Doomsday Self - Defense, Part 1 : Rethinking Black Powder James Rousse; N o vember 1 , 2020 Pretty much an y survivalist will tell you that metropolitan area s are never more than three days away from total chaos if food supplies should ever completely run dry, and most metropolitan areas have very little food stockpiled due to a societal focus on having supplies arriving as needed . Supplied of every type typically arrive in a given urban area only as needed because the practice of Just In Tim e inventorying , or JIT, has become quite popular over the last 50 years. Despite offering the public dangerous supply - chain vulnerabilities, J IT inventory practices have become popular in the business world because they dispense with the need for warehousing. So, basically, if the endless chain of supply planes, trains, boats, and tucks should stop ever running , then total civil disarray will soon follow. Besides the havoc that will inevitably arrive if the supply lines for food and medicine stop working, losing electricity and water pose equally sever e problems The YouTuber named Laurel has done an excellent, and chilling, series of videos that chronicle just how bad a protracted loss of electricity really is for any modern society , so watching this series is highly recommended Indeed , h aving a gun around is a good thing when basic order breaks down an d there is panic in the disco , and this is the case because you can bet that when disaster strikes your local police department will be quite busy working off excess calories from eating all of those rings of frosting - coated fried brea d When civil order has flown the coup, crime and violence are inevitably going to be an even bigger issues than they would be during regular times becau se people without food or water will look to take these things by force from others, and criminals will see a golden opportunity to rape, kidnap, torture, steal, and murder. T hus , when the light s go down the city , the fuzz will be even less l ikely to come to your rescue when trouble comes - a - knocking after the power grid has abandoned its children. T he main problem with firearms that most gun owners will face in the days following the zombie apocalypse is an eventual shortage of ammunition. True, most people that b uy a firearm also have the sense to stock - up on whatever dynamic shooty - bits are the chosen co work ers for their new toy s. A fter all, if a person lacks the particular projectiles that were desi gned to be slung by their fine tool of persuasion, then their appliance of understanding will be reduced to nothing more than a nice wall decoration. Yes, buying ammunition on a sunny day is not overly expensive ; f or example, t he Bass Pro website adverti ses packages stocked with 150 rounds of the 5.56mm variety that are designed for AR - 15 s Boxes of 150 AR - 15 rounds typically sell for around 60 - dollars, so yes, prior to doomsday's arrival, ammo will rema i n cheap. Not only is amm unition still fairly cheap and easy to buy in these days before innocence has been lost , it is also important to remember that cartridges made from brass or nickel - silver alloys can generally be used up to 10 times before the se casings are forced to have a retirement party and move to Florida Conversely, some avid competition shooters have managed to milk as many as 50 reloads out of individual brass pistol cart riges 1 Additionally, standard smokeless powder bullets will avoid wilting for around 100 years — provided they are stored properly. Admittedly, the useful life of a given bullet cartridge depends on many factors : · W ho was the m anufacturer ? · W hat the type of cartridge is being loaded ? · H ow much powder was loaded for each particular casing's previous night s out on the town ? · H ow carefully was a given cartridge reloaded for each of its prior joyrides ? Yes indeed, many ingredients go into the soup when calculating how many times an individual bullet cartridge can be reloaded. So, in light of the low cost , ready availability , and relatively easy re - use of ammunition casings , the situation concerning access to ammunition is likely to be pretty rosy after order breaks down, right? Well, no, not exactly. Yes, i f there is any prolonged breakdown in civil order, then ammunition is lik ely to be readily available for a while, but there are many factors that could limit the long - term availability of ammunition . For one thing, there is no guarantee that bullets that have been in storage will be compatible with whatever gun a person may hav e in their possession at th at moment , and being able to access stored caches of conventional ammunition is not a guarantee if basic societal infrastructure has already br oken down. Yes, bullet cartridges can be reloaded, but there is certainly no guarantee that every spent cartridge will be retrieved after it has completed its marching orders , especially if each n oisy