it and actual black powder. I’ve never employed it in the following capacity myself, but I’ve been told that its fineness makes it a good choice from priming the flashpans of flintlock muskets and pistols. As I’m in no hurry to find out (my weapons are cap-and-ball, so I have no need for it), I include this only as a curiosity.
It’s made of 56 parts (by weight, not volume) potassium nitrate, 13 parts sulfur, and 31 parts charcoal. The chemicals are ground as finely as possible then mixed, dampened and formed into a cake. When thoroughly dried, the cake is then ground as finely as possible, and the ingredients sifted through fine screen. Improvised weapons guru Kurt Saxon recommends 100-mesh screen for gunpowder making, and I’m inclined to agree with him. The more finely divided the particles, the better the finished product.
In the old days, I used to grind the stuff in a mortar and pestle, by hand. Doing so, however, is slower than molasses in January, so I later “upgraded” to an electric spice grinder. Potassium and sodium nitrate, sulfurm and charcoal, by the way, are among the only chemicals employed in pyrotechny that can be safely ground in this manner. Being cautious by nature, I tended to grind even such a relatively “safe” substance as potassium nitrate in very small batches.
The Scientific American Cyclopedia (published in 1903) gives the following ingredient ratios:
1. English war powder. –Saltpeter, 75 parts; sulphur, 10 parts; charcoal, 15 parts.
2. French war powder. –Saltpeter, 75 parts, sulphur, 12.5 parts; charcoal, 12.5 parts.
3. French sporting powder. – Saltpeter, 76.9 parts; sulphur, 9.6 parts; charcoal, 13.5
parts.”
Dick’s Encyclopedia of Formulas and Processes (Published in 1872, making this “the real deal,” for black powder aficionados, re-enactors who demand absolute authenticity, and the kind of latter-day mountain men one meets at the typical, primitive arts and crafts rendezvous) includes the following formula:
2140. To Make Gunpowder. Pulverize separately, 76 parts nitrate of potassa, 11 sulphur, and 13 freshly burned charcoal, and mix them with a little water, so as to form a cake when rolled out on a board. This is then dried on a clean sheet of paper placed in a warm situation, and afterwards crumbled into grains. It will form unglazed gunpowder. The pulverized ingredients, thoroughly mixed, without the addition of any water, constitute what is called meal powder [q.v.]; this may also be made by pulverizing grained gunpowder very cautiously in a mortar, or with a muller.
Needless to say, when mixed, this compound is sensitive to heat and friction. Therefore, I strongly caution the black powder devotee against employing the latter method.
A few paragraphs earlier, I mentioned that in order to make effective gunpowder, it was necessary to observe the proper procedure. The following method is based upon personal experience garnered during my teens and twenties, during which years I could probably have been called a borderline-pyromaniac, without being done any great injustice by the one so saying. (Snicker…)
Before I continue, though, let me state, for the record, that no homemade powder will be as good -- or as powerful -- as store-bought black powder or Pyrodex pellets. Frankly, the small scale of home production renders equaling the quality even of nineteenth century, factory-made powders effectively impossible. I include these instructions solely for the edification of the hard-core do-it-yourselfer, who derives enjoyment from going “forward into the past” and the challenge of experimenting with an obsolete technology.
As I’ve mentioned before, the ingredients must be ground as finely as possible. Weingart’s classic, American Pyrotechnist, recommends grinding them so finely that they can be passed through an 80- to 100-mesh sieve. Saxon, as previously stated, recommends 100-mesh screen. I’ll defer to their expertise and agree with them.
Ingredients:
The potassium nitrate available from pharmacies for the purpose of making corned beef and other preserved meats works just fine. If, by some chance, the stuff has been illegalized (all that would require, as I suppose, would be an unsubstantiated allegation that the Middle-Eastern bad-guy of the week was stockpiling huge quantities of kosher – uh, make that halal – corned beef and preserved venison, in order to feed his conquering hordes), you can refine your own from the dirt found in stables and under compost heaps, wood ash, and hot water. I’ll detail the process in a future Green Hell article. In a pinch, sodium nitrate can be used, but the final product will be somewhat less powerful.
