8 replies to this topic

[Merlinator]

Has anyone tried it?

For the dry mix, you use 7.5 parts KNO3 and 2 parts charcoal.

I've read that it burns much quicker and would be good for fuse-making.

I've also read that it is better and that it is worse.

[alany]

It doesn't release as much volume of gas per mass as normal BP. The sulfur is important in BP to prevent Potassium Carbonate formation, it also assists in ignition by forming a low melting point liquid phase.

Sulfurless BP is helpful for fuses or blackmatch that needs to be compatible with chlorates.

In my experence it burns too slow and it too hard to ignite for my liking. Prepare some and try it, it doesn't have that sulfur smell. I normally use 8:3 or 7:2, it depends on the quality of your charcoal.

[Merlinator]

I was thinking of using it for fuse.

I've got charcoal from art supplies.

[Phoenix]

I've tried (birefly) to make cracker fuse from sulphurless BP, and it failed pretty badly. IIRC, it was just ground in a pestle and mortar. The milled, pressed and corned sulphurless BP I have used (70:30) burnt at about the same speed as normal BP, but more was required due to te smaller volume of gas it produces, and it was indeed harder to light.

I'm sure you'll find sulphur if you shop around in garden centres. Almost all the garden centres near me sell it. It's availabe in boxes as a soil acidifier, or in metal tins as a "sulphur candle" for fumigating greenhouses (and generally around 98% pure, which is fine). Otherwise you could buy it online from several places, though some of them (such as many eBay sellers) will charge a lot more than it's actually worth.

[adamw]

I have used sulphurless powder in a black powder pistol versus normal BP of the same grade and the sulphurless type seemed a lot more powerful.

[Sprengman]

I think that sulphurless Blackpowder is only useful in Guns. The problem with the sulphur are the agressive salts built from the reaction with carbon and the kaliumnitrate.

But for other usings, it isn?t good to use sulphurless blackpowder because the ignition temperature is many times higher than the standart BP.

[paul]

I think it works only better in guns. I made many batches of CIA-bp and this stuff was always better than sulphurless blackpowder made with the CIA method. (Used different charcoals too...) I think, to get it more powerfull, the confinement has to be way better.

As a lift composition I had to use more of it. But for fuses a 7/3 ratio works well.

Edited by paul, 31 December 2004 - 09:18 AM.

[BlackSky]

As I heared that Sulferless BP is used in guns to give the guns a long life.
When using normal BP , the sulfer reacts with a steel of the gun which reduces the life of the gun. The reaction of the sulfer cannot be noticed but by using normal BP for along time this will expand the hollow of the gun.

Edited by BlackSky, 31 December 2004 - 11:45 PM.

[BlackSky]

One more thing about the difference between them is that the normal BP (With sulfer) has 1500 psi while the sulferless has only 500 psi.