The differences of gun powders?
A friend and I were talking about reloading, and he asked, “What do you mean by fast burning and slow burning powder?” When………….
I had an epiphany…I said
‘A fast burning powder goes ‘Boom?’
“‘A slow burning powder goes “‘Boooom!'” .
I carry a gun because I am too young to die, and too dam old to carry a can of whoop ass!
Sam 😛
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Thanks Riverside, I’m obviously not well educated about black powder. A few years ago the LAPD gun detail tried to shut down a reloading store on the basis that they were illegally selling black powder; an explosive. That’s what I was thinking of. It does makes sense that black powder has less energy as it is safe to use in guns with damascus barrelles. Thanks for the correction/education. I love this forum! There is such a great amount of information.
Did I get the other info correct? 😉
Steve:
Black Powder is no more an “explosive” than Air Guns are firearms
the change in classification was a bit of legal slight of hand by the Feds years ago to prevent felons from using reproduction cap & ball revolvers.
Within a few years Pyrodex came out which legally sidestepped the explosives regulation of black powder. The rules were relaxed a bit by the 80s, today under Federal code you can lawfully possess up to 50# of Black powder without permit, registration or license requirements
Black powder actually has a fairly slow burn rate compared to most nitrocellulose based powders that are legally classified as “propellants”
consider which would be more effective: A pipe bomb filled with black powder or with Bullseye
another example is the explosive nitro cotton, even flashpaper…both of which are products of the nitration of organics by acid bath like smokeless powder.
Highest burn rates among the propellants are the special blank powders
past that you get into true explosive powders such as the various flash powders
Fast powders are used in pistols and shotguns. Slow powders are used in longer barrelled weapons. To get the energy from the powder used efficiently, it must all burn before the bullet leaves the barrell. That would have to be pretty fast in a 4″, or 6″ barrell. Otherwise the energy is lost as a spectacular flash out the end of the muzzle after the bullet has left the bore. On the other end of the spectrum we have 18″ to 26″+ barrels that need powders that will continue to burn, produce energy, as the bullet gets further down the barrell. A fast powder would run out of steam too soon and the bullet would begin slowing down before it exited the barrell. So, there is a basic description of why we need powders with different burning rates.
How do we control a powders burning rate? Originally, guys used black powder which is composed of charcoal, sulpher, and saltpeter. These guys blew up and burned down lots of stuff on their path of discovery. I bet there were plenty of guys who slept outside after scaring their wives with their new interest! 😀 Black powder burns very fast and therefore is considered an explosive. (I believe that it is illegal here in California).
Modern day smokless propellants were formulated back in the early 1890’s with the Winchester model 1894 in .30-30 caliber being the first commercial weapon/cartridge to use the “new” powder. The two main classifications of powder are single base, nitro cillulose, and double base powders, nitro cellulose and nitro glycern. The double base powders having more energy to release during combustion.
Propellants are naturally fast burning, so the trick is slowing them down. This is accomplished by changing the powder’s grain size and shape. There are flake powders, ball, or spherical shaped powders, and extruded powders. The extruded powders look like pencil lead that has been cut to specific and uniform shapes. There are also coatings that retard the burning speed that are applied to the surface of the individual grains of powder.
This is a basic description of “gun powder”, or smokeless propellant.
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mostly accurate…
however the 94′ and the .30-30 were only the first American sporting gun and round to use smokeless, even that is arguable
French and germans in particular had produced a variety of sporting rounds and firearms for smokeless by the advent of the 94′ such as the various sporting mausers, even English Lee Speeds and double rifles by the early/mid 1890s