fiver
Well-Known Member
Ric beat me to it.
St. Marks is pretty much the ball powder producer for the planet.
here's a little run down.
The United States military replaced black powder during the first decade of the 20th century with smokeless powders formulated from nitrocellulose colloided with ether and alcohol.[2] Large quantities were manufactured for World War I and significant amounts remained unused after the war. Nitrocellulose deteriorates in storage, but military quantities of old smokeless propellant were sometimes reworked into new lots of propellants.[3]
Through the 1920s Dr. Fred Olsen worked at Picatinny Arsenal experimenting with ways to salvage tons of cannon powder manufactured for World War I. Dr. Olsen was employed by Western Cartridge Company in 1929 and developed a process for manufacturing ball propellant by 1933.[4] Reworked powder was dissolved in ethyl acetate containing small quantities of desired stabilizers and other additives. The resultant syrup, combined with water and surfactants, is heated and agitated in a pressurized container until the syrup forms an emulsion of small spherical globules of the desired size. Ethyl acetate distills off as pressure is slowly reduced to leave small spheres of nitrocellulose and additives. The spheres can be subsequently modified by adding nitroglycerin to increase energy, flattening between rollers to a uniform minimum dimension, coating with deterrents to retard ignition, and/or glazing with graphite to improve flow characteristics during blending.[5][6]
This manufacturing process also worked with newly manufactured nitrocellulose. Manufacturing time was reduced from approximately two weeks for extruded propellants to 40 hours for ball propellants.[7] Rate of burning is controlled by deterrent coatings eliminating precision forming and cutting machines required for surface area control of extruded propellants.[8] Safety was improved by performing most of the manufacturing process in water.[9] Olin subsidiaries began manufacturing ball powder specification WC846 for .303 British ammunition during World War II. Hodgdon Powder Company salvaged 80 tons of WC846 propellant from disassembled .303 British military rifle cartridges in 1949 and sold the propellant to handloading civilians as BL type C. The C was to indicate the propellant burned "cooler" than traditional Improved Military Rifle propellants. Olin continued manufacturing WC846 for both civilian ammunition and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges[10] after the war.[11] Manufacturing operations moved in 1969 from East Alton, Illinois, to the St. Marks Powder plant in Crawfordville, Florida.[12]
St. Marks is pretty much the ball powder producer for the planet.
here's a little run down.
The United States military replaced black powder during the first decade of the 20th century with smokeless powders formulated from nitrocellulose colloided with ether and alcohol.[2] Large quantities were manufactured for World War I and significant amounts remained unused after the war. Nitrocellulose deteriorates in storage, but military quantities of old smokeless propellant were sometimes reworked into new lots of propellants.[3]
Through the 1920s Dr. Fred Olsen worked at Picatinny Arsenal experimenting with ways to salvage tons of cannon powder manufactured for World War I. Dr. Olsen was employed by Western Cartridge Company in 1929 and developed a process for manufacturing ball propellant by 1933.[4] Reworked powder was dissolved in ethyl acetate containing small quantities of desired stabilizers and other additives. The resultant syrup, combined with water and surfactants, is heated and agitated in a pressurized container until the syrup forms an emulsion of small spherical globules of the desired size. Ethyl acetate distills off as pressure is slowly reduced to leave small spheres of nitrocellulose and additives. The spheres can be subsequently modified by adding nitroglycerin to increase energy, flattening between rollers to a uniform minimum dimension, coating with deterrents to retard ignition, and/or glazing with graphite to improve flow characteristics during blending.[5][6]
This manufacturing process also worked with newly manufactured nitrocellulose. Manufacturing time was reduced from approximately two weeks for extruded propellants to 40 hours for ball propellants.[7] Rate of burning is controlled by deterrent coatings eliminating precision forming and cutting machines required for surface area control of extruded propellants.[8] Safety was improved by performing most of the manufacturing process in water.[9] Olin subsidiaries began manufacturing ball powder specification WC846 for .303 British ammunition during World War II. Hodgdon Powder Company salvaged 80 tons of WC846 propellant from disassembled .303 British military rifle cartridges in 1949 and sold the propellant to handloading civilians as BL type C. The C was to indicate the propellant burned "cooler" than traditional Improved Military Rifle propellants. Olin continued manufacturing WC846 for both civilian ammunition and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges[10] after the war.[11] Manufacturing operations moved in 1969 from East Alton, Illinois, to the St. Marks Powder plant in Crawfordville, Florida.[12]
