Blackpowder poop...

[Victor3]

 I finally found some Duco locally and was pleasantly surprised to find that it now comes in a handy bottle rather than a tube. 



 I mixed some ~50-50 with acetone in a shot glass to experiment with my split up bamboo chopstick to make some stick-quills. They work good, and you can split them into whatever thickness/length required...



 This one is from dipping, rolling and drying three times, with a final 'sealing' dip. I wanted to see how durable it was with a lot of powder on it. Turned out to be very sturdy...



 When I was done playing with my pixi-stix I thought what the hey, let's see what happens if I dump the remaining powder into the rest of the solution, scoop it out and let it harden. I've invented the blackpowder cow pie (patent pending) 



 It's pretty hard stuff. I broke it up and lit small pieces to compare how it burns with similar size piles of powder. Seems to burn about the same, and the chunks leave less residue on concrete than a pile does (possibly because much of it is suspended above the concrete).

 Anyway, I'm thinking it might be possible to make up "caseless cartriges" for cannons using a simple teflon mould (?)

[BoomLover]

"Caseless Cartriges"...what a concept! Since you are the inventer of this idea, you be the first to try it and let us all know, with pictures! Sounds great, wonder if there is a reason it hasn't been done before? Would a vent pick break it up too much, when installing a fuse or quill, or would you fire it with another method? BoomLover

[Evil Dog]

Duco can usually be found at Wally World for 97 cents a tube.  Works great for fletching arrows too !!!

[Cannoneer]

"Caseless Cartriges"...what a concept! Since you are the inventer of this idea, you be the first to try it and let us all know, with pictures! Sounds great, wonder if there is a reason it hasn't been done before? Would a vent pick break it up too much, when installing a fuse or quill, or would you fire it with another method? BoomLover

BoomLover, I want to assure you that the following comments are in no way meant to belittle the apparently ceaseless creativity of Victor's imagination , but in this one instance I think that G. Dean Barrett of Hodgdon Powder Co. may have beat him to the punch when he was granted a patent for his invention of formed solid Pyrodex pellets in 1996, and if someone were to really split hairs about it, I guess Thomas Jackson Rodman should be given credit for inventing (around 150 years ago) large formed hexagonal cakes of black powder that were perforated with longitudnal holes, that he named "prismatic black powder", and which was intended to be used as the propellant in large bore cannons.

[Double D]

What does just one Duco dip and powder roll look like.  This is where we want less to be better.

[Victor3]

"Caseless Cartriges"...what a concept! Since you are the inventer of this idea, you be the first to try it and let us all know, with pictures! Sounds great, wonder if there is a reason it hasn't been done before? Would a vent pick break it up too much, when installing a fuse or quill, or would you fire it with another method? BoomLover

 I think that G. Dean Barrett of Hodgdon Powder Co. may have beat him to the punch when he was granted a patent for his invention of formed solid Pyrodex pellets...

 'Scuse me Boom J, but I was rather enjoying the ill-gotten 15 minutes of fame bestowed upon me by BoomLover before you came along. 

 You (party pooper though you may be  ) are of course correct. There have been a few caseless cartrige patents. I have Daisy VL rifle that uses smokeless caseless ammo. Interesting concept...





 I'm going to try to form a few similar integral bullet/charge assemblies using my custom 12 ga slug. Should be interesting. No worming required. 

[Victor3]

Would a vent pick break it up too much, when installing a fuse or quill, or would you fire it with another method?

 BL,

 I don't think it would matter if the charge is fragmented after it's seated. The idea (I'm thinking) is to have something convenient to package, transport and load with the added benefit of being able to skip the worming step.

 Practically speaking, it would probably be more hassle to make a caseless cartrige than to just use traditional methods.

[BoomLover]

Thanks to all for the enlightenment! This forum is a never ending source of great info, and I appreciate all the input from all concerned! Thanks for the postings! Not just this subject, but the whole enchilada! (A bit of Spanish lingo there, as Rush would say!) Hey, maybe if the Duco makes the BP waterproof, you could still create a first by inventing caseless cartriges for underwater cannons! And, if it does make your powder waterproof, could expand this hobby to rainy days, too! Wouldn't have to worry about "Keeping your powder dry!" BoomLover

[Victor3]

What does just one Duco dip and powder roll look like.  This is where we want less to be better.

 DD,

 Sorry, I should have taken pics of all my samples. One dip-n-roll with an additional sealing dip gave a thin, uniform, solidified coating of powder. I tested the durability by pinching and dragging my thumb and forefinger along it, and only a few grains fell off. It lit easily and burned fast.

[Double D]

Victor,

I ask because a single dip might fit the samller vents, were multiple dip might not.