Author Topic: "Unglazed Powder"?  (Read 5672 times)

cheyenne

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"Unglazed Powder"?
« on: June 16, 2009, 03:34:23 AM »
Hey guys, found Jack's Powder Keg on the web. He sells Goex, and a brand called
Jack's Battle Powder.  On his price list it says "Jack's Battle Powder (Goex)" and a price delivered for a case that's attractive.

I sent an e-mail asking if this was bulk Goex packaged and the response was "Jacks Powder is 5FA unglazed in a can for reenactors"

Anybody know what this means?  Not sure what 5FA & unglazed mean....would it be good powder for flint locks and general shooting? ???

Offline Mad Monk

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2009, 04:12:05 AM »
Hey guys, found Jack's Powder Keg on the web. He sells Goex, and a brand called
Jack's Battle Powder.  On his price list it says "Jack's Battle Powder (Goex)" and a price delivered for a case that's attractive.

I sent an e-mail asking if this was bulk Goex packaged and the response was "Jacks Powder is 5FA unglazed in a can for reenactors"

Anybody know what this means?  Not sure what 5FA & unglazed mean....would it be good powder for flint locks and general shooting? ???

The 5FA powder is a fireworks powder.  Mu sources in Australia had shot some of it in ml guns.  They tell me that it performs on par with GOEX 3Fg rifle type powder.

It is hard to say what is meant by "unglazed".  GOEX never understood that graphite coatings and glaze are two different things entirely.  A look with a magnifer would answer that.

The real thing with "unglazed" goes back to when they dried powder on cloth covered trays and then ran it through the polishing barrel.  Some was simply packaged after tray drying and not run through the polishing barrel.  Normally you would not see a propellant grade of black powder in the unglazed state when glazing meant a long trip through the polishing barrels.

There was a time in du Pont rifle powder production at Wilmington when the only time they graphite coating rifle powder was when the customer specifically requested it.

E. Ogre

cheyenne

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2009, 04:17:43 AM »
Thanks Monk......not sure about using 'fireworks' powder......wouldn't mind trying some to see if it works well, but not sure about buying 25lbs of it!

Have you had any experience with Goex's Express powder? Is it better than regular Goex?

Offline Mad Monk

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2009, 06:26:51 AM »
Thanks Monk......not sure about using 'fireworks' powder......wouldn't mind trying some to see if it works well, but not sure about buying 25lbs of it!

Have you had any experience with Goex's Express powder? Is it better than regular Goex?

When GOEX was developing the Express Powder they sent samples to me to be tested.  I looked mainly at the particle size of the charcoal to see if the change in processing had the desired effect.

The Express powder is faster than the regular GOEX.  Same raw materials in the same proportions as the regular powder.  Just run in the ball mill longer and then in the wheel mill longer to reduce the ingredient particle size which then speeds up the burn rate.

A goodly number of BP cartridge shooters have used the Express Powder with good results.

If you are shooting patched balls I would lean towards the Swiss.

When GOEX developed the Express they had several bp cartridge shooters look at it.  They told GOEX that it was as good as the Swiss.  So GOEX set the price of the Express right up there with the Swiss.  Or even higher out of some distributors.  But the GOEX Express CANNOT give the moist burning that one will see with the Swiss in a patched ball rifle.  In my .50 Lyman Trade Rifle the Express gave a more manageable fouling.  I shot the Express and regular production on the same day in the same gun.  The regular production powder gave me a tar-like residue on the damp between shot patches.  The fouling from the Express was more soluble in the moisture in the cleaning patch so it was not tar-like.  But even that fouling was not as easy to deal with as with the Swiss and Schuetzen shot on the same day, same gun.

E. Ogre

Offline JCKelly

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2009, 03:06:31 PM »
Doesn't "fireworks powder" mean powder made with some amount of potassium chlorate?
Nasty, hot & corrosive stuff, no?

northmn

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2009, 03:07:49 PM »
One of the things that interests me is the differences in BP.  BP is charcoal, potasium nitrate and sulfer.  Besides grain size why is there much if any difference? There is I know but it is a fairly simple combination.

DP

Offline rallen

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2009, 04:05:51 AM »
I have talked to 'Jack' about the differences in the brand name vrs his reenacting powder. You gentelman are far more knowledgable on powder, but Unglazed, as Goex refers to it, has not been coated with graphite. As he mentions, the powder would be sufficient for reenactors shooting blanks since it is the same stuff as regular Goex. Good for smoke and a bang. The granulations are uneven and includes flakes and shards of uneven sizes. Obviously this is going to cause uneven burn rates and inconsistent pressure, shot for shot.
Ryan

Daryl

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Re: "Unglazed Powder"?
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2009, 06:07:06 PM »
Potassium chlorate is white & when mixed with charcoal and sulfer becomes quite unstable if mixed in a slurry. - dangerous stuff indeed and outlawed in England in 1898, I was told. I had some good experinces with it as a percussion priming mix for the tap-o-caps, but also some bad. It's fowling was very corrosive.