Black powder issues

[Brady224]

Hello everyone I am a beginner firework enthusiast Im having serious issues with my black powder I need some advice. I started out granulating my black powder made a 10 ounce batch and it worked great. I thought I had it down and made about 4 pounds (bad idea) I ball milled the 4 pounds in separate 10 ounce batches for 7 hours then granulated it all as a big batch. I let it dry in front of a fan for 48 hours. I test this powder by launching a baseball 10% of the balls weight maybe launched it 50 feet instead of 300-400 feet like it did previously. Im a little upset at this point so I thought maybe it needed to dry longer so I regranulate a 10 ounce batch out of the 4 pounds and let this dry for a few days same result. I condemn this black powder and set it aside for waste. I order some rice hulls and try this method. I now only make 10 ounce batches so I made a 10 ounce batch ball mill it for 7 hours and then coat the rice hulls 7-1 bp to rice hulls I follow a method I read somewhere four of the five coatings use dextrin the last don't use dextrin I do this and then let it dry for two days. I test this bp and it works amazing im very happy at this point. I make another 10 ounce batch follow all the same steps and this bp is garbage again very frustrated. I condemn this bp make another 10 ounce batch and same garbage bp. What could I be doing wrong between each batch I am following the same steps same batch of chemicals. If I cant figure this out how is commercial grade bp the fg stuff?

Thanks for the help,

Brady

[Kenny East]

If all chemicals are the same, and your process is the same... And the results are different. Probably environmental, humidity plays a role in how nitrates and other oxidizers break down.

I'd suggest double checking all your measurements, especially if you're using onces... Grams is a lot simpler to use, and gives you a very precise way to measure without having to deal with decimal points.

What kind of kno3 are you using, also what type of charcoal? Lab grade kno3 offers consistently pure kno3, while one can only guess with other sources. Charcoal should be a open pore species of wood, hemp, grapevine... Hope this helps

[Big Mark]

I would check your scales. Make sure your batteries are fresh . Check the batch weight after you have combined every thing. And check it after you have milled it.
I would make a couple of hundred grams batches and screen mix them. To get things moving along faster. 7 hours on the mill is a long time to wait for a test batch. Almost forgot are you granulating your BP.

[Piccaso]

I am guessing it is still wet.

[mike70]

I use potassium nitrate without anti clumping agent , just airfloat charcoal , 99% sulfur . 75,15,10. Mill mine in 300 gram batches for 2.5 hours and it comes out almost as good as goex everytime. I use 5 grams red gum in ahalf quart of denatured alcohol olny using enough to get meal to a putty consistency then dry overnight , granulate my powder , then screen it in 1 fg , And 3 fg sizes. Works perfectly.