Black powder (poudre noir for @"Rodinus") update:
I made some home-made caps, and dropped them into an Altoids tin to carry around and see how they held up. They have held up better than I expected, better than the internet led me to believe they would, with just a tiny bit of the explosive compound falling out of them - most of it has stayed intact. Of course I am recycling the compound that they dropped into the Altoids tin, to put it into the next batch of caps. BUT - they are holding up surprisingly well, better than I expected.
I punched out the caps with the cap punch, mixed up the 'splodey powder in a VERY small batch (in the bottom of a shot glass, using a wooden match stick to stir, to avoid sparks), and filled 14 caps 2/3 full each, then put one or two drops of the isoporopyl in them, covered the batch with saran wrap, and let it work for about an hour. Then I took off the saran wrap and let the isopropyl evaporate for about a day, leaving a small crud of 'splodey power in the bottom of the caps. The isopropyl dissolved what I suspect is shellac granules in that hour, and then left it all as a pellet stuck to the bottom of the cap when it evaporated. After I wet it with the alcohol, I packed it in with a wooden match stick, before I left it sitting saran-wrapped to dissolve. To hold the caps while I was working on them, I cut a square of cardboard and punched holes in it to hold the caps with a screwdriver that was sized slightly smaller than the cap diameters. it would be great to have one of those plastic trays that primers come in for reloading to hold the caps in, but I'm working with what i have, and that ain't it.
I'll make another batch of cartridges, fire them with the caps, and report back on how it went.
Also, one of those caps is missing. I know not where it went. I'm guessing that one fine day I'll roll back this recliner, hear a really loud "POP!" somewhere under my ass, and discover where it went in that instant.
I emptied the cylinder of the Richmond labs bullets the other day, the ones that I managed to get loaded anyhow. They performed flawlessly, but had a bit more kick to the pistol. probably because of the heavier bullets (Isaac Newton - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Heavier bullets can be expected to impart more recoil, if everything else is equal). I used the same caps (commercial - CCI #10) that I used before, but this time there were no "hang fires" - when the cap went pop, the cylinder went BOOM at the same time, with no lag.
I only loaded 5 cylinders of the 6, because 5 wore my tired ass out trying to cram those bullets into the chambers. I need to find some softer lead. I put one of the home made caps (but empty, no splodey bits) on the 6th chamber, to see if it stayed on through the recoil from the other 5 chambers. it did.
I had a bottle of acetone, and a bottle of 91% pure isopropyl alcohol when I made the caps, to bind the splodey compound with. The isopropyl alcohol worked better, which surprised me... but it is what it is.
I used 95% pure isopropyl on a former job to clean thick ink out of silk screens in a printing machine. Use caution - it will dry your skin out in a hurry, and leave it looking white and crusty if you don't use protective gloves. I never did, and it never hurt me, but it sure as shit kills skin cells.
I was using pure Crisco to lube up Betsy with. I discovered that, over time, the Crisco gels up, gets stiff, and makes the cylinder harder to rotate, which consequently makes her harder to cock. that could stress the "hand" that makes the cylinder rotate. I switched out to using Chinese parafin (softer than Gulf wax - I think the Chinese are not adding in the stearic acid that hardens the Gulf wax), and so far everything is peachy.
I settled on a 50/50 mixture of Chinese paraffin and Crisco to lube the bullets with. I molded it into ingots in those little condiment cups you can fill up with ketchup at restaurants. I got a crap ton of them at Walmart. When it's time to lube bullets, I heat it in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, and it liquifies without melting the condiment cup. Then I dip the cartridges into it bullet-first, up to where the paper part of the cartridge begins, let them cool 5 or 6 seconds after I take them out, then stand them up bullet topwards in 9mm Luger bullet trays (that I got out of 9mm commercial cartridge boxes) and let them stand for about a day to fully solidify.
Yeah. Molten wax, a paper black powder cartridge... you'd think that would be a safety issue, but it ain't. Nothing blows up.
To test the splody powder for the caps, I put about a dime sized circle on a 1 1/2 square of packing tape, put another square of packing tape over the top of it to hold it all together (like a giant toy cap), then took it outside and smacked it with a hammer. Had to smack it it twice because the first time I was being too ginger with it, but the second time it echoed off the mountainsides. Blew the tape all to bitty little flinders. tiny little powdery shards of packing tape all over the yard. It was about as loud as a .22 rimfire, maybe just a tad louder. Scared the hell out of the cat, and caused Grace to come running to make sure I didn't blow myself up. I feel a little guilty about that.
So.
The experimentation goes on. I have enough cartridges (Colt Works bullets this time, home molded) already rolled to load a cylinder, and enough home made caps to fire it, and that is what is up next. Still using triple Seven powder, because I don't yet have a ball-mill to make the home made sort of black powder.
