Paintballislife

out of curiostiy, whats the ratio or difference between grain and gram?

OK couple things ive been meaning to ask, First of all, could i use a rock tumbler like this for mixing? http://www.harborfre...temnumber=90979

Also, would it be ill advised to use potassium chlorate in a gun powder mix? What are some good books for a newbie to read?

After i make a batch of fuel or powder that requires dextrin, can i add that will i am melting them, or do i let the main ingredients cool, then add water and dextrin to it?

Is it best if all these composistions are melted, if not which ones should not be melted together.

Ok after i made an appernt ass outta myself, i was wondering if anyone could help me out where i went wrong. I cooked it for a good 5 minute at least or until i felt everyhitng was mixed well, probally bout 7-10, poured it into two stoneware dishes and baked it for almost an houir if not more, i checked it at 30 minutes, still too soft and left a residue, 40 minutes, ditto. About 50 minutes it started turning carmely and began hardeing up after cooled, but not quite there, after about an hour most of the batch had turned orangish caramel, but after i let it cool it was just flaky and not putty like i saw. It packs well, but not well enough to make life easier, has a nice kick to it though.

i tried out that Recrystalization process, didnt come out as well as i hoped, i can pack it, but its not doughy, i think i didnt melt it enough even though i could see anyhting left in the pan, it took almost an hour to get it that carmel brown to where it was hard enough to pack without leavin a residue on me, obviousley it worked. Story goes as follows:

Im a welder and we have stainless tubing about 3/64 thick, very tough stuff, welded a washer to one end and a pipe plug to the other, the tube is about 3/8 OD, so i got the KNO3 propellant ready and started packin, just by hand wanted to see what it owuld do underpressure, seemed to burn about 1 inch per second maybe a little faster. SO i packed for half an hour with a combo of a phillips head and a dowel, unfortunatly the dowel was to big and owuld only go so far, hoping that it would pack the stuff down further. Ended up packin from the burnhole using small grains and a screw that fit through 12# 32 to be exact, so i got it packed as tight as i could, wait BP isnt dry, ok improvise. Made a small trail of mixture near the hole, lit it and took off, now i admit this was stupid, but i was pretty safe on how i had this set up. My mom has these 6" raised beds on 4x4's, i buried that tube up to about an inch from the head, and well below 3 inchs from the top of the wood, in the corner facing me, i had been testing this stuff all night and knew how long i would have. Lit it the match, left the match on top, in turn that lit the half assed fuse i had made, it went off and sounded really good for about a second, then BOOM! im goin, oh s**t it blew up, am i hit, and just walked up to the house to grab a light came back, and i couldnt find it.. im looking around for pieces, nothing then i notice this hole, going staight down at a slight angle.... i dug about a foot down and found the head! I assume that i had air in there and the exaust hole wasnt big enough, i wonder how high that would have gone if i had put that on something.. from now on im making a electronic fuse, or waiting until my cannon fuse comes in and using plenty of it.. i know it was stupid but i would like to hear what u think happen, im suprised it didnt cato, must be a good welder. lol.