cricket has c o me out to play when there was quit e a lively party happening Although black powder firearms have been common in Europe since the 1380s 2 , after the 1890s 3 s mokeless powder has been the chosen workhorse for driving bullets . Smokeless powder has been the cocktail of choice for jolly social gatherings since the 1890s because this propellant not only produce s less smoke and lea ves less residue inside of a firearm , but smokeless powder also offer s much higher gas pressures after combustion Smokeless powder is also less prone to detonating by kinetic energy, so these types of bullet - driving compounds are safer to store and transp ort, but they are harder to ignite from a blow by a firing pin. Smokeless powder and its higher gas pressures are still favored over black powder to this day because smokeless powder offer s more bang for the buck on a gram - by - gram basis. Despite the perk s offered by smokeless powder, if supplies of ammunition become scarce, then this type of propellant should not be seen as the only option. One solution to the problems attached to conventional firearms is to invest in a supply of firearms that are designe d to function with black powder as their driving mechanism. Trouble in Paradise: Problems with Conventional Smokeless Powder - Problem #1. Making smokeless powder requires a bit of specialized equipment, a list of chemical precursors, and a bit of chemistry savvy. So, basically, it would be hard to cook - up a batch of smokeless powder on a farm, out in the woods, or in a basement if all of the infrastructure we take for granted has gone kaput. For the sake of brevity, we will not walk through the process of making hillbilly gunpowder from manure and charcoal; however, there are many places where good information about making your own gunpowder can be found, s uch as the Foxfire series of books , and many cool YouTube channels. - Problem #2. Cleaning smokeless powder firearms requires a bit more work than cleaning black powder shooters , plus specialized materials are needed to clean smokeless powder residue Indeed, smokeless powder leaves less residue after firing than the older "black powder; " however, when the need for cleaning smokeless powder residue does arrive, the process of removing th ese coating s requires strong solvents and stiff metal brushes. A bit of elbow grease will also be needed to remove the hard but thin layers of chemicals that form the patina s left over after play date s with smokeless - powder - driven weapon s - Problem #3. Reloading smokeless ammunition requires very precise scales and very accurate weighing charts Unlike filling bullet casings with black powder, the high gas pressures associated with smokeless powder make adding even a little too much propellant into a stocking st uffed with this type of Christmas candy a dangerous proposition. Yes, having even a few extra grains of smokeless powder c an lead to damaging and potentially dangerous weapon malfunctions. - Problem # 4 Smokeless powder needs some type of shock - sensiti ve primer charge s to ignite. The fact that smokeless powder is much less reactive to shock makes this propellant considerably safer to store and transport. On the other hand , the fact that smokeless powder is less shock - sensitive means that some amount of highly shock - sensitive material will be needed to turn a strike from a trigger hammer into a projectile that flies out of a gun 's barrel. As listed in a September 4, 2020 article posted on the website bev fitchette.us , t he first ignition caps for cartridge ammunition that did not contain black powder were produced in the 1820's and the se ca rtridges were initially filled with a compound called mercury fulminate. Mercury f ulminate was one of many fulminate compounds discovered at the end of the 18th c entury, and fulminates were immediately recognized as useful chemicals because they were so sensitive to ignition by mechanical energy. Interestingly, fulminate compounds are also used in match heads to make them sensitive to ignition from mechanical frictio n. Mercury fulminate is made by mixing liquid mercury, nitric acid, and ethyl alcohol, and the finished product of this mixing of chemicals is a very reactive white powder. A stabilized mixture of mercury fulminate, potassium chlorate, sulfur, and cha rcoal initially worked quite well as a chemical to ignite black powder cartridge ammunition, and this same compound was later used to ignite smokeless - powder - filled cartridge ammunition; however, mercury fulminate leaves corrosive residue on the inside of a gun 's barrel , and this compound weakens the metal parts of bullet cartridges o ver a period of years Indeed, prett y much every pr imer material in use up to this d ay will make the metal of a bullet car tridge more brittle if t he bullet sits unused for a long time. It turns o ut that a primer charge filled with mercury fulmina te work s