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Be careful with Black Powder...You never know!

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Static electricity and nylon clothing are the worst enemy when carrying or using black powder .
Feltwad
Have you ever been burned by a static electric spark? Shocked yes, burned no. There is not enough heat generated from static electricity to ignite powder. The duration of the spark is extremely short.
 
Please stop spreading myths ... the tests conducted here conclude that static electricity cannot cause black powdah to ignite ...

View attachment 273185

View attachment 273186

https://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/sparks/sparks.html
What ever you photos show static electricity and nylon clothing can cause black powder to ignite for which I have personally experienced and also a friend who was badly burnt. I do not spread myths I know what I am talking about and seen
Feltwad
 
Ever think that it was..............................................................................attempted murder? Captain John Smith then President of the settlement, had an altercation with some of the settlers who then wanted to build a new fort down river due to chaos within the settlement with several ringleaders who wanted to destroy or charge Smith with a range of offenses including refusal to recognize the authority of the forts designated council. Smith suffering with the pain of his wounds, ultimately submitted his office as President to Percy who contrasted "sharply" with Smiths leadership. Smith then returned to England. If you read pages 226-230 of "Savage Kingdom", that was certainly a very difficult time at Jamestown and provocation toward getting rid of Smith.

Just some thoughts from an old retired Texas Law Enforcement officer who also worked crime scenes.
 
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Aren’t modern powders coated with graphite, specifically to protect them from static electricity? I could be very wrong though…
Even without graphite, it is very difficult to set off black powder with an electrical current.

Here is me trying to set off some home made BP (no graphite) using a taser:

 
This historical tale illustrates how unstable our propellant can be. I always store my powder in a wooden box in the plastric containers it arrives in. On the range, I never keep it in a flask - always either in separate paper cartridges, or plastic 'test tubes' with a set amount in each. Static electricity can be an unexpected but ever present danger.
 
Some time ago I had accidentally spilled some black powder on the floor of my basement. I swept it up but got it mixed with some dirt, so I did not want to put it back into the container it came from.

SO, I decided to try an experiment.

You know all those old movies that show the hero goes onto the powder magazine of the enemy to blow it up? He doesn't have any fuses, so he opens one keg of black powder and pours a trail from the door to the place where all the powder barrels are sitting in a nice pile. You know what happens next — he drops a torch on the trail of powder and as it fizzes and smokes and burns and makes its way to the barrels of powder, he makes his escape before the big BOOM!

So I figured I would have no problem setting off the little bit I had in the dirt in the back yard? I lit one match and dropped it on the pile of powder and moved back quick. My wife was watching , expecting something to happen, as I did. NOPE. I tried it again and again. NOPE. Each time the match burned out and the powder remained. FINALLY, I decided to hold the match just a little bit above the powder so the air between it and the match would heat up with the match. AND — SIZZZZ! It went up just like that and — a column of smoke rose above and it was all gone. It was all over REAL FAST, just as when you shoot your flintlock. Pouring a trail of powder and expecting it to act like a fuse is PURE HOLLYWOOD.

AND it is a little harder to set off black powder than we all think, the conditions have to be just right. But we still need to BE CAREFUL.
 
How many times does this need to be said.....

PROVEN

THROUGH

NUMEROUS

EXPERIMENTS

STATIC

ELECTRICITY

WILL

NOT

SET

OFF

BLACK

POWDER

PROVEN
THROUGH
NUMEROUS
EXAMPLES
THROUGH
HISTORY
STATIC
ELECTRICITY
WAS
THE
NUMBER
ONE
CAUSE
FOR
LAND
BASED
BLACK
POWDER
MAGAZINES

EXPLODING

Guys, you need to be MORE PRECISE in your wording, because, lightning IS a static electric charge. Lightning rods weren't installed on all land based black powder magazines for decoration.

I know what you mean is that the static electric charges experience by most folks in their homes, won't set off modern made black powder, but it's NOT intuitive understanding

LD
 
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