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Thread: Black powder vs. Stun Gun

  1. #1
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    Black powder vs. Stun Gun

    Can static electricity set off black powder? Let's test some non-graphite-coated homemade 3F against a stun gun!



    Steve
    Steve Sheldon
    Commander
    4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
    NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor

  2. #2
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    I've seen similar experiments recently on the web. In my mind, that pretty well blows the theory of static electricity setting off black powder. Of course there will always be the ones who will say that it could still happen under some extraordinary circumstance and that it only has to happen once, and.....yada yada yada. I used my Lee Perfect Powder Measure with plastic hopper for black powder for the first time this past weekend. I'm over that unfounded fear.

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    Ben Nevlezer is offline
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    I've used RCBS and Lyman measures with plastic hoppers for years, literally 100's if not 1000's of pounds of BP. Never had a problem other than rust if not cleaned regularly. Wish they made one with a plastic body as well! My biggest concern has always been keeping my ashtray at least an arms length away... But ofcourse you should always read and heed the directions and warnings.........

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    Lou Lou Lou is online now
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    Loading BP made me quit smoking 40 years ago
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
    Tammany Regt-42nd NYVI

  5. #5
    Ben Nevlezer is offline
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lou Lou Lou View Post
    Loading BP made me quit smoking 40 years ago
    How's that Lou? Did your kids do like my brothers and I did? Add just enough Goex to dad and uncle Daves ashtray to take the hair off their knuckles? Just don't try that trick on mom! Again!!!
    Inquiring minds love entertaining stories like that!

  6. #6
    Lou Lou Lou is online now
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    Nope , found myself loading powder charges with a cigarette in my mouth. Something had to give. Luckily , I quit
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
    Tammany Regt-42nd NYVI

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    Whew! Now I know I can safely carry and use a stun gun on the line with teammates that keep missing without any interference from the Safety!

    Cool experiment. I would have bet money the stuff would have gone off.

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    Mike 'Bootsie' Bodner
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  8. #8
    Kevin Tinny is offline
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    Hello:

    Many thanks for the most helpful, video presentation link.

    Please, none of the following is intended to question posters here.
    All I hope to do is share some history about how things are distorted at high levels.

    The subject of static electricity and black powder has been thrashed over my 60 years in our sport. My first exposure was while working as a machinist for South Bend Replicas, helping make muzzle loading black powder cannon. Around 1969, ammonium nitrate "ditching dynamite to us" in the bed of a pickup truck was used to blow up part of a Wisconsin laboratory doing wartime research.

    That prompted Senate Bill S-1083, that among other things, would have severly impacted legitimate sporting/historical use of black powder via possession limits.
    Like now, the media got the subject ginned-up with a Dick Tracy comic strip that included a bad guy sprinkling black powder on the floor of a facility AND it igniting from static electricity when the cleaning crew swept it.

    As part of the Indiana Sportsmen's Council, several of us went to DC to testify before Sen. Birch Bye, who Chaired the Hearing on the proposed Bill. We listened during the morning presentation to the FBI show and explain a chart about the explosives used in all bombings for the prior twenty years. That chart showed 65% of the bombs were black powder! We were suspicious of the Bureau's chart, and during lunch slipped Sen. Bye a note. He resumed the Hearing and recalled the Special Agent who was still UNDER OATH. Sen. Bye asked the Agent where the Bureau got its figures for black powder involvement. The Agent turned around, looked to the back of the room where another person was seen shaking his head. The Agent then admitted, on the Record, that he had been instructed to classify all bombs not clearly from other explosives as black powder fueled. A groan went through the chamber, and Sen. Bye gave the Agent/Bureau a tongue lashing. The next day there was a signed Presidential Order exempting sporting use from what would have been very narrow possession limits.

    This morning I Googled "Can static electricity ignite black powder?".
    Lots of good info that includes the need for heat, which static electricity does not produce in ample amounts.

    It seems that every few years, this bunk resurfaces.
    It has been a topic in earlier Threads here.
    Thanks and an appreciative smile.

    Very respectfully,
    Kevin Tinny
    Last edited by Kevin Tinny; 02-25-2021 at 11:31 AM.

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    I ran across one video that showed the spark trail actually travelling THROUGH the grains of powder as the carbon conducted the current.

  10. #10
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    Yup, I've followed along the idea of static kicking off BP for years. In particular I was interested in this series of articles about a guy who tried to build an electrically-fired muzzle loader:

    https://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml...lectricml.html

    and

    http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_...ks/sparks.html

    and

    http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_...eignition.html



    And it turns out it is actually somewhat difficult to do. Black powder, particularly graphite-coated black powder is fairly electrically conductive so that there is very little resistance to the current, and thus, little heat.

    I was prompted to revisit this experiment when I started making my own BP a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to satisfy myself that my home-made BP, which is contains no graphite, was still not very much at risk to static discharge. So I bought myself a cheap-o $10 stun gun off of Amazon and repeated the experiments seen in the link above.

    I figured I would share the, ahem, shocking results.

    Steve
    Steve Sheldon
    Commander
    4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
    NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor

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