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Testing black powder

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I just got a new (to me) book - "The Big Bang - a History of Explosives" by G. I. Brown 1998. The first 80 or so pages (about 1/3 of the book) are devoted to black powder. Talk of lead (how soft, where to find it, etc) in other posts made me take special notice of a use for lead that I had never heard of - the TRAUZL test. Invented by Isidor Trazul (a manager of Nobel's Austrian factory), the test consists of putting 10 grams of black (or smokeless) powder in a 25mm hole in a 200mm dia lead block & setting the charge off. The power of the powder being tested is measured by the amount of deformity in the lead block. Supposedly the Trauzl test is still used in some countries in lieu of a ballistic pendulum. Who would have thought?
 
Interesting. I don't think it would tell you much in absolute terms but it sure would show the difference from one powder to another. 10 grams of smokeless pistol powder is a hefty charge, by the way. I wouldn't want to stand too close to the testing station.
 
10 grams of powder would be equal to 154.3 grains. A 25mm hole is .984 inches in diameter and 200 mm = 7.874 inches.
I wonder if the 25mm hole was sealed off on both ends? Black powder burns much faster when it is confined than it does if it is just poured into a short open hole.
 
10 grams of powder would be equal to 154.3 grains. A 25mm hole is .984 inches in diameter and 200 mm = 7.874 inches.
I wonder if the 25mm hole was sealed off on both ends? Black powder burns much faster when it is confined than it does if it is just poured into a short open hole.

The hole did not go all the way thru (I cannot remember the specific depth) & the excess space above the powder was filled with sand
 
Wasn't there a little flintlock pistol gadget that was used to test powder strength? I seem to recall a picture of one somewhere, just a curiosity, like those 'Duckfoot' type pistols. Was it Navy Arms, or another supplier? Many decades ago, if I recall. Tinhorn
 
Wasn't there a little flintlock pistol gadget that was used to test powder strength? I seem to recall a picture of one somewhere, just a curiosity, like those 'Duckfoot' type pistols. Was it Navy Arms, or another supplier? Many decades ago, if I recall. Tinhorn

There were real testers in period - sort of like a small pistol with a spring, pointer & arc - the further the pointer moved along the arc, the more powerful the powder. Google images for "eprouvette" to see what they looked like.
 
Interesting.

Sounds something like the LUP (Lead Unit of Pressure) method used to measure chamber pressures in shotguns and pistols, which involved crushing a lead cylinder.

Sounds logical and may even have been the origination of the above.
 
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