cost of black powder these days

[catnthehat]

As of late I was looking at black powder prices versus smokeless powder for my rifles and shotguns.
At one time I could shoot my .50 plains rifle all day for the cost of a box of 30/30 rounds.
Those days are long gone!!
Nowadays, for my rifles it costs more, and for my shotguns it is through the roof!
I have since quit shooting my favorite black powder shotgun with my standard 12 gauge hunting load, opting to use my 28 gauge Briley inserts installed in it for the range practice.
This way I am shooting 15 grains of Longshot powder and 7/8 oz of shot with the 28 gauge inserts instead of 80 grains of FFG and 1oz of shot in my brass 12 gauge cases for approximately the same velocity- which is important for consistency when shooting a moving target .

The cost difference is quite remarkable even when you factor in the cost of a wad, which can be at times about $1.00 for a bag of 250 , and hulls, which you can sometimes pick up for nothing as opposed to my brass shotgun cases. .
Once I started figuring out the cost I darn near fainted!
Cat

[W921]

I sure have no need anytime soon to be making black powder but a guy with a utube show called everything black powder makes his own out of lots of different things for carbon or charcoal. I think toilet paper works best. Great show regardless. Lots of interesting shows from 303 British black powder to Keith 45/70 bullet 45 colt black powder loads.

Duelest1954 is pretty good utube channel for good black powder stuff. Duelist is one of my favorite but he isn't making his own powder like other guy.

[waldedw]

At the risk of sounding like a pessimist it isn't going to get any better for the foreseeable future, every new shipment in seems to show a price increase, some from transportation cost but some from manufacture increased costs of raw materials and of course duty and taxes the new normal is upon us

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by waldedw

At the risk of sounding like a pessimist it isn't going to get any better for the foreseeable future, every new shipment in seems to show a price increase, some from transportation cost but some from manufacture increased costs of raw materials and of course duty and taxes the new normal is upon us

I am going to be shooting a lot more sub gauge shotgun this year as well as smokeless in my cartridge rifles as opposed to black powder, that i for sure!
Cat

[calgarychef]

If only a feller could find a source of potassium nitrate 😎.
The rest is easy.

[Dmay]

Rifles and shotguns? Psshaaww....what are you whining about?

I gotta feed a cannon and mortor. (Actually two, come to think of it. Son has one now too, and tends to need to "borrow" powder)
At the yearly event my gun gobbles up six pounds for the weekend......

The little bit my 45-70 uses isn't really noticeable....

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Dmay

Rifles and shotguns? Psshaaww....what are you whining about?

I gotta feed a cannon and mortor. (Actually two, come to think of it. Son has one now too, and tends to need to "borrow" powder)
At the yearly event my gun gobbles up six pounds for the weekend......

The little bit my 45-70 uses isn't really noticeable....

We were able to get the club to buy a bunch of cannon powder for us years ago, but I have not been involved in shooting it for a while.
BTW, the fella who now owns the Magma shotmakers has some cannons fir sale if you know anyone interested
Cat

[Dmay]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

BTW, the fella who now owns the Magma shotmakers has some cannons fir sale

Got an address or link? Just like to see.....

[pgavey]

How much is a lb of black powder these days?

[Dmay]

Originally Posted by pgavey

How much is a lb of black powder these days?

Shuetzen around $50 per pound .....Swiss a little more.....Goex unobtainable currently.....I paid $80 for the last dregs I found last year.
Gotta switch to Shuetzen this year....hope it works well, others have used it in place of Goex with fine results....

[W921]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

If only a feller could find a source of potassium nitrate 😎.
The rest is easy.

Salt peter
My grandmother used to use it i think for preserving food. Haha I used to use it for other projects when I was young. I googled it and u can still buy it in Calgary.

Years ago goex used to make black powder outside of miles city Montana. I used to buy it from retailers in miles city for I think $8 a pound and used to just drive it back myself legally and declare it. Years ago you could bring back 20 lbs at a time . Things probably different now.

[W921]

Originally Posted by Dmay

Rifles and shotguns? Psshaaww....what are you whining about?

I gotta feed a cannon and mortor. (Actually two, come to think of it. Son has one now too, and tends to need to "borrow" powder)
At the yearly event my gun gobbles up six pounds for the weekend......

The little bit my 45-70 uses isn't really noticeable....

You can make your own cannon fuse as well

[Dmay]

Originally Posted by W921

You can make your own cannon fuse as well

Yup thank you for that. I know. Have never....have a friend who does. I bought about a life-time supply a few years back.... so out of laziness, don't think about it any more.
But good to know it's possible....