I said goodbye to the Modern Muzzleloader forum today.

[DangerousDrummer]

I just un-registered myself from the Modern Muzzleloader site. It was very informative up to a point. Any discussion of the making of black powder became forbidden "in view of recent events". While I was not participating in the thread, I am always interested in building anything. I consider black powder to be as important to a muzzleloader as the gun itself and could no longer stand the continued "edits" by the moderators when they felt someone had crossed the line concerning the making of black powder. They even claimed that they had edited out portions of a post because it had mentioned an ingrediant purchased at Lowes.

This is the very acceptance of the abuse of the Constitution that is causing a lot of unrest. It is not only the government and media that are attempting to take control of our first amendment rights, but the very people that depend on those rights in order to operate a web site have sensored themselves out of fear, or they believe in the progressive attitude that "we know what is best for you so we will control everthing you say and do".

The ModernMuzzleloader web site had all of the normal legal disclaimers that would limit their liability, and there are plenty of sites that discuss making black powder without apparant hassle. In addition, the Boston A$$holes did not make black powder, they bought large firecrackers. So what is next, we don't allow discussion of fireworks? Ban the the Fourth of July?  If we follow this path the terrorists have won. They want to change us, and it is easy for them because we have become such sheep, we are changing ourselves!

[2guns]

Agreed could not have said it better. When muslims can say death to America and not be put on a terrorist watch list but a Christian with a gun saying protect our freedoms can. Something is way out of whack and needs to be done. Oops that probably puts me on a stupid government list.

[abbafandr]

Agreed could not have said it better. When muslims can say death to America and not be put on a terrorist watch list but a Christian with a gun saying protect our freedoms can. Something is way out of whack and needs to be done. Oops that probably puts me on a stupid government list.

Welcome, we're on the same list! 

[unfy]

It's already being done and folks are being good about it, but remember etiquette about not bashing another forum.


I'm sorry the musket forum went the route they did.  Black and red powder are relatively easy to make, the information is everywhere, and it can be done safely and handled safely.  I'm sorry they caved to political pressure nonsense.... especially given their forum topic .  Hope they come back around soon.

Dunno if we have much in the way of black powder here... I know I've never shot one that I can recall.

Maybe others can sound off if they do black powder stuff ?

[DangerousDrummer]

The black powder rifles are fun to shoot. I am not into the historical part of it so I have an inline. Easy to load and very simple. Since it is simple it was the testing ground for my first cast bullets and powder coating. A muzzle loader is considerably more forgiving than my SOCOM and not as likely to blow my arm off. It launches a bullet fine with a 2/3 load so I stay well within the safe range, whereas my AR has to have enough load to cycle and can overpressure real fast.

[GreyGeek]

When muslims can say death to America and not be put on a terrorist watch list but a Christian with a gun saying protect our freedoms can.

Now it is a criminal offense for a Christian in the US Military to mention their Faith because to do so is to "proselytize", which is now illegal.   So, the 1st Amendment no longer applies to Christians who want to serve their country to defend their Constitutional Rights.  How bizarre is that?   I suspect that the purpose of that law is to drive Christians out of the military.   Why?  Because those who made that rule know that a Christian cannot remain silent about their Faith when asked, nor would they deny Christ as Lord.  Their only choice would be to resign or not join.  There is an apocryphal article which claims that 25% of a National  Guard unit said they would fire on Americans if told to do so.  I believe it.  How many more would fire if they weren't constrained by a belief in God and final accountability?  Troops fired on coal miners in  Southern Colorado, McCarther used soldiers and tanks to drive the veterans out of Washington in the 1930s,  the National Guard shot up Kent State, killing four and wounding nine [thanks sfg],   and there are several  instances of State and Federal law officers macing and/or firing on groups  of civilians exercising their rights of peaceable assembly.

[bkoenig]

I don't do much in the way of muzzleloading but I do shoot black powder in my 45-70.  It's a hoot.

I've made homemade black powder before.  The trick to doing it safely is to make sure it's WET while milling.  I mainly did it just to see if it would work.  It went boom but wasn't up to commercial quality.

[DangerousDrummer]

The quality of the powder is proportional to the quality of the charcoal. Soft wood like willow or balsa that is milled very fine is said to produce good powder. The swiss powder uses granite wheels that weigh tons, so the higher pressure mills the powder finer. But the milling of the charcoal is even more important than milling the powder mix. Also the coal must not be heated over 450 deg. It appears that the formula or ratio is also not as important as the charcoal. The sulphur is only used to lower the ignition temperature, which may not be required when using modern primers. Sometimes in battle extra sulphur would be used so that the extra smoke would create a smoke screen and hide the shooters. Did you know that at one point most saltpeter was obtained from horse and cow stables by removing the floor boards? Later it was obtained from beds a lot like mulch beds.

I am learning, but right now my main focus of study is on internal ballistics math. I keep going back and studying the historical data as it is easier to understand the modern technology if I study the history.

[unfy]

Historical stuff is always awesome to read and learn about.  Particularly in regards to warfare.

Some truly ingenious and brilliant folks came up with a lot of truly awesome ideas.  A lot of very practical stuff that can be done and used effectively today.  IE: making of your own primers isn't terribly difficult (that is, for corrosive primers)... different powder mixes and methods... gun (big and small) design... troop formations, troop movements, etc.  Was quite a bit of wild stuff even going much further back such as the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China.

A lot of the basic principles also remain the same to modern day.

My ex's parents lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere Iowa.  I should have tried to do a lot more tinkering out on their land while we were together.


Forgot the whole point to replying:

milled very fine is said to produce good powder

Yup, your goal is surface area for better all around combustion / fuel expenditure.