For charcoal, home-burned willow is the best. As willow trees don’t grow everywhere (and cutting one down would undoubtedly incur the wrath of the Druids at the EPA), any kind of hardwood charcoal (although if you use apple, peach, or cherry wood for anything other than smoking meats and fish, you’re probably a minion of Satan, have overgrown toenails, and don’t use Q-tips, toothpaste or deodorant) – including store-bought --will work, as will the kind found in aquarium filters. Never, never, NEVER use self-lighting charcoal, though. It contains petroleum products, which render the dust toxic. As this article is intended for survivalists, and as the entire point of survival is remaining among the living, killing oneself by making a blunder of such magnitude – and stupidity -- seems singularly counterproductive…
Ordinary garden sulfur (I always used plain ol’ Ortho Flotox) fills the final requirement. It’s not pure, though, so determine the percentage of purity by reading the ingredient label, break out the ol’ calculator, and figure out how much more you’ll need to use in any given formula. The sulfur available from chemical supply houses is the best, but it’s expensive, and will probably be illegalized next week. There are disturbing rumors, after all, that little old Iranian ladies in LA are dusting their roses with the stuff, then selling the flowers to tourists and donating the proceeds to Ahmedinejad of Locksleypur and his merry mullahs.
When all the ingredients have been powdered as finely as possible, they should be mixed in a shallow glass or plastic bowl. The powder is then wetted with water or 70% isopropyl alcohol (Saxon recommends the latter. It seems to yield slightly better results at times, for all that my knowledge of chemistry is of such a low order that I don’t know why, exactly) until it is of a doughy consistency.
When adding the water or alcohol, add only enough to make a paste. If there’s standing liquid at the top of the batch, you’ve added too much, and will have to wait until it evaporates before proceeding. Potassium nitrate is soluble in 100 parts water, as I recall from high school. I have no idea how soluble it is in alcohol, though, and am far too lazy to Google it. Owing to its water solubility, some of it will dissolve in the water. The highly absorbent charcoal then soaks it up, making for a more intimate and potent mixture, as I understand it. For this reason, pouring off the excess will result in a loss of potassium nitrate, thereby weakening the powder.
Saxon further recommends the addition of ½ part dextrine or 1 part LePage’s mucilage. Once again, I agree. The addition of either, while not strictly authentic, in the historical sense, causes the screened particles to stick together in uniform grains.
Once the paste has been mixed, it should be pressed. As per the caution above, the paste should be stiff enough not to ooze liquid when pressed. The long-defunct American Pyrotechnist – reprinted in Kurt Saxon’s legendary The Poor Man’s James Bond – contains plans for a rather ingenious and inexpensive powder press, so I’d recommend buying a copy. Personally, though, I don’t think it puts the powder under sufficient pressure. For that reason, I’d recommend that those of us whose collections of “toys” include a metalworker’s hydraulic press put said to good use. Should the Gentle Reader not have a press at his disposal, though, alternative methods exist.
My personal method of choice is to use flathead screws to attach sheets of plexiglass (drilled and countersunk) to a pair of boards, then pour the gunpowder paste onto one, place the other atop it, and press by applying several c-clamps and screwing them down as tightly as possible.
When the powder is slightly drier, but not yet crumbly, it should be rubbed through window screen, over a plastic bowl. When this is done, 1 part powdered graphite is then sprinkled over the particles. (It seems to keep the still-slightly damp grains from adhering to one another). The bowl is then moved with a gentle, swirling motion, until the particles within are of uniform size and shape.
The particles are then poured out onto a sheet of waxed paper and left to dry for a day or two. As gunpowder is very hygroscopic, this can take a few days, especially if one lives in a humid part of the country. Just thought I’d add that for good measure.
And that’s all there is to it. Admittedly, it requires a good bit of work, but the satisfaction of making such a commodity oneself makes it all worthwhile, to my way of thinking. The kid-in-a-candy-store sense of wonder experienced by those of us who have opted not to become ignorant, TV-watching sheep -- especially when rediscovering these dead and dying arts – is an additional bonus.
Well, that’s it for today, as I suppose. Happy shooting, and – as always – keep your (homemade) powder dry!
Goodnight and God bless.
