Nate Kiowa Jones #6765 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 One of the reasons you don't readily find black powder in your average gun shop is because folks that sell it are required to have a special license from the Feds. Along with acquiring this license you have to have approved storage. black powder subject to regulation under Federal explosives laws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Howdy Again John Boy, thanks for correcting me about the charcoal. Regarding the powder used in 16" naval guns: A number of years ago I visited the USS Massachusetts, anchored in in New Bedford Mass. The Big Mamie has 16" guns, although they are not as long as the guns on the Iowa class ships, and the shells are slightly shorter in length. Still, touring the gun turrets and barbettes was an eye opening experience. A full charge for the Iowa class guns was six 110 pound silk bags of D839 Smokeless propellant. The powder grains were each 2 inches long (5.08 cm), 1 inch in diameter (2.54 cm) and had seven perforations, each 0.060 inches in diameter (0.152 cm) with a web thickness range of 0.193 to 0.197 inches (0.490 to 0.500 cm) between the perforations and the grain diameter. Each bag had a patch sewn onto the rear of the bag containing a Black Powder igniter. The Black Powder ensured the Smokeless propellant ignited properly. A Duplex load, if you will. I seem to recall each igniter contained 12 pounds of Black Powder, but I could be wrong about that. The igniters were usually red in color. This link tells you all you would ever want to know about the 16" guns. There are excellent photographs showing the shells and powder bags, as well as detailing the loading procedures. Very similar to what I saw on the USS Massachusetts. http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 1 hour ago, Nate Kiowa Jones #6765 said: One of the reasons you don't readily find black powder in your average gun shop is because folks that sell it are required to have a special license from the Feds. Along with acquiring this license you have to have approved storage. That is correct. One of the shops in my area used to sell Black Powder. Through an oversight they forgot to renew their license. When confronted with the process they had to go through to reapply for the license, the BATF told them among other things they would have to build a new powder magazine further away from the road. They decided not to renew the license and only sell the subs now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Up until recently, if you bought black powder at Grafs, you had to go into a separate door and talk to a guy in a small office behind glass. He'd do the paperwork and them say he'd have to go get it. He'd be gone a good little bit. Once he said the truck wouldn't start so it was stored some distance from the complex of buildings. Now the retail store keeps some in a storage box behind the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hooker Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Boom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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