Gunpowder



Powder1

    There have been many types of gunpowder throughout history, starting with the classic black powder and ending with the modern smokeless powder, which avoids many of the problems that could occur from using other powders. Some of these problems included fouling up the firearm, burning too quickly and causing an explosion, and hazardous manufacturing requirements.

    It can also be important to know the shape of the powder grain, how it effects combustion, and how easily it can be measured out (or metered).

Flake Powder: Usually used in shotgun rounds, this grain shape can be difficult to predict as it can end up stacking when being measured out and be less uniform in the bullet casing.


Ball Powder:
Most commonly used in automatic firearm rounds, this grain is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and is easy to accurately meter and can settle uniformly in the casing.

Stick Powders:
This cylindrical grain is most popular for rifle rounds but is the most difficult to meter properly. These can also break  while measuring, leading to inconsistencies in the powder.

Multi-perforated Grains: These stick powders are designed with a number of holes going from one end to the other in order to increase the surface area, increasing the speed of combustion. The more perforations the grain has, the larger the grain is. These types of powders are usually used for large caliber ammunition.

Powder
                              Grains
From: https://www.vihtavuori.com/tech-blog-powder-grain-shapes/


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