Are we all to thick to improve our propellants ?Â

[amlevin]

I think I'll just stick with the existing stuff and work on my own shooting skills. I'd love to be able to blame all those "fliers" and large groups on the rifle, powder, etc, but in reality it's just me.

Unless one is shooting a "rail gun", there will always be the human factor.

 

[Webster]

Could you buy home insurance if you were legally making gunpowder? Powder makers take extreme precautions to prevent static electric. If you legally own nitroglycerin I think you have to store it in a bunker with hundreds of feet clearance around it.

 

[jo191145]

Could you buy home insurance if you were legally making gunpowder? Powder makers take extreme precautions to prevent static electric. If you legally own nitroglycerin I think you have to store it in a bunker with hundreds of feet clearance around it.

;D ;D Ahhh but are all those flyers and large groups really your fault????
Too many shooters think just because they're particular firearm once shot a good group with X,Y and Z it will always be that capable. Any deviation from that result is the shooter or wind. The internet is abuzz with such belief.

Personally I look at it differently. A barrel that shoots a stellar group is capable of repeating that group, somewhat consistently. Does'nt mean X,Y or Z will be involved in the end. Thats when the real work begins.

 

[BoydAllen]

Talk to anyone who is seriously trying to win registered benchrest matches, and he will tell you that there are a lot of little things that matter when you are trying to shoot smaller than the best in the world. Simply having a very fine barrel is not nearly enough. It is a requirement, but that is just the beginning.

 

[jo191145]

So true Boyd.
Still in my opinion and mine alone understanding what a particular barrel wants is #1.
Fourtanetly I'm not looking to beat the best just not be the worst.

I did notice I quoted Websters reply when I responded to amlevins, albeit too late.
Not much different than cross firing on a target heh :-[ :

 

[BoydAllen]

I always say that you should never try to tell a rifle what to like. You should ask, and listen.

 

[bozo699]

I always say that you should never try to tell a rifle what to like. You should ask, and listen.

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Wayne.

 

[floydj]

Making your own powder :...... I believe this is where being a ROCKET Scientist is a GOOD thing.................. Then after the powder is made you can smelt your own alloys for the BBL and Action, melt some sand for the optics, and raise silk worms for making stocks.......WOW your on to sumthin......let US know how this works out fer ya.....

I think that making your own smokeless powder sounds like something that's going to be on 1000 ways to die someday. However, a lot of people (amateurs) do make their own rocket motors for hobby level rocketry...they even do how to's on youtube. The problem with them, other than the danger, is that the factory motors are generally far better.

-FloydJ

 

[Gee]

So, it is confirmed. We are not bright enough to make our own smokeless propellants. And the raw materials can not safely be made available to us, nor is it clear what equipment for the micro manufacture of 1000 grains of custom powder on lab bench would be required. We have some great smokeless powders available to us from the large corporations, that we are very thankful for, and we are just going to have to accept that we can't help ourselves on this one, and we will have to remain beholden. That's life.

Gee

 

[6BRinNZ]

So, it is confirmed. We are not bright enough to make our own smokeless propellants. And the raw materials can not safely be made available to us, nor is it clear what equipment for the micro manufacture of 1000 grains of custom powder on lab bench would be required. We have some great smokeless powders available to us from the large corporations, that we are very thankful for, and we are just going to have to accept that we can't help ourselves on this one, and we will have to remain beholden. That's life.

Gee

I consider myself too smart to go there.

 

[TheSnake]

So, it is confirmed. We are not bright enough to make our own smokeless propellants. And the raw materials can not safely be made available to us, nor is it clear what equipment for the micro manufacture of 1000 grains of custom powder on lab bench would be required. We have some great smokeless powders available to us from the large corporations, that we are very thankful for, and we are just going to have to accept that we can't help ourselves on this one, and we will have to remain beholden. That's life.

Gee

If one had enough money, you could buy out one of the big powder makers and make your own powder. This may not be a lost cause after all. Snow me the money!

 

[Strut]

I lived in the northern Delaware/Wilmington area way back when (about 1964) the smokeless powder plant in Rapono, New Jersey went up. Smokeless powder is not supposed to do that. Remember it is a propellant, not an explosive There were windows cracked/broken for miles. there wasn't enough left to do an investigation into the cause. Just a hole in the ground.

 

[essexboy]

I had the good luck to work at a uk gov weapons r&d area a few years ago ( a gun nuts heaven) to give you some idea of how dangerous the making of this type of stuff is, the inside of the nitro room was completely covered in lead, all the work areas were wood, you had to wear soft leather outerwear and cotton underwear, you had to go through 2no anti static areas, no electrical switches were in the room, the lighting was all sealed behind glass, all work tools had to be brass etc.
The building had 3foot thick Walls and was built below ground level and covered with 3foot of earth, there was a blast wall in front of the doorway 5foot thick.

As a side point the people working there used to suffer from headaches and chronic gas/wind

Steve

 

[bozo699]

So, it is confirmed. We are not bright enough to make our own smokeless propellants. And the raw materials can not safely be made available to us, nor is it clear what equipment for the micro manufacture of 1000 grains of custom powder on lab bench would be required. We have some great smokeless powders available to us from the large corporations, that we are very thankful for, and we are just going to have to accept that we can't help ourselves on this one, and we will have to remain beholden. That's life.

Gee

I consider myself too smart to go there.

Wayne,
Funny but,.......................Spot on
Wayne.

 

[MClark]

Where I used to work we did R&D work for rocket motors. Most of the work was with what is referred to as composites, ammonium perchlorate/rubber binder plus other stuff. We did some work with double base propellants. We were making a replacement for the propellant used in the Martin Baker ejection seat, we got good results but never stepped up to production. As stated by Steve we had constant screaming headaches. The equipment we used was very specialized and expensive. We were not in the thick walled building but in a remote location with blow out walls. For the mixing process we were standing over the shear roll mill, the extrusion was remote always cringing and holding our breath.

It is not something that should be tried at home; too many things can happen with bad results.

Mark

 

[amlevin]

I think that making your own smokeless powder sounds like something that's going to be on 1000 ways to die someday.

I graduated from High School with a couple of guys that tried to make their own "rocket propellant". When they got their diplomas, they only had a total of 14 fingers between them. One almost lost the entire hand.