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For example, because Pyrodex, a common black powder substitute, is less dense than black powder, a measurement by weight on a scale of 60 grains of mass of Pyrodex would be near a 30 percent overload. Volume equivalence is a benefit in loading muzzleloading firearms, traditionally loaded using volumetric measures.
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance [not verified in body].
Finnish smokeless powder. Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formulation and the smokeless propellant which replaced it are commonly described as gunpowder.
For a commercial use, potassium perchlorate is mixed 50/50 with potassium nitrate to fabricate Pyrodex, a black powder substitute, and when not compressed within a muzzle loading firearm or in a cartridge, burns at a sufficiently slow rate to prevent it from being categorized with the black powder as a "low explosive", and to demote it as ...
Black powder produces gas at a predictable rate unaffected by pressure, while the gas production rate of smokeless powder increases with increasing pressure. [6] The possibility of runaway pressures caused smokeless powder to destroy many firearms designed for black powder and required much more precise measurement of propellant charges.
The term black powder was coined in the late 19th century, primarily in the United States, to distinguish prior gunpowder formulations from the new smokeless powders and semi-smokeless powders. Semi-smokeless powders featured bulk volume properties that approximated black powder, but had significantly reduced amounts of smoke and combustion ...
[3] [4] Higher velocities may be obtained using special cartridges drilled out to accept shotgun primers, which provide higher velocities, and some fast draw competitions allow the use of a small amount of black powder or black powder substitute to provide higher velocities for certain events. Commercially produced wax bullets are also ...
Black powder substitute: A firearm propellant that is designed to reproduce the burning rate and propellant properties of black powder (making it safe for use in black-powder firearms), while providing advantages in one or more areas such as reduced smoke, reduced corrosion, reduced cost, or decreased sensitivity to unintentional ignition.