How To Make The Absolute BEST Black Powder (For Firearms)

I been watching your videos for awhile. I have come to the conclusion that you are a purist. You started out making powder that was decent. But then your need to improve and improve your powder has blind sided you to the to snobbery side of making black powder. In this video i seen you using metal to break your pucks. OMG how dangerous. What you are doing is making the potential of an accidental explosion more possible. The old stamp mills, pounded powder for hours and the powder was kept damp they still exploded. Then you are using a metal machine with the potential to make sparks to grind the powder. NUTS! You can make really good powder by ball milling the material with different sizes of ball material, i have .451, .495 and .690 lead balls in my mill. To mill properly you need balls of different sizes. The ball mill is home made,. I make the green powder damp and mill it 4 hours. I mill 4 - 8oz batches at a time. I check to make sure it is somewhat slightly damp about ever 1.5 hours of run time. This causes the mix to mix consistently chemically. In my opinion you don't need to do all of what you are doing to make great black powder. You took making black powder from a "hobby kind of thing", to a "do it this way or you suck" kind of a thing. Your turning black powder enthusiast's into snobs over their black powder. No Kudos there. I can't wait until someone who watches your channel gets hurt doing what you are doing. We all know people are not bright, they make mistakes, they are stupid. Wait until the kiddies make your powder and have an accident. Wait until you cant get the chemicals because all the kiddies and stupid fucks have ruined it for us. Keep doing what your doing. SAD.

In less than an hour...........you have explained the craft of antique muzzle loading propellant better than I have discovered in 60 yrs of investigations.........my hat is off to you......and thanks, I thought I knew quite a bit over the decades but have learned in every video.........I don't blow smoke but I feel your efforts in keeping this skill alive deserves special recognition ......you are a true "Green Man"....💥.

I love this channel. Their videos do not suck.

this video will become the bible for the creation of gunpowder

There should be a brass band playing and fireworks going off over this. The best damn "black Powder" video ever, to grace the halls of YouTube. Thanks for your time and dedication to go through all the experimentation, research and testing you've done. And most of all, your willingness to share what you have learned with all of us. Chip

I'm a retired chemical oceanographer. I've found over the years that the distilled water also has lots of contaminants. I had to boil my DI water in order to get pure DI. Good luck.

This is the best video on the subject I’ve ever found.👍 I’m glad to see my suggestion worked for you. Those cheap ,hand cranked “corn crackers” work pretty well for granulating pucks. You can still make chicken feed with it too. Just clean it out well so the eggs don’t explode when they hit the skillet. Handgreneggs! 🙄 The density info is well received and much appreciated.👍 With a cash outlay of around $10 per pound and the opportunity to acquire knowledge that has such dramatic potential , why sit waiting for someone else to provide it for $40 / pound? You could sit waiting until your smoke pole turns into a walking stick or tomato stake! Clean ingredients. Yes. I bought some potassium nitrate , for a good price, that was ,definitely, hinkey. It had a strong chemical smell and the powder was less than acceptable. You need a trustworthy source or the ability to pee and process your own.

Right on the money on all counts! My family has made powder for over 200 years and quality of ingredients, refining of said ingredients, and mill times are paramount. Kudos

Dude, you have my utmost admiration on YouTube… the years of trial and error and discovery, and ending up with a grade A BP propellant that rivals and even surpasses what is general acceptance that Swiss BP is the best commercially available powder. You have come a long way …. I thank you for the entertainment, the publicity of your findings and sharing it to anyone interested. You are an amazing individual that deserves a lot for what you have done, and willingly shared. I appreciate the lack of arrogance, the blunt straight facts without a argumentative attitude. I appreciate everything and thank you for all your sucky videos… every damn one of them. Cheers… Earl.

This guy has brass balls. And so should you.

I want to thank you, sincerely, for taking the effort and the willingness to share your secrets and laying them out in a full length pyrotechnics lecture on making the best powder. When you said "99%" my first thought was "might wanna recrystallize.. oh you do that!" Step by step you explain the full process.. Many will misunderstand because they lack the life skill of actually listening what was said, and instead forming an opinion on facts. I'm meticulous and your presentation was that, so like you said, any misunderstandings are on the viewer's end. My attention span for youtube is shot fires! but your 45 minutes were an information dense breeze. I have an intellectual fetish for complete condensed information, and this was good for me. Immediately chimed in friends to come have a look. Thank you.

My dad owned his own car repair shop for over 40 years. I can totally understand Jakes sarcasm in his videos. Having put time and knowledge into something just to have people whine and complain about information thats free thru some else's time and efforts beacuse you don't like something is about as annoying as watching a college snowflake melt down over freedoms vs their feelings. Like the man said if you don't like his method's don't do it. If you like chewing the blue crayons you don't have to eat the green ones you have choices. Me personally I appreciate his efforts and the experiences Jake is willing to share. Thank you.

Christ I feel like an idiot with this hindsight. First batch I made was with one of those harbor freight rock tumbers. I knew I added too much, excess of 500 grams with little tumbling. It dawned on me how explosive that could’ve been, but the environment was safe enough to warrant a trial run. No accidents, but recognizing the potential for serious harm if a fault occurred. Thank you again for making these videos. It’s a fun sport and a cool hobby. I’m thankful there’s enough wisdom with those with greater experience guiding greenhorns right. Thank you!

Outstanding as always. You have never yet failed to inform, and never once motivated me in the slightest to make my own damned video. Keep up the science. Thank you Sam

EBP: Absolute golden information. Well presented and concise. A masterclass!

Earlier today I pulled a T/C flintlock out of a trash pile on the side of the road, looking foreword to finally putting what I have learned on the channel to use. I have never owned a muzzle loader, and you videos have been giving me the itch to get one. Snagging that rusty Hawken on the way home from class feels like divine providence.

Frankford Arsenal makes a killer 7L tumbler for brass polishing which I use as a mill. Best off the shelf mill option out there that I know of right now. They sell replacement rubber lined barrels separately which would be great for diy mills also.

Thank you. I've done a little black powder hunting years ago but now you have inspired me to get a good flintlock. That just looks fun and relaxing. Time for me to get back to the basics as well as the science behind it. I really do appreciate your style of presentation as well.

LMFAO!!!!! Your sarcasm can not be match 😅😅😅 Love the video..The real teacher in the house!

Your doing God's work here writing the black powder Bible and taking all your disciples along for the ride.. I like to think I speak for everyone when I say thank you for doing this.