Mixing Potassium Nitrate (Stump Remover) and water for Sharps paper cartridges?

[Tom]

I have been practicing with my Pedersoli Sharps carbine. Within the past few months there has been a greater frequency of partially burned cartridges left in the chamber. I've read that soaking the paper in a mixture of water and potassium nitrate will help the cartridges to burn more completely. My question is: how much water and how much potassium nitrate are mixed together?

Any other helpful tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Ron The Old Reb]

About twenty years ago I thought I would try to make my Sharps cartridges out of a little more durable paper then the cigarette papers I was making them out of. So I tried soaking the cartage papers in Saltpeter ( Potassium Nitrate ). My thinking was the stronger the solution the better they would burn. If my memory serves me right I think I used a heaping tea spoon full in a cup of water. I don't think you can make it to strong. It worked fine but every once in a wile I would still have a little on burnt paper residue in the chamber. To me letting the papers soak in the solution and then hanging them up to dry and then waiting for them to dry was more of a pain in the ass then it was worth . So I went back to making my cartage's out of EZ Wide Double Wide cigarette papers,they always burn up completely.

[RaiderANV]

Curler rolling papers from the beauty supply store burn up just as good if not better then the EZ wind.

If you switch over to Charlie Hahn's tubes you won't have the hassle of paper cartridges and nor worries of burnt paper in chamber.

[Maillemaker]

I experimented with nitrated paper for my Sharps. I think I used an entire container (1 pound) to a gallon of water.

But I found that using 17 pound vellum paper (the lightest that runs through my laser printer) works just as well, and I suspect it is less susceptible to sparks.

My concern with the nitrated paper is that it will instantly and vigorously burn/smolder like a fuse if an ember touches it. So I think the nitrated paper might actually be more vulnerable to a cook-off in the breech than non-nitrated paper, even if the non-nitrated paper is more likely to leave an ember.

The 17 pound recycled vellum blasts to pieces and/or burns up very well without any additional treatment though, so that is what I now use.

Steve

[Hal]

I use the hair curler papers as is out of the box. No nitrating. They burn completely every time in my wife's sharps and almost every time in the Starr.

As for mixing the nitrate with water, I've read you should do it on the stove and mix it in until no more will dissolve, ie, a saturated mixture. I tried this once and left the paper out in the sun to dry, and when it did, the wind blew them away, so I've still not ever tried making nitrated cartridges.

[jonk]

Remember, what we're doing is impregnating the paper with a somewhat flammable chemical. It is in no way proper flash paper. That can be made, but is beyond the ken of the average shooter to do so.

I never cared much for curler papers or cigarette EZ-wide papers for the main charge. For end caps, sure. Reason being two fold. 1. Too flimsy. A little rain, they come apart. 2. You want your bullet as true to the bore as possible. The reason Hahn tubes work well is that they are stiff and orient the bullet pretty true to the bore. A crooked bullet is not good for accuracy.

Not saying some folks don't make these options work, just they never did for me.

I print off a sheet of fairly stiff paper (not construction paper heavy, but a tad heavier than printer paper- something like the cotton base paper that you get for printing resumes) with a pattern set on it. Soak that in the nitrate solution, let dry, then cut. Then roll.

Sometimes I also spray them down with clear varnish to help them shatter a little better.

Another idea I have considered playing with... dissolving some gunpowder in water to make a paste, and soak the papers in that. Wipe off the excess, let dry...

[Tom]

Thank you everyone. I have some ideas to test and try out.

[jonk]

Oh, and as for the ratios of water to nitrate... get a pound of potassium nitrate (spectricide stump killer is easy to find and is about pure potassium nitrate) and dump it in a gallon of boiling water. Dissolve, cool, and you're good to go. I reckon a gallon of it is enough to last most folks a lifetime.

you know you did it right if you light a piece of dried paper and it burns like one of those 4th of July ash snakes. Not with a bright flame, but with a sizzling creeping edge of smoldering flame.

[Carolina Reb]

Back when I was shooting a Sharps regularly, a local pharmacy stocked 8 oz. bottles. It lasted a very long time. Boil a cup of water in the microwave and add a tablespoon or so. Dip the papers while the water is hot and lay them out on a warm cookie sheet. They dry almost instantly. A cup of water will do several boxes of hair curler papers.

Diesel truck shops often have 1 pound bags of straight potassium nitrate. I bought a pound last year on line and it was almost cheaper than the shipping.

[Maillemaker]

You can buy it as stump remover at the local hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot. Just make sure you get the stuff that is Potassium Nitrate - some brands of stump remover do not contain it.

Steve