Aloys, Down Under is a long way to throw a stone.

Slimjim.....bottom line at this stage is I dont know what I will need,subsonic wont give me anything except less noise ,if the pressure to get it is higher than a 13-1500fps load well then the faster load will be used .

With minimum published loads of Varget, I was getting in the 1300-1500 fps velocity range. Just had unburnt powder granules left in the bore.

maybe the extra few inches might help with that....should end up with about 23" of rifling....

Elvis wrote:

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.nz/f53/gess-what-i%60m-doing-43613/ THIS is my barrel being made.

Elvis, still hard to tell this is part of a firearm. Any pictures of the finished product?

not yet.......

chamber cut...twice,we not entirely happy first time as was just a wee smidgin loose.2nd time around she snug without issue or wiggle room,outside being turned soon..... meanwhile I found some sulphur in the back shed and some willow down the creek....now to purchase some salt petre...then we might have some low pressure/low velocity INTERESTING loads to fire LOL.
any one else played with home rolled black powder????

Yep! I played with the black stuff a lot. If you want good black powder you need to grind your charcoal into dust - very fine dust. The same with the saltpetre too. Blend it in a ball mill. Your cleaning drum will work but you need some 3/8 and 1/4 inch ball bearings to do the grinding. You can use water or alcohol to keep it moist but I much prefer the alcohol because it evaporates faster and doesn't affect the burn rate. Water at the wrong time will make it burn faster than it should after it dries out. Once it has gone through the ball mill pull it out and spoon it onto your screen. Work it through the screen with the plastic or rubber spoon and collect it on brown paper. When it is dry you can screen it for size and test a small sample.

Don't make a lot at one time. It is best to have small amounts go off that it is to have a big batch go off.
Weigh everything as carefully as you can. You can adjust the charcoal and saltpetre amounts a bit to change the burn rate but the sulphur is best left alone. Its only job is to make the powder easier to ignite.

For my use, (rocket fuel) I found that 74%saltpetre, 16% charcoal and 10% sulphur was best. If I raised the saltpetre it burned hotter but slower and burned out nozzles. With explosives it is usually better to have more fuel with the oxidizer as it assures a better burn with more energy and less heat.

thanks for that Paul.....will be slowly slowly catchy monkey on this one.

Sounds awesome Elvis. I'll be looking forward to seeing your results mate.

I don't wanna Jonah ya mate, be very careful when making the black...it can be a bit unforgiving.

Ive heard this......so have looked carefully and seen that doing it "wet" appears to be the way to go. mill components seperately(mill/petistal n mortar/dumbell in bag) then wet the saltpetre and add others to it,apparently its fairly unvolitile while wet so should be fine.

wet the saltpetre...boil it with stale urine is the correct procedure I read!!!!!
my BBQ and fish smoker seems to have made OK charcoal and the 2lb sledgehammer head and a meat dish sems to work ok to grind it into fine powder.....
web.archive.org/web/20...index.html

the link might be of interest to you lot/other like minded wierdos

made up a small batch today.took lots of mixing so will work harder on it before combining next lot. waiting for it to dry before will be able to find out if its ok.
question for you clever chaps

if the powder Ive made is as said and is of high volume for weight,the amount I can fit into case probably wont allow 70 grns to fit so will I in effect have a safe,low pressure,lower velocity black powder load????
Ive read the calvery used a .45/60 load as reduced recoil was better off horseback
I wont know what weight I can fit till it dries but assuming 30-35grns behind a 395 grn projectile......

also along similar lines

if a fella took a primed case (straight walled) and inserted it in a break open rifle or shotgun,closed action on case....could it/would it be feasble to then "muzzle load" it...in effect making a cap lock that was easy to clean and very easy to unload if not used or had malfunction.....
yes Ive got too much time on my hands and the BP bug.

Elvis, keep in mind that you don't want air space between bullet and black powder. I bulged the barrel on a muzzle loader like that once...