quite well for igniting a bullet filled with black powder, but a primer charg e of black pow der will lack the energy needed to produce a reliable detonation for a round filled with smokeless powder, so any time a cartridge is filled with smokeless powder some type of dedicated primer charge filled with che micals ot her tha n b lack powde r will be needed. By the 1870s , a mixture of mercury fulminate, potassium chlorate, glass dust, and gum A rabic served as the standard primer chemical for black powder cartridge ammunition , and this mixture remained the standard primer recipe for military ammunition up until the 1960s Despite being a stable and reliable primer compound for igniting smokeless powder ammunition by a strike from a firing pin , this mixture of mercury fulminate powder and a few other ingredients was still quite corrosive to bullet casings and gun parts. By the 1920s a considerably less corrosive mixture of lead stephanite and barium nitrite was developed , but this primer formula did not become standard in military ammunition until the 1960s. N on - toxic primer compound s based on zinc and titanium were first patented in the 1980s, but they did not become commonly used until the first decade of the 2 1 st century. The basic problem with standard primer charges is that making them require s having access to c hemicals that may not be easy to acquire on a local level. For example, it may not be easy to obtain elemental mercury in a localized area, and it is not easy to create the chemically complex compounds needed to make the most up - to - date recipes for ammunition primers , especially if a group of people that is trying to make th ese compounds h ave limited mineral resou r ces in their local area along wi th a lack of sophisticated equipment and technical exper tise. It is also a very dangerous process to make your own mercury fulminate in - house due the risk of explosion M ercury may not be too dangerous in its liquid form, but it is a very toxic substance when it b inds with other chemicals that allow it to be absorbed by the human body Lastly, lead also transforms into very toxic compound s when mixed with other elements that permit this substance to be absorbed by the human body, so making the mixtures for most primer charges involves working with some pretty nasty chemicals. The image above provides a basic overview of the parts of a typical smokeless powder filled round. Image courtesy of semanticscholar.org The diagram above shows two different ty pes of primer charge cups. Image courtesy of netk.net.au The image above shows the marks that are left when a gun's firing pin strikes a primer charge in a round of ammunition. The round shown on the left is a Rimfire cartridge that received its ignition strike on the side of the cartridge, and the casing at the right shows a center fire cartridge the ignites by having a center - mounted primer charge struck. Image courtesy of out doorlife.com The image above shows places where the primer ignition caps fit into the backs of smokeless powder filled ammunition. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org The image above provides a detailed diagram of the parts of an ammunition primer charg e. Image courtesy of qldgunexchange.com The image above shows standard primer charges for smokeless - powder - filled ammunition packaged for retail sale. Image courtesy of ammoforsale.com The image above shows a piece of primer charge loading equipment called a "primer press" or a "primer seating assembly." The piece of equipment shown above is intended for refilling smokeless ammunition. Image courtesy of fosterproducts.com - Problem # 5 Repressive governments and other enemies of the people are going to look for ways to cut - off any and all access to new supplies of smokeless powder after the genocide train has le ft the station Making smokeless powder is not as easy as making black powder; therefore, cutting - off any and all supplies of smokeless pow der and ammunition is going to be a high priority for the bad guys. So, if supplies of ammunition or smokeless powder can be choked - off, then the group of people on the receiving end of this embargo will be potentially rendered unable to defend themselv es, even if they still have firearms in their possession. Black Lives Matter: The Advantages of Using Black Powder - Advantage #1. Black powder can be made in - house. Black powder can be made on a farm, in a basement, in a box, or with a fox, so there is no need for any fancy equipment, precursor chemicals, or advanced knowledge of chemistry. The fact that black powder can be made with very little physical effort and simple materials means that shutting - off supplies of this material is diffi cult to say the least — unlike smokeless powder. NOTE: Yes, black powder can certainly be made in - house with ingredients that can be found pretty much anywhere, but in order to make saltpeter, which is a