"50 dollars for one pund is pretty expensive" and here is me in italy, crying looking at my 1 pound can of 2FF that i payed 63 euros and i traveled 300 km to find it... yeah, i think those videos will be REALLY usefull to me.

Well, today, I heard that GEOX is closing, don't know if there will be another company that will buy it out, but, great reason the at least to know how to make your own.

VERY important! I learned the hard way, use a metal screen instead of the synthetic type. Also make sure the wholes are large enough for the granules to produce the right size. I ended up eventually #1 powder.

I've seen a lot of good videos on this but this series is EXCELLENT! Thanks so much!

I.was hoping you were going to continue this one, Ben. Good stuff! Looking forward to seeing it put to the test.

Great video. I have a couple of pointers to add if I may. I use a small basket I fabricated from a piece of chicken wire, dump your meal powder, as it's called, and media into that to separate the two, it'll only takes a few seconds. Put your water and alcohol mixture in a spray bottle. Spray your meal powder with a mist and then fold it into itself with an old credit card so you'll avoid getting it to wet. If it gets too wet, the KN03 will turn back into a crystal form when it dries and slow your burn rate. Continue that process until the powder is just wet enough to form a ball when you squeeze it in your hand. It'll granulate easier without clogging your screen. The resulting granulation will be less dense than commercial powder, which means you'll need more in a firearm to accomplish the same velocities generated by commercial powder. I love this stuff and it's a fraction of the cost.

You can increase the surface area of your granules by running them through mesh screens to -12+20 mesh size. That is equivalent to 4FA commercial bp, and roughly a third more powerful than -4+20 mesh, which is equivalent to 2fa.

Chemistry, Composition and Combustion of Black Powder The optimum proportions for gunpowder are: 74.64% saltpeter, 13.51% charcoal, and 11.85% sulfur (by mass). The current standard for black powder manufactured by pyrotechnicians today is 75% potassium nitrate, 15% softwood charcoal and 10% sulfur. A simple, commonly cited, chemical equation for the combustion of black powder is: Very lightly dampened and pressed with 4 to 6 tons of pressure depending on ignition rate desired gives an extremely cleaner burning powder that is good for muzzleloader and cartridges. The best wood for the purpose is pacific willow, however, grapevine, hazel, elder, laurel and even pine cones have been used with good results.

Awesome! Concise presentation!

Great job! The best I've seen and easy to listen to.

I have always wondered how to do this. Great information to say the least. I just liked and subscribed, because videos like this are truly of great value. Thanks for taking the time, and educating those of us that can make good use of home made BP. My traditional muzzleloaders will definately benefit from this. Take Care my friend.

Brother, this was a really good series. I had always read about the different ways it was done back then, but never really thought about what it would be like in a modern diy sense. Well done! I'd love to try it, I just don't have a mill. But to learn the technique in a prepping sense could be invaluable. Thanks Ben!!

I can smell that burnt powder from here. Can’t wait to get started.

Excellent videos! I’m reloading.357 .44mag and 12 guage for my Cowboy Rifles. (Henry etc) it’s tough to find BP here in Canada so this is a cool option and will add to the period authenticity!

Thanks for the upload. Very very interesting. Seems easy enough as long as care and caution is used. Helps to have at least a bit of property where you can do this outside. I see this being removed by KZfaq one day, so I downloaded it. When done in small batches as you need it, it greatly reduces the risk of a large explosion. Make enough for a couple pounds then store the other components away separately to make more later. With Goex now maybe gone for good we just might have to go very Very old school for our old school firearms and make our own black powder right here in the good ol USA. Thanks again!

As a re-enactor I have to agree with you. We use it for our cannons and muskets, does a great job

Fantastic tutorial.

Perfect! Just getting into this sport and your help with the careful explanation of the process was great timing for me. I can’t find commercial powder anywhere!

Great video! Looking forward to the next one.

Thank you Ben, good stuff!

