Is it illegal to make your own black powder for a flinter

[trooper]

I recently acquired a Kentucky long rifle flintlock in 50 cal. Triple 7 does not work in the pan and had no end of issues getting the thing working. On the internet, there are many videos on u tube that tell the how to, so now I’m toying with the idea of making my own in small quantities. A pound at a time. Thoughts anyone?

[catnthehat]

The problem with making gun powder is the less you make the less condistant your powder will be.
I gave up on the idea 30 years ago and use 4f in the pans .
Cat

[trooper]

So, not illegal. I took some willow and made charcoal today, purchased a mortar an pestal now I’m trying to locate sulfer and saltpeter.,

[trophybook]

Originally Posted by trooper

So, not illegal. I took some willow and made charcoal today, purchased a mortar an pestal now I’m trying to locate sulfer and saltpeter.,

Stump remover and sulfur from ufa

[saskbooknut]

Some ideas are better left on the drawing board. This is one of them.

Commercial black powder producers like GOEX, with all modern industrial standards, have occasionally made one very big hole in the ground.

Buy some real black powder from a gun show, re-enactor group, or other supplier like Hillfolk Musket Supply. If you have trouble coming up with 4F you can get by with 3F in a good lock or screen fines out of coarser granulations.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by saskbooknut

Some ideas are better left on the drawing board. This is one of them.

Commercial black powder producers like GOEX, with all modern industrial standards, have occasionally made one very big hole in the ground.

Buy some real black powder from a gun show, re-enactor group, or other supplier like Hillfolk Musket Supply. If you have trouble coming up with 4F you can get by with 3F in a good lock or screen fines out of coarser granulations.

Commercial plants make it by remote control, for very good reasons.

Grizz

[bat119]

Originally Posted by trooper

So, not illegal. I took some willow and made charcoal today, purchased a mortar an pestal now I’m trying to locate sulfer and saltpeter.,

Sam Fadela warned that more people have died trying to make BP than actually succeeded
I crushed BP with a wooden dowel on a piece of glass in small amounts never tried 777

[Sneeze]

It's quite easy to make meal powder. It is very difficult to refine it further into black powder.

Ingredients must be pure, proportions perfect. Grinding must be to extreme and to really get working BP you need to soak your refined meal into cakes then re-grind and screen into sizes and test.

I wouldn't do it. It's not particularly dangerous as long as you understand steel tools are no good and how static can build up. Just very time consuming and you won't get the product you want until a lot of trial and error.

[Jack Hardin]

Is your Kentucky a Pedersoli? I read on another forum they are famous for having too small of a touch hole. I had trouble getting ignition through the touch hole on my Kentucky and I drilled the touch hole one drill bit size larger than it was and I get good ignition now. As someone here mentioned that poring 3F into a screen will give you the smallest grains that will be good for the pan. I am going to try that next time. Wipe the frizzen and flint after each shot with a rag soaked and squeezed out in alcohol.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

From the Explosives Act:

6 Except as authorized under this Act and subject to such exemptions as may be provided by regulation, no person shall

(a) make or manufacture any explosive, either wholly or in part, except in a licensed factory;

From the Explosives Regulations:

25 Despite section 11, the following activities involving an explosive may be carried out even though the explosives are not authorized:

(a) the manufacture of up to 1 kg of explosives to be used in conducting an experiment, demonstration, test or analysis at a school, college, university or other learning institution;

(b) the manufacture of up to 5 kg of explosives to be used in conducting an experiment, demonstration, test or analysis by a government or law enforcement agency;

(c) the manufacture of up to 5 kg of explosives to be used in conducting an experiment, test or analysis at a private or commercial laboratory;

(d) the manufacture of black powder charges for ceremonial use;

(e) the manufacture of small arms cartridges or black powder cartouches for personal use;

(f) the assembly and use of special purpose pyrotechnics, as defined in section 361;

(g) the sending of a sample of an explosive to the Chief Inspector of Explosives, at his or her request, for authorization testing;

(h) the importation of an explosive, if the conditions set out in section 45 are met;

(i) the exportation of an explosive, if the conditions set out in section 45 are met; and

(j) the transportation in transit of an explosive.

I'm not a lawyer, but I would interpret that as meaning it is illegal to make your own BP.

ARG

[bat119]

Good article scroll down to page 20

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazi...118partial.pdf

How to load a flinter to go off most of the time by Sam Fadala

Use these instructions to get a bang instead of a click-bang

[trooper]

Well, unless I can find a good source of 4F black powder, I'll keep the rifle and pass the rifle onto my son... makes a great wall mount in the meantime. I wonder about using 4F BP in the pan and using FFFG 777 as the main charge, would there be enough spark through the flash hole to ignite the triple 7 in the barrel?

[Drewski Canuck]

This thread brings back great memories of my childhood, and .... CHEMISTRY SETS!!!!

Everyone on my block had a chemistry set. The stuff they put in these things in hindsight, were frightening!!!!

The fact that most of the boys on my street got to adulthood with their fingers and eyes truely is a miracle.

We had a pharmacy in the strip mall in our neighbourhood, and in those days, you could buy saltpeter over the counter. We already had the sulphur and the charcoal, and well ...

When mixed and ground and re mixed and put in a pile, it would start slow and smoky and get going FAST and smoky. It sure did make for fond childhood memories though!!!

good thing we didn't have the means to contain it too much...

Yeah, so don't go making your own black powder, OK?