key ingredient in any black powder recipe, animal manure must be broken - down by bacteria. The process of bacteria turning manure into saltpeter typically takes months, plus the bacteria need a certain amount of moisture and warmth to do their work, so making saltpeter in not ably cold or dry conditions will not work. The point to remember is that saltpeter cannot be made in an afternoon, or even a month for that matter, and the process of making saltpeter also requires proper environmental conditions, so producing sufficien t amounts of black powder in - house requires a bit of forward thinking. - Advantage #2. Filling bullet cartridges filled with black powder does not require a scale, or any types of measuring instruments Filling bullets with black powder just invol ves filling the cartridges by eye, packing the powder with a wooden stick, then crimping the bullet to the cartridge. - Advantage #3. It is downright hard to overload a bullet ca rtridge with too much black powder. Due to black powder's lower gas pressures, there is a very remote chance that a black - powder - laden bullet casing that was filled with a few too many warm regards will ever lead to an exploding gun barrel , n or any other happenings that would cause harm to the firearm, the shooter, or anyone nearby. By contrast, it is possible to dangerously overload a muzzle - loader or "musket" type of rifle by filling it with way too much black powder and good cheer ; however, muzzle - loaders are likely to only be used as hunting rifles or perhaps occasionally used as the odd sniper rifle in the event that order has broken down 4 - Advantage # 4 Black - powder - filled cartridge ammunition does not need to have a primer charge filled with different chemicals to ignite by percussion Yes indeed, black powder cartridges can contain nothing but black powder and still fire quite reliabl y when struck by a firing pin or firing hammer. The trick to making a black power primer charge work reliably is to have the small primer cartridge that is filled with a very finely ground mixture of black powder that will ignite easily when struck. Remember, one of the main reasons that smokeless powder eventually replaced black powder was because black powder is more reactive to concus sive force, thus black powder is more dangerous to either move or store. It turns out that primer charges which are filled with a proper mixture of very finely ground black powder will ignite the main charge of black po wder within a cartridge that is made from t he same chemicals even more reliably than modern primer compounds 5 So , this begs the question : If black po wder can function as a reliable primer in its own right, then why were mercury fulminate primer charges used before the mass switch to smokeless powder in the 1890s? The ans wer to that question is t hat it was cheaper and faster to just produce large quantit ies of mercury fulminate and then it was to produce the finely ground and high - qu ality grade of b lack powder that is suitable for use as a primer material The fact that black powder can serve as its own primer means that functional and reliable cartridge ammunition can easily be made at the local level. There are many ways to make fine ly ground black powder mixtures that will work as primer material ; for example, a tumbling wheel filled with smooth rocks will produce a suitably fine grade of primer - quality black powder after a sufficient amount of time turning around and around in the rock polishing tumbling wheel has passed As men tioned in W ikipedia .org , w ater - wheel - powered ball mi lls filled with brass, stone, and clay tumblers hav e been used to make fine powders for paints and plas ters since Roman times , and in more recent t imes ball mi lls hav e been powered by steam and electrical engines , but effecti ve ball mills suitable for making fine black powder can be made on a local level. Brass balls of varying size s are also used to fill ball mills that are suitable for making very fine grades of black powder, but in order to obtain the correct sizing for black powder grains, the circumference of the mill must be calculated along with the size of the balls, and then the time needed for grinding the powder must be calculated. Form ulas for calculating the needed size for the tumbler and the corresponding size of the grinding balls ca n be found in several firew or k s industry publications. Fine metal screen s are also available through the fireworks industry that determine the correct grain size for different grades of black powder. A proper cartridge that is filled with nothing but different grades of black powder will still feature an ignition cap complete with an anvil because the mechanical parts in an ignition cap will help the black powder pr imer ignite much more reliably. Indeed, whether black powder is used as the primer materi al or not, having a n ignition cap with an anvil in side will