Thank you for making these videos. One of my goals is to make my own for shooting and deer hunting.

Excelente tus cuidados y precauciones 👍👍

I did this project a few years back, it worked well. If I were to do it again I would probably do the final process of wetting the BP and then pressing it into disks to dry before graining. I think the pressing of the mix would help force the molecules together and make a dense grain like that of Swiss BP.

I like pt 2 of this and pt 1 very informative! David Back.

Thank you it really suprised me how well it works

Great and simple and Safe instruction! Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

Great info, I've been thinking about making some of my own BP lately, this helps for sure. 👍

The commercial makers of BP have a few trick up da sleeve on mixing and compression of the liquid end product.

I have found that ball milling all the ingredients separately the screening them before mixing all parts together eliminates large chunks and makes for a better acting powder. Use of denatured alcohol just makes the process a bit faster due to evaporation. I have found 2 100' extension cords is a pretty safe buffer, if you have enough are to stretch them out. Good videos, Dextren is a problem with firearms, I'll try to find some of the red bark.

Awesome video! I’ve often wondered, but never researched the actual process. I’ve read historical accounts of home-brewed black powder being made on the frontier, and with the easy availability of commercial saltpeter (hey, you don’t even have to mine/leach bat guano!) this sounds like something I might try. Thanks!

Excellent. Thanks.

Good job! Thanks for info

Great video

I live in an apartment complex and work 8 hours A-day so when I make my own black powder I mill down the charcoal and the sulfur by itself then I Dissolve the potassium nitrate in water on the stove boiling and then slowly mix in the charcoal Sulfur powder mix once I evaporate most of the water but leaving the powder still quite wet I crash out the potassium nitrate with ice cold acetone or ice cold alcohol and grain while still wet from the acetone/alcohol

Brilliant Ben , Thank you thank you , I have the sulphur and potassium nitrate already , I even now know how to make the charcoal , you have answered ALL my questions. I am a BP shooter in Northern Ireland I. And it is almost impossible to get it . So good Job Ben thank you again, Reg

Great videos! Thank you so much for the clear and complete instructions.

Good video!

The old method taught by the military dissolved the KNO3 in alcohol and ground the other ingredients separately before mixing together in the alcohol where the KNO3 soakis into the others particles, Done properly the powder is just as good as commercial

Thanks, I really need to try to make my own BP.

I make and shoot my own powder. This stuff is hardly different than Goex if you weigh out your charge. But volumetricaly it needs a bigger charge. Soooo if you want to shoot from a limited space, such as a cartridge or a revolver. You do loose power. But if you shoot it with a muzzle loader. The power is the same by weight.

It would be awesome to do a velocity comparison with a gauge that measures the fps of the ball . Thanks for the info

I use virtually same process , only thing make sure of pure as possible ingredients. Powder hard to find , ability to make your own a plus

Fantastic series Sir! I only have one question. Does home made powder require a larger charge in order to achieve the velocities of factory powder, or are the charges the same? For reference, I am using a Kentucky percussion rifle, which has a max load of 110 grains of 2f black powder. Edit: ignore this post, i wrote the above message before watching the last segment of the video.

Cool

One question for you regarding the screen mesh used for graining. Does the mesh need to be plastic, or is aluminum also ok?

I have a full size civil war mountain howitzer. what size screen would I need for for cannon powder?? thank you Keith

Great videos. Have you noticed how consistent each batch is with the previous ones? In other words, do you find the grains are the same for accuracy or do you need to make slight changes each time you use a new batch?

I bought my first black powder gun, a buffalo pistol, just in time for black powder and everything to disappear. So I'm going to try and make my own ffg and fffg powder, so I'll be covered when I get my first muzzleloader too.

God bless you and thanks. :)

great job, nice. one question, quebracho bark powder, where does one buy that? thanks for the video tom

I have found that my powder is less dense than factory stuff....a pound barely will fit into a 1lb Schützen canister, so by volume yes you need more... oddly enough by weight it's about the same for the same ballistic result.... I get within 90% of factory powder, so an extra 10% on the charge volume is about right. I use it a lot in m shotgun shells as they use a lot of powder and the home made stuff is cheap...

