Rice black powder

[bluez]

I have got hold of a bucket with Chinese rice black powder. It's rice soaked with black powder. It was meant to be used in fireworks. Is it useful to use in a cannon or mortar? As i understand this is very inexpensive black powder, but are supposed to work.

[jeeper1]

That is used as the bursting charge in mortar (fireworks) shells. I believe the burn rate is too fast for a propellant.

[rampa room artillery]

I have never delt with the stuff, but sounds like to me it is made to only fizzle and burn slow.  not go bang , in simple terms, so i would not load a ball in front of it before i shot a blank to see what it would do. and to be on the safe side for if i am wrong,  use a very light powder charge.

 rick bryan
 n-ssa

[rampa room artillery]

see and this is why i want to buy a black powder testing pistol. so you know the strength of powder before you use it. I think dixie gun works sells one. I just need to suck it up and buy one.

rick

[Cat Whisperer]

Why not build one?
 

[Rickk]

Rice hull BP is an easy way to make BP. It sure does beat all the effort needed to granulate.

I have made it myself, but never used it in a cannon. That is still on my "to-do" list.

I would be afraid to use it behind a ball because it is not all that uniform of a product. I have been tempted to try it in very reduced load blanks to see what happens, but I do have some reservations about trying it.

I am not really sure how "powerful" it is. It might be more powerful than one would initially think by looking at it. The apparently large grain size is deceiving, as all the powder is on the surface and it burns very quickly. It certainly has lots of exposed surface area, and as jeeper says, it's classic use is in pyro burst charges, but not lift charges.

In burst charges you want an absolutely maximum, short duration, very high pressure boom. Unlike a barrel, where there is time for the pressure to build up and be used, in a shell the pressure build up is all over the instant that the shell ruptures.

[subdjoe]

First burn a small pile of it in the open and see what happens.   If that goes well, try it somewhat confined, maybe in a shallow hole in the ground - drive a 1" stake into the ground about an inch deep, fill with powder, add fuse - and see what it does.  Then go to a light blank charge. 

[dan610324]

DONT USE IT

its an extremely fast burning powder

maybe you could use it as blank loads , but in small amounts .
I guess its 60% rice , 35% air and 5% bp by volume .

[Rickk]

Changing subjects a bit, but here is a simple explanation of a simple way to make decent black powder. 

It is messy, and a little bit time consuming, but it does work.

If you shop carefully for materials, you can make it for about a buck a pound (material costs).

It does require a ball mill, which you can either build or buy.

For what it's worth, ball mills need to be located away from stuff that can get hurt, on the remote chance that something goes wrong. A significant barrier between it and stuff you care about is a good thing as well. You want to power it with a long extension cord and plug the ball mill in from the far end of the extension cord.

http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/Black-Powder-Quick-and-Cheap.asp

[BoomLover]

Rickk, went to the website, pretty good info on home manufacture of BP...thanks for posting....BoomLover