.
I made some home-made caps, and dropped them into an Altoids tin to carry around and see how they held up. They have held up better than I expected, better than the internet led me to believe they would, with just a tiny bit of the explosive compound falling out of them - most of it has stayed intact. Of course I am recycling the compound that they dropped into the Altoids tin, to put it into the next batch of caps. BUT - they are holding up surprisingly well, better than I expected.
I punched out the caps with the cap punch, mixed up the 'splodey powder in a VERY small batch (in the bottom of a shot glass, using a wooden match stick to stir, to avoid sparks), and filled 14 caps 2/3 full each, then put one or two drops of the isoporopyl in them, covered the batch with saran wrap, and let it work for about an hour. Then I took off the saran wrap and let the isopropyl evaporate for about a day, leaving a small crud of 'splodey power in the bottom of the caps. The isopropyl dissolved what I suspect is shellac granules in that hour, and then left it all as a pellet stuck to the bottom of the cap when it evaporated. After I wet it with the alcohol, I packed it in with a wooden match stick, before I left it sitting saran-wrapped to dissolve. To hold the caps while I was working on them, I cut a square of cardboard and punched holes in it to hold the caps with a screwdriver that was sized slightly smaller than the cap diameters. it would be great to have one of those plastic trays that primers come in for reloading to hold the caps in, but I'm working with what i have, and that ain't it.
I'll make another batch of cartridges, fire them with the caps, and report back on how it went.
Also, one of those caps is missing. I know not where it went. I'm guessing that one fine day I'll roll back this recliner, hear a really loud "POP!" somewhere under my ass, and discover where it went in that instant.
I emptied the cylinder of the Richmond labs bullets the other day, the ones that I managed to get loaded anyhow. They performed flawlessly, but had a bit more kick to the pistol. probably because of the heavier bullets (Isaac Newton - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Heavier bullets can be expected to impart more recoil, if everything else is equal). I used the same caps (commercial - CCI #10) that I used before, but this time there were no "hang fires" - when the cap went pop, the cylinder went BOOM at the same time, with no lag.
I only loaded 5 cylinders of the 6, because 5 wore my tired ass out trying to cram those bullets into the chambers. I need to find some softer lead. I put one of the home made caps (but empty, no splodey bits) on the 6th chamber, to see if it stayed on through the recoil from the other 5 chambers. it did.
I had a bottle of acetone, and a bottle of 91% pure isopropyl alcohol when I made the caps, to bind the splodey compound with. The isopropyl alcohol worked better, which surprised me... but it is what it is.
I used 95% pure isopropyl on a former job to clean thick ink out of silk screens in a printing machine. Use caution - it will dry your skin out in a hurry, and leave it looking white and crusty if you don't use protective gloves. I never did, and it never hurt me, but it sure as shit kills skin cells.
I was using pure Crisco to lube up Betsy with. I discovered that, over time, the Crisco gels up, gets stiff, and makes the cylinder harder to rotate, which consequently makes her harder to cock. that could stress the "hand" that makes the cylinder rotate. I switched out to using Chinese parafin (softer than Gulf wax - I think the Chinese are not adding in the stearic acid that hardens the Gulf wax), and so far everything is peachy.
I settled on a 50/50 mixture of Chinese paraffin and Crisco to lube the bullets with. I molded it into ingots in those little condiment cups you can fill up with ketchup at restaurants. I got a crap ton of them at Walmart. When it's time to lube bullets, I heat it in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, and it liquifies without melting the condiment cup. Then I dip the cartridges into it bullet-first, up to where the paper part of the cartridge begins, let them cool 5 or 6 seconds after I take them out, then stand them up bullet topwards in 9mm Luger bullet trays (that I got out of 9mm commercial cartridge boxes) and let them stand for about a day to fully solidify.
Yeah. Molten wax, a paper black powder cartridge... you'd think that would be a safety issue, but it ain't. Nothing blows up.
To test the splody powder for the caps, I put about a dime sized circle on a 1 1/2 square of packing tape, put another square of packing tape over the top of it to hold it all together (like a giant toy cap), then took it outside and smacked it with a hammer. Had to smack it it twice because the first time I was being too ginger with it, but the second time it echoed off the mountainsides. Blew the tape all to bitty little flinders. tiny little powdery shards of packing tape all over the yard. It was about as loud as a .22 rimfire, maybe just a tad louder. Scared the hell out of the cat, and caused Grace to come running to make sure I didn't blow myself up. I feel a little guilty about that.
So.
The experimentation goes on. I have enough cartridges (Colt Works bullets this time, home molded) already rolled to load a cylinder, and enough home made caps to fire it, and that is what is up next. Still using triple Seven powder, because I don't yet have a ball-mill to make the home made sort of black powder.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’