Say I use a screen and it turns out like 1f instead of my desired 3f.... Can I add the alcohol and water and remix it into the paste and start over or should it just use it in my big caliber gun and then use a smaller screen the next time? Does the screening process creat uniform granules or is it like a mix of 1 through 4f?

Is the logwood being used in lieu of graphite or dextrin - to help coat the powder and deter static buildup? I realize you said it was mentioned earlier but I either missed that or can't find it. Awesome video though thanks - I haven't tried to make any yet but it's my dream to see if I can save some $ and be as self-sufficient as possible haha. The biggest concern I have is what I've read and heard about static causing ignition.

Thank you again, like part 1, this was also a very informative and entertaining video. I'm now subscribed. I feel that this is a dying craft and it needs to be preserved, along with the muzzle loading heritage, so thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm. I apologized if I missed this or it is covered in another video, but after you dry your powder, do you want to sift it to a specific granule size? Does granule size matter, and if so how do you get it down to that granule size.

regarding the quebracho....i see bark and extract....which one due you use?

Instead of a ball mill would a brass tumbler with lead balls work for breaking down and mixing the materials?

How do you "grain" it to 2F, 3F, and 4F size?? This will be my firt time and I will be shooting it in a flintlock. Very good details in your videos.

What do you think about the newer thinking on this. Harbor freight tumblers and alike are contaminating powder with rubber coming off the rubber barrels and the lead balls are also leaving lead residue in the powder as well. So just total contaminated powder. I am hearing people going to PVC barrels etc and brass balls, and getting much cleaning powder.

Is it possible to increase the power. I run a pistol as such there is limited space for powder and projectile. A typical 30g. Load would only be equivalent to about 18g with the homemade.

Really cool! Can you use the finish product in pistols?

What other binders can you use? I heard flour glue works is this likely? Any other common household binders?

I wonder if a 50/50 mix with Pyrodex would be suitable for the main charge in a flintlock while maybe increasing performance a little to boot..

have you ever tried acetone as a wetting agent instead of alcohol?

If they get gun control to the point that they want to have it, you will not find gunpowder, primers or brass, and a cap and ball gun can be a viable option for hunting and self defense if the only other option is a knife or sharp stick. Also, modern revolvers, pump and double barrel shotguns, lever guns as well as the 1911 and Glocks will all function and fire with black powder, just don't try to use gas operated guns. like the AR-15 or the AK's.

what Logwood are you using ? Where do I get a thickening agent ?

Exactly what size was that screen mesh you used? Thanks so much, enjoy your videos

Can I run it in my percussion revolver as after running it though a strainer

I know this was a year ago but how do you go about getting the different grades such as 3F and 2f 4f?

I just paid $61 for one pound of goex (powder, plus shipping and hazmat). Think it's time to learn to do this

Try making blackpowder R 2 [ using water ]

this is a very good video series i enjoy your other works as well. thank you for taking the time to put it toether i am curious about the purpose of logwood and where to get it . also how is the shelf life of your black powder?

When you buy sulfur is it granular or finer. I bought some really fine from a drug store and it was called flowers of sulfur.

ur awesome

Is it true that you can leave it in a liquid form till you want to use it then dry it out and granulat it

With the poor sound quality on my computer and my hearing problems I'm unsure of the name of the name of the stuff you add for mixing. Can you reply here what it is and where to obtain it?

Where do I find screen mesh good for 2f or 3f size? Please be specific, because I see various mesh sizes available on fireworks supply websites, but they do not correspond to 2f/3f. And they cost over $30 so you want to get it right first time.

What size screens and where would you get them?