greatly increase the relia bility of detonation for a bullet. The image a bove show s the inner parts of a n i gnition cap. Imag e courtesy of bevfitchett .us The image above shows the basics of a bullet casing with a primer charge. Image courtesy of quora.com The image ab ove show s different grades of black powder go ing from the very co u rse at left to the very finely ground on the rig ht . This image is supplied courtesy of pyrodata .com It turns - out that there is a fairly large and international community of pyrotech nics enth usiasts who know a lot about making old - fashio n ed b lack powder in different grades in small workshops , and this is the case because b lack po w der is still a key - ingredi en t s in pyro technics, even if it is not used to bla st rocks or move bullets like it was in the pa s t. Pyrotechnics companies and hobbyists refer to different grades of black powder not just by particle size, but also by bur n speed, with the finest powders bu r ning the fastest. The image above shows a n o ld water - wheel - powder e d black powder grinding machine fro m the 18th centur y. Th e piece of old powde r mill equipment seen above now sits on display at the local history museum in Faversha m , England. In the past, m ost b lack powder was ground with the sam e equipment used to grind w heat grai ns in to flour; how ever, making fine - grained black powder suitable to be used as a primer took a lot more time and req u ired a ball mill I mage courtesy of tripadvisor.com The i mage above is included to illustrate the basic working principle of a ball mill. Image court e sy of wi ipedia.org The image above sh o ws a home - made b all mill used to grind very fine b lack pow der that will be used to make pyrotechnic s. Image courtesy of Z a kamo oz a YouTube channel. The image above shows a commercially available ball mill designed to grind fine - grained b l a ck powder. The ball mill seen in this image is designed to be filled with g lass marbles . This inexpensi ve b lack powder grinder is targeted at firework s enth usia s t community. This image comes courtesy of the David Gutierrez YouTube .com channel Pottery supply companies also s ell ball mil ls that are meant for making gl aze powders, but thes e pottery glaze powder making ball mills also work well for m aking fine - grained black powder, provided that the mill and the balls are sized correctly. Image courtesy of clay - planet.com - Advantage # 5 Black powder guns have lower gas pressures; therefore, they produce l ess recoil. At some point, is worth having a short discussion about the actual barrel pressures of black powder guns vis a vi é smokeless - powder - driven firearms The website practicalmachinest.com and other sources mention that black powder actually burns much faster out in the air, but smokeless powder burns much faster inside the barrel of a gun. The big difference between the pressures generated by each type of propellant is the fact that as the pressure inside a gun barrel increases , then a l oad of smokeless powder will burn faster, so inside a confined space like a gun barrel , smokeless powder fill burn much faster. Th e term used to describe smokeless powder's accelerated burning speed under pressure is " progressive burning ." By contrast, black powder continues to burn at exactly the same rate once it has been i gnited , and adding more pressure will not make a load of black powder burn any faster. The average barrel pressure inside a black powder pistol is typically between 10,000 to 16,000 - psi, but it is rare for a cartridge - encased black powder pistol round to exceed 20,000 - psi 6 By contrast, as furnished by a handy chart on closefucusreseaerch.com, the barrel pressures inside of modern smokeless - powder - driven pistol barrels var ies from 14,500 - psi for a .38 S&W round on the low - end, to 65,000 on the high - end for a 454 Casull rou nd H owever, despite their range of barrel pressures, the average smokeless pistol round operates at around 30,000 - psi. So, in conclusion, a black powder - filled - cartridge pistol round typically produces around 1/3 (33%) the barrel pressure of a smokeles s - powder - driven pistol round. Testing of old guns has revealed that both pistols and rifles that fire black powder rounds are built to withstand pressures of around 22,000 — 30,000 - psi ; however, modern reproductions of old black - powder - burning guns are built to withstand 1/3 more barrel pressure than is needed . Y ou could also say that modern black powder guns are designed to handle 33% more internal pressure than their intended black - powder - filled bullets will ever create. In contrast to the lower standard barrel pressures generated by black powder pistols rounds , p retty much all of the old black powder rifle rounds with brass cartridges generated barrel pressures between 18,000 and 30,000 - psi. On the other hand, Close Focus Research lets us know