Medieval gun powder as good as modern!

[Hand of Evil]

Saw this and thought to share...

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/reuters09-10-072017.asp?t=RESCI

MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 10 — Medieval gunners knew a thing or two their modern day counterparts might find surprising, producing gunpowder of equal potency to that in use today, a scientist said on Wednesday.

See link for story...

 

[Wombat]

See, brains didn't get turned off during the Middle Ages!

Nice little article. I'd love to see the background material on the experiment and see if they actually tried to fire one of the "hande gonnes" of the period -- that would be sweet!

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Potency is one thing, but Ye Olde Gunpowder had a nasty habit of being very unstable and exploding at odd times.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Potency is one thing, but Ye Olde Gunpowder had a nasty habit of being very unstable and exploding at odd times.

But did it? Could that not be a myth? I don't think it is a myth but it would be interesting to know.

 

[Henry]

But did it? Could that not be a myth? I don't think it is a myth but it would be interesting to know.

Gunpowder that was not "corned" in its making could be VERY unstable. Corning the gunpowder (using water to form the mixture into clumps and then breaking it into kernels) ensured that (a) it stayed mixed and didn't separate, and (b) dry corned gunpowder is a pretty stable mixture.

Someone more knoledgeable than I about black powder could tell you a LOT more. It could be dangerous to make, but sufficient skill can reduce the risk tremendously.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Of course, one should keep in mind that we don't really use "Gunpowder" much anymore. Modern firearms use smokeless powder, which is not the same thing even if its often called gunpowder. Its designed to burn much cleaner and, as the name suggests, with much less smoke. The only guns using anything approaching real charcoal-saltpeter-sulphur gunpowder are muzzleloading firearms designed for that purpose. Even there, many people use something called pyrodex instead of old fashioned gunpowder. I wonder just how broad their definition of "gunpowder" is when they say medieval gunpowder is as good as modern gunpowder.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Gunpowder that was not "corned" in its making could be VERY unstable. Corning the gunpowder (using water to form the mixture into clumps and then breaking it into kernels) ensured that (a) it stayed mixed and didn't separate, and (b) dry corned gunpowder is a pretty stable mixture.

Someone more knoledgeable than I about black powder could tell you a LOT more. It could be dangerous to make, but sufficient skill can reduce the risk tremendously.

Thanks Henry. Always heard about 'corned gunpowered' (being from the south) but never followed up on it.

 

[LGodamus]

See, brains didn't get turned off during the Middle Ages!

Nice little article. I'd love to see the background material on the experiment and see if they actually tried to fire one of the "hande gonnes" of the period -- that would be sweet!

Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi..of my martial art, Ninpo. Owns the Iga museum of the ninja, which includes a bunch of mideval japanese hande gonnes and handheld cannons , and he has fired them for demonstrations many times...its pretty cool.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Trust me, modern smokeless powder is much to be preffered. The old powder would corrode the barrel if the gun was left loaded. (The sulfer in the powder absorbing moisture from the air and forming sulphurus acid.), caused enough smoke that after an hour or so of battle in a valley you couldn't see more than 10 feet (it could also lead to a condition called 'gunner's lung'). If un-corned (meal) powder would sometimes seperate into layers of sulpher, charcoal, and saltpeter. You really needed to clean your gun after every use (not shot, though that would be nice...) or the gun could be fouled. And it smells like the devil's own fart.

I like using blackpowder, and have used it more than modern powders, but yeah, there is a reason the stuff went away. And as for unstable, you should look at the first replacement for gunpowder, guncotton (or nitrocellulose)... basically cotton soaked in nitroglycerin. Fulminate of mercury weren't exactly safe either.

The Auld Grump and that was the end of the blackpowder smoke, and the turn in the creek at the end of the choke

 

[Thresher]

I used to make my own blackpowder and its pretty horrible compared to modern smokeless in terms of power produed, thats not to say its ineffective, just not as good or could be stored well.
However it is easy to make if you know the measurments and are willing to tinker around refining the potassium nitrate of impurities and grinding the carbon fine enough so that it burns quicker. I also used to add in things like iron filings and ground magnesium as a catalyst and it soon had a nice, quick burn as well as pretty colours
For awhile I also tried making Tri-nitro tolorene, but couldnt really get enough to make anything substantial out of and it was annoying and considerably dangerous... mostly because tolorene tends to vaporise and get all sorts of places you dont want it too.


Thresher's miss-spent youth