Hi, great stuff... don't forget about static electricity and the chlothing that promotes it. I ground myself before working on black powder. (I used to work on USAF airplanes and a little spark could send us to the moon)

Mine burned slow. I used grapevine from the ridge, got a nice charcoal made out of it. Did all the steps like you did except I just used water. I milled for 18 hours. Do I need to mill longer? Should I try making different charcoal?

What is the log wood thickening agent

What type of ammonium nitrate are you using? I can’t seem to find pure powder anywhere?

I live in an rural agricultural community and as of February 2022 fertilizers have in some instances have doubled or more in price. I’m not sure if that includes the items included in your recipe or not. Just curious if you have experienced that?

You should caution the public to the fact that this powder in the talcum stage can be set off from even static electric charges from your own body!! I have had it happen to me before in small amounts when experimenting with mixtures for powerful faster mixes!!

Enjoyed the video. But the issue is twofold. First you have to maximize the charcoal surface area in contact with the nitrates. This best done by dissolving the nitrates and letting it soak into the sponge holes of the charcoal. This is the advantage of using the CIA method. Chemically speaking, it’s the carbon in the charcoal we’re trying to react with. I like to let the solution age wet for even longer than suggested to get the nitrate solution to really soak in. Sulfur is not water soluble so this component is dependent on good ball milling. While the CIA method uses water, I found years ago that DuPont used urine at this point. So I have used horse urine in place of water. I don’t know if this was done for safety or for performance improvement. How would urea affect this process? I don’t know. A second issue to speed improvement is density. Charcoal is a light porous and less dense material. So I made a brass die for use on my H press which is twenty tons. This lets me make very hard pucks which resemble rocks. These rocks are then broken up and screened into powder which is called Corning. It was once said that GOex was not as good as the stuff bought by the government. That they used “tailings” from the main process. This would make sense in how the Corning process works. My new house and shop and job leave little time to experiment. But what you all need to understand is that this stuff is dangerous. I wear a wrist band to ground and I will not allow any portion to come into contact with steel. Everything is brass or glass. Plastic has been known to hold static charges. Over the years, I am aware of two major explosions at the DuPont operation!!!! For years, they used steam engines as the fear of electrical explosions was to great! Just so you all know! The costs can vary. I have been able to get KNO3 in 50 pound bags thru my agricultural suppliers. Having to file a schedule F helps here. Also know that KNO3 had the side effect of keeping your flag staff down!!!! So wear gloves and avoid breathing dust.

I am about to get involved in black powder muzzleloader shooting. Making my own gunpowder would make for an even richer experience. Is the homemade power sutable for hunting deer?

Can this be mixed with commercial black powder to extend your supply of powder?

What is the thickening agent called and where do you get it?

Is corn starch a Logwood ?

Next time try doing the corning method. Believe me it comes out 10x more explosive.

Is maybe a stupid question? But if charcoal should have many pores! Isn't activated charcoal the best then?

how do you separate the grains into Fg, FFG, FFFG?

Here in york pa most places want $80-$85 for one pound of coex. When I do buy powder I get schuetzen for $35 one pound but yeah just better to make your own. I like the cedar charcoal and balsa wood charcoal. Good video thank you.

Ive seen no commercial grade for sale , and this is 4 months old .

7:02, is it dextrine?

THINGS are looking bit untowards here in Ireland . its a far outpost of EEC. and most importantly From the good USA . So the present this Ukraine war might we need advice

what happened to the process in 1812? what did they do differently?

do you use your powder for hunting wild game

Could you take 100 grains by volume and weigh it on a powder scale and then take 100 grains for Goex and weigh it on a powder scale? I don't know for sure, but my guess is that Goex will be heavier by roughly 30%. (100 grains for Goex and 70 grains for your homemade powder)

Is the screen metal or not

Although the ball mill gives mechanical intimacy, I leave my 1lb wetted balls in a mayo jar for a week to further the chemical intimacy, before prilling. I load 45-70 ,12ga, and BP revolvers with my homebrew, and the chronograph says it's near factory powder velocities, with select red alder for charcoal.