DIY Black Powder pistol cartridges

[Ninurta]

Excellent! 
 When I see how complicated some of these processes actually are, I often wonder how our ancestors came to invent some of the things they did. Somebody had to think all that stuff up.
Amazing, isn't it?

Mrs. G's ancestors actually invented gunpowder - the rest of us just stole it, rode the wave, and made improvements wherever we could.

But I've often had similar thoughts - "Who on Earth ever originally thought that X was a good idea?" or "who was the guinea pig that figured out you could eat this, but that over there will kill ya if you eat it?"

Some of it comes from dealing with other things and gaining a general knowledge. For example, when I put my potassium nitrate solution into the refrigerator to get more out, it wasn't because I knew that would happen, it was a test to see if it would, because I knew that cold water holds fewer contaminants than hot water does, just like colder air holds less moisture than warmer air.

What I'd like to know is who first figured out you can get potassium nitrate out of manure and urine. How did that ever come about? Was it from barn fires starting in built up bedding? Inquiring minds want to know! Who first figured out that going into caves where bats have lived for millennia, and leaching the guano-laden dirt in them would yield powder-grade potassium nitrate? Mixing them to the right mixture was a matter of trial and error, but who figured out which raw materials to mix, and how to get them?

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