Black Powder?

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Buggydave

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Chandler
Any BP guys on here? Someone told me that you cannot buy Black Powder anymore? Not Pyrodex, actual BP. Reason I ask, I was looking for something in my safe the other day and realized I have some left over from a BP mortar I used to have. Have some pyrodex also, but more BP. Not sure what I would ever do with it now. I believe it was Graff & Sons FFFg? Does that sound right? I didnt have my glasses on.
 
Visit Thunderbird Cartridge Company, Inc. (TCCI) https://tbirdammo.com/product-category/powder/fuse/

In person, I mean. They don't list the black powder on their website, but they have it. I was there just last week and specifically asked about it. They are one of the only places you can get FFFF flashpan powder for flintlocks. Some of what they have is Pyrodex, and some is actual BP.

Don't try calling. They are waaaaayyyyy too busy right now. I found that out the hard way. They only way I was able to get from them what I needed and learn what was actually in inventory was to pay a visit. The entire time I was there, their phone was ringing off the hook. They were incredibly nice and patient with me despite the crush in orders they are trying to process these days.

They are in Laveen, on Southern, between 67th ave. and 75th ave., right where Southern banks and turns south. The address is on the website.
 
Old guy that owns the place can be a bit odd from what I was told.
Buddy called and was told he could only buy primers in person and would have to buy some other components since the owner didn't want to sell only primers.
So he drove the hour there and when he got there the owner changed his mind and decided he wasn't selling any primers right now. This was Monday.
Maybe a one off in this weird time, but that kinda set me sideways with the place.
Will say the lady who answers the phone is VERY nice.
 
Pscipio03 said:
Old guy that owns the place can be a bit odd from what I was told.
Buddy called and was told he could only buy primers in person and would have to buy some other components since the owner didn't want to sell only primers.
So he drove the hour there and when he got there the owner changed his mind and decided he wasn't selling any primers right now. This was Monday.
Maybe a one off in this weird time, but that kinda set me sideways with the place.
Will say the lady who answers the phone is VERY nice.
Click to expand...
I've bought a lot of "different" stuff from TCCI over the years, mostly surplus powder and whatnot. Never had any kind of issue with buying anything at their facility. It's a business for chrissakes! If they didn't sell him something, he was either an a$$hole or a shady dirtbag. JMHO
 
My wife calls the toothless guy Goober (not to his face of course). A few years ago during one of the panics, they wouldn't sell us primers unless we bought powder too. I've got quite a bit of T680 that I ended up with, that was surplus 1680 and it's great powder. Don't know if they still sell it but it's good stuff.
 
if its FFFg, get one or more of those Colt style open frame cap & ball revolvers and get out and do some shooting! Or find someone (like me!) who loves those C&B guns, but lives on the wrong side of the valley to drive to TCC, and make an offer.
 
The powder came from Thunderbird. A guy I used to work with did alot of re-loading and was going there to get some supplies one day so I had him pick it up while he was there. I wouldnt mind getting a revolver like you say one day so I would want to keep a couple bottles and maybe sell off the rest?
 
deanq said:
Pscipio03 said:
Old guy that owns the place can be a bit odd from what I was told.
Buddy called and was told he could only buy primers in person and would have to buy some other components since the owner didn't want to sell only primers.
So he drove the hour there and when he got there the owner changed his mind and decided he wasn't selling any primers right now. This was Monday.
Maybe a one off in this weird time, but that kinda set me sideways with the place.
Will say the lady who answers the phone is VERY nice.
Click to expand...
I've bought a lot of "different" stuff from TCCI over the years, mostly surplus powder and whatnot. Never had any kind of issue with buying anything at their facility. It's a business for chrissakes! If they didn't sell him something, he was either an a$$hole or a shady dirtbag. JMHO
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say the owner is an A$$hole or shady dirtbag, but I don't know him well, so maybe or maybe not.
 
Real black powder is classified as an explosive and requires permits and storage as such. The substitutes are not legally explosives. Many businesses don't want to mess with the hassles for what amounts to a very niche market anyways.


I know I'll get flamed for this (I always do on muzzleloading forum) but why not use substitutes? I realize flintlocks require real black, but for a percussion gun I see no real benefit to using the real stuff and countless downsides. The alternatives (Triple 7) is my go to burn much cleaner and don't foul up the gun so you can take many more shots without cleaning. Seriously 12 shots of real black and the cylinder on my 1860 army can no longer turn, but using triple 7 I put several hundred no problem and only stop because I ran out of balls or caps. It seems like the only benefit to real black is that some guys like the smell and think it's more authentic. Personally I'd rather take more shots and not be authentic. And how authentic is anyways when I'm shooting a reproduction made in Italy?
 
We used to use Pyrodex in our mortar all the time, and it seemed to work fine. We always wanted to try real BP but could never find it. We would buy Pyro from Sportsmans for like $16lb. When the guy I worked with told me that Thunderbird had real BP we tried calling them and got the attitude alot here are talking about. So when my buddy told me he was going there, I told him to check. He called me from there and said they had it for like $12lb, so I said get me a bunch. I think we used like 2lbs of what I got. Not really much of a noticeable difference over Pyrodex, but we are talking a bowling ball. LOL
 
792mauser said:
Or make the black powder yourself.
Its not hard. Just time consuming.
Click to expand...

Um,...I'm guessing you haven't done that yourself. It is actually quite difficult unless you have the properly pure components. Most components for BP are adulterated and not pure, making it rather difficult these days.
 
I do make it myself.
Its not hard to get.
The kn03 is available for fireworks or some stump removers.
Charcoal you make yourself
Sulphur is cheap online

Been doing it for over 10 years.
Just make a few hundred grams at a time in a H-F rock tumbler and some lead balls.

Then moisten and press into pucks.
Let dry for several days.
Crush and screen to size.
Done.
 
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