powder charge

[GAWI]

Is there another way of doing this? I put powder in cloth bags, saw somewhere about using aluminum foil. how does this work. Thanks

[GGaskill]

Check out this thread although it is for large caliber guns.  Not living in the benighted Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I dispense with the plastic bag myself.

[Preacher_of_Boom]

O, Yeah! I've got to read that one tonight--after church services of course.   

[Rickk]

I live in Mass, so I use the plastic bag.

It's not that much of a hastle. In fact, it does keep my workbench cleaner. I can fill up a whole bunch of bags, clean any stray powder out of the area, and then put them in foil without worrying about picking up stray powder on the outside of the bag.

I use a small plastic (nylon?) bottle as a form for the aluminum foil.

I usually use a couple 1/8 inch thick, backing soda saturater (fireproof) corrogated cardboard over-powder wads to make the cartrige longer. If it is not longer than the bore diameter it may not go in straight and you have a hastle getting reliable ignition. I color code the end with cardboard in it with spray paint.

If I am shooting live charges rather than blanks the foil charges are so short that I would need 20 pieces of cardboard to get it to go in straight. Instead I tape the foil bag to the bottom of the ball with a single wrap of masking tape. Since it is a mortar, I then just slide the whole thing in at once... gravity takes care of everything, although I do check it with a U-Shapped rammer to make sure it got to the bottom... it always does, but I check it anyway.

[Artilleryman]

GAWI, One of the dangers orginally in using a cloth powder bag is that smoldering fibers can get into the vent.  This is why it they used a thumbstall to help kill the smoldering fibers while sponging the bore.  Today the best practice is to use an aluminum foil bag which is relatively easy to retrieve with the worm, clearing the vent and using a thumbstall doing the sponging  and loading process of a field piece.

[gary michie]

We put our powder in a sandwich bag, then roll it into a ball using 4 pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil; each one large enough for the corners to overlap each other fully on the other side of the ball and then placing the lapped corners in the center of the next aluminum  sheet sealing off the first corners.  Doing it this way, you have a fully sealed ball; then roll the ball on a hard surface until the ball becomes very hard.
Gary