Drewski

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

This thread brings back great memories of my childhood, and .... CHEMISTRY SETS!!!!

Everyone on my block had a chemistry set. The stuff they put in these things in hindsight, were frightening!!!!

The fact that most of the boys on my street got to adulthood with their fingers and eyes truely is a miracle.

We had a pharmacy in the strip mall in our neighbourhood, and in those days, you could buy saltpeter over the counter. We already had the sulphur and the charcoal, and well ...

When mixed and ground and re mixed and put in a pile, it would start slow and smoky and get going FAST and smoky. It sure did make for fond childhood memories though!!!

good thing we didn't have the means to contain it too much...

Yeah, so don't go making your own black powder, OK?

Drewski

Amazing what you could do with nitric and suphuric acid along with glycerin and a public library recipe. We survived, but made me very aware of the hazards of this kind of endeavor. Drop of nitro on filter paper hit with a hammer is very impressive, trust me.

Grizz

[saskbooknut]

777 and the other black powder substitutes are much harder to ignite than black powder, thus unsuitable for flinter. There is a reason these substitute powders are used in inlines with hot shotgun primers.

[hornhead]

many of those old black powder factories blew up as did a pyrodex factory .

[trooper]

Originally Posted by saskbooknut

777 and the other black powder substitutes are much harder to ignite than black powder, thus unsuitable for flinter. There is a reason these substitute powders are used in inlines with hot shotgun primers.

I use 777 FFFG in my 50 cal cap and ball Hawken and it works very well. Too bad I'm going to retire that flinter.. I'm sure my son will find use for it.

[NCC]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

From the Explosives Act:




From the Explosives Regulations:



I'm not a lawyer, but I would interpret that as meaning it is illegal to make your own BP.

ARG

Doesn't this:

(e) the manufacture of small arms cartridges or black powder cartouches for personal use;

State that it's legal to make your own powder?

[petew]

pour that triple 7 on the ground and get some Goex real black powder and your problems will be over.
Cabelas sells Goex if they are close to you.

[petew]

Originally Posted by trooper

Well, unless I can find a good source of 4F black powder, I'll keep the rifle and pass the rifle onto my son... makes a great wall mount in the meantime. I wonder about using 4F BP in the pan and using FFFG 777 as the main charge, would there be enough spark through the flash hole to ignite the triple 7 in the barrel?

No is the most found result. Substitutes just don't like to burn , and refuse to burn in a flinter. Get the real Black. 3f will light in the pan , but 4F will be faster and more reliable in the pan. Never use 4F in the chamber, 3F or 2F will both work, I prefer 3F up to 54cal, Another issue you might be having is poor sparks if you are not using real flints. Those cut agitate things aren't very good or reliable.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by hornhead

many of those old black powder factories blew up as did a pyrodex factory .

I got a baaaaaaaad feeeeeelimg on this one, someone is going to make the news for all the wrong reasons.....

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by NCC

Doesn't this:

(e) the manufacture of small arms cartridges or black powder cartouches for personal use;

State that it's legal to make your own powder?

Like I said, I'm not a lawyer. I would interrupt that as saying you are allowed to reload for personal use.

ARG

[BPman]

You do not have to use 4F to prime your pan and the old timers used the same powder as the main charge. Lots of experienced flint shooters prime with 3F or even 2F, same as the main charge. Making your own good powder is not only a complex procedure but DANGEROUS. A pound of 4F will last for years of shooting. Buy it.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by trooper

I recently acquired a Kentucky long rifle flintlock in 50 cal. Triple 7 does not work in the pan and had no end of issues getting the thing working. On the internet, there are many videos on u tube that tell the how to, so now I’m toying with the idea of making my own in small quantities. A pound at a time. Thoughts anyone?

DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN BLACK POWDER!!!! unless you want ot join the "special people" club.

Flintlocks will only shoot well with real black powder. It is very easy to come by. Substitute powders have much higher temperature requirement to go off and flint sparks are NOT sufficiently hot.

Get 4F or 3F for the pan and 2F for the main charge and you will have no problems making it go bang. If Cabela's doesn't have it they will order it in. Rusty Trading carries it as does Caroline Supplies in Caroline (they are the Goex Distributor)

Sherwood Park Range has a large group of dedicated black powder shooters. If you want some help getting the gun to shoot well and reliably join the club or PM me.

[Jack Hardin]

Originally Posted by Dean2

DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN BLACK POWDER!!!! unless you want ot join the "special people" club.

Flintlocks will only shoot well with real black powder. It is very easy to come by. Substitute powders have much higher temperature requirement to go off and flint sparks are NOT sufficiently hot.

Get 4F or 3F for the pan and 2F for the main charge and you will have no problems making it go bang. If Cabela's doesn't have it they will order it in. Rusty Trading carries it as does Caroline Supplies in Caroline (they are the Goex Distributor)

Sherwood Park Range has a large group of dedicated black powder shooters. If you want some help getting the gun to shoot well and reliably join the club or PM me.

Google the Alberta Black Powder Association, they hold various shoots around the province.

[guysmiley]

I can imagine it would be hard to get "just right".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akZZd7Hz0rE

[trooper]

I'm now convinced NOT to attempt the manufacture of black powder.. thanks gents.

[Big Grey Wolf]

When we were young and foolish made lots of gun powder. We should of stopped their, but graduated to dynamite using high school text book. Wonder we did not blow ourselves up especially mixing the nitro-glycerine.