that the barrel pressure of a smokeless - powder - powered rifle round typically v aries from 40,000 to 7 0,000 - psi 7 . For example, a standard 7.62 AK - 47 round top s - out at 45,000 - psi, and an AR - 15 round log s 55,000 - psi of barrel pressure. So, in conclusion, black - powder - driven rifle rounds generally operate at somewhere around half (50%) the barrel pressure of their smokeless - powder - driven comrades. - Advantage # 6 Cleaning the residue from a black powder gun is very fast and easy. Cleaning a black powder gun just requires briefly submerging the weapon in water that is warm , or even very hot, and then allowing the it to dry. Also, adding a bit of soap to a water bath of any temperature will give a black powder gun a decent cleanin g , but a hot water soaking with soap will be the most effective — just make sure to rinse the soapy water off with fresh water after your baby has been given its little bubble bath. Interestingly, as mentioned in the website goejohn.org , during the Am erican Civil War, it was standard practice for sold i ers to pour water from their drinking canteens into their lever - action and revolver - action carbines as well as their revolver pistols if the se weapons ever became inoperable due to powder fouling Surpr isingly, t hese simple drinking canteen - based gun - cleaning regimens from the American Civil War were often performed very rapidly in the heat of battle. The point to remember here is that black powder guns c an be cleaned by just pouring a small amount of cold water down the ir barrel s ; however, using well - greased ammunition eliminates the need for performing these sorts of actions in the heat of battle Luckily, t he presence of generous lubrication residue s that remain after shooting well - greased b ullets do not act u ally make the process of cleaning the se guns too much more difficult No doubt, s hooting many well - lubricated bullets through a black powder gun does leave some greasy film that is filled with powder r esidue , but the cleaning process for th is leftover bullet lubricant is not that difficult. Removing the powder - saturated grease that is left over after shooting a black - powder - burning firearm is not that hard because the non - petroleum - based lubricants used to grease bullets shot from these types of gun s h ave low melting points , so hot water will easily remove residue left by using these traditional bullet lubricants Coatings left over from b ullet lubricants that are made from a combination of bee's wax and animal f ats are easily removed with a little warm water that contains a bit of detergent. - Advantage # 7 Black powder guns lend themselves well to 3D printing. For black powder guns, barrel pressures average around half those of smokeless - powder - burners; therefore, it is much easier to make barrels out of plastics for firearms that have been designed to use black powder as their propellant Many people have created 3D - printed firearms from plastic, and one designer has even succeeded in producing a plastic firearm that is able to survive a huge number of shots from smokeless - powder - laden cartridges without having the barrel break. As mentioned in The Firearms Blog , back in 2015, an American college student studying mechanical engine ering named James Patrick created an all - plastic pistol called the PM522 Washbear . The PM522 Washbear was a milestone in the world of plastic 3D - printed firearms because this device fired 22 - caliber long rounds filled with smokeless powder , and Patrick' s experimental plastic pistol could withstand countless shots from high - pressure smokeless powder bullets without breaking into pieces. 22 - caliber long rounds like the bullets shot from James Patrick's 3D - printed plastic pistol produce around 21,000 psi of barrel pressure, so a 3D - printed all - polymer pistol could easily accommodate typical black powder pistol rounds that produce around 1 2 ,000 psi of barrel pressure. In addition to James Patrick's successful polymer pistol design, an American 3D - prin ting visionary named Cody Wilson developed a 3D - printed polymer pistol called the L u lz Liberator back in 2012. Wilson's design was a ground - breaker because he engineered a polymer gun barrel that could withstand firing eight 3 80 ACP pistol rounds in a row without breaking. 3 80 ACP rounds produce 21 ,000 psi of barrel pressure, so a plastic gun barrel like the one Wilson designed could easily accommodate 1 2 ,000 psi of barrel pressure from a black powder cartridge round. Yes, building wor king and long - lasting 3D - printed firearms from plastics is quite possible if black powder is used as the propellant. That being said, any 3D - printed firearms that are made from plastics would most likely have to be limited to revolvers, Gatling actions, and possibly single - bullet - loading rifles because plastics are just not sturdy enough to lend themselves to making lever - action or pump - action types of guns. Luckily, revolver - action guns can be made into both pistols and rifles, and Gatling guns can be made in many different sizes. Additionally, black powder residue will etch - away at plastics over time, but these same residues etch - away at metal parts as well, so the key to keeping plastic guns that shoot black - powder - propelled ammunition in good wo rking order is to keep the m clean. The image above shows a complet e d James Patrick PM522 Washbear 3D - printed polymer pistol. No tice that the revolver wheel is made entirely from plastic , and this gun design easily accommodates the intense barrel press ures generated from standard smokeless powder rounds. Image courtesy of attackhelicopter.com The image above shows the inner workings of a James Patrick PM522 Washbear 3D - printed polymer pistol Image courtesy of thefirearmsblog.com The photo above shows how one of James Patrick's PM522 Washbear pistols appears when used. Image courtesy of popularscience.com The Disadvantage of Using Black Powder , Plus t he Solutions to t hese Problems ★ Problem # 1 Black powder produces heavy amounts of residue after burning. Fact : When black powder is ignited, only 50% of its mass is turned into propellant gasses. No exact number is agreed upon, but most black powder shooters estimate that around 14 rounds can be fired from a pistol th at shoots black powder - filled - cartridge ammunition before the barrel becomes overly fouled with powder residue. True, many of the old pistols and rifles from back - in - the - day were only able to fire a limited number of shots before needing a trip to the c leaners; none the less, being able to fire 20 shots from brass cartridges was a huge improvement over having to load a rifle from the muzzle in the way that muskets were prepared Solution # 1 The first step to avoid having black powder guns jam from powder residue buildup is to simply use older types of firing mechanisms, e.g. revolver actions, pump - actions, Gatling actions, and bolt actions. Yes, black powder does produce high levels of residue compared to smokeless powder; however, the this is not q uite the problem that it might seem at a glance. True, the residue build - up associated with black powder prohibits this propellant from being used in the common gas - operated blow - back firing mechanisms associated with conventional semi - automatic firearms l ike Glock pistols , but other workable firing mechanisms are available. The second step to avoiding power fouling in a gun that is shooting black powder rounds is to use bullets that have really big grease grooves. Grease grooves were included in old black - powder - driven bullets as a means of increasing velocities and as a way to increase the number of shots that could be taken. Grease grooves are basically just ring - shape d channels on the sides of bullets that are filled with a mixture of bees' wax and some type of animal - based grease, such as lard or bear tallow. As mentioned on geojohn.org's posts about using black powder pistols , any petroleum - based greases are to be completely avoided as bullet lubricants When shooting with black powder, a ny petroleum - based bullet lubricants are to be studiously avoided because they tend to either burn in the barrel of a gun and offer no lubrication value after burning , or petroleum - derived lubricants will turn to sludge in a gun's barrel and freeze - up any further bullets S o , given the problems associated with using any petroleum - based bullet lubricants, using lubricants made from bees' wax and natural lipids such as lanolin from she ep's wool is a must. Most modern smokeless ammunition uses copper jackets or liners made of "Gliding Metal," as a means of decreasing the friction as bullets go out on the playground for recess. 9 Gliding metal is a special mixture of copper and zinc th at is used to coat most modern bullets . Gliding metal are commonly used to coat modern bullets because t he high pressures that are created inside gun barrels when conventional smokeless powder is burned are so high that rounds made from pure lead tend to l eave a lot of left - over residue on gun barrel s as they head out. Conventional smokeless powder cartridges that push bullets made from b are lead are notorious for leaving lead deposits inside gun barrels after shooting sessions are over on top of leaving behind layers of hard smokeless powder residue . So, in light of all the residues left by firing unjacketed lead rounds, cleaning conventional weapons that have been firing these types of rounds is a real chore. Despite their problems, unjacketed le ad rounds are still frequently sold by major bullet manufacturers because they are so much cheaper to produce than full - metal - jacket rounds. U njacketed lead bullets also remain fairly common because these types of rounds are popular with people who make th eir own ammunition.