Now i tried making a couple of big ass bottle rockets using 3fg black powder. When they went off it was about twice as loud as a gunshot and only propelled the rockets about 10 ft. I then realized that i needed a much finer powder with some engine oil in it. However, the local hicks at the gun shop only had 4fg pyrodex. So i wasn't about to spend another 20 bucks on a can of pyrodex. I tried the 3fg in a mortar and it worked ok but i really wanted bottle rockets. So i was just wondering if a powdered black powder, i heard it was called meal powder, would work in rockets and where i could get it. thanks. P.S - whats a formula for a magnesium based flash powder thats relatively stable?

meal powder isnt real black powder. It has the same chemicals, but they have just benn mixed together. It usually burns up to 3 times as slow as real black powder.

One of the safest(and fastest) is potassium nitrate and magnesium dust(at least 250 mesh) in a 6/4 ratio. Make sure to coat the magnesium powder in linseed oil before mixing the potassium nitrate in it, becuase if you dont, the mixture reacts and can become unstable.

����For rockets you would want black powder with larger grains, since larger grains will burn more slowly. For rockets I would suggest 1fg; generally the coarsest you can buy. Finer powders will be prone to explode.
����Coarse powders will be prone to explode as well, if you have too small of a nozzle or if you leave too much airspace inside the rocket.
����Meal powder will work in rockets. Make sure you pack it in to the point the stuff becomes solid. This will decrease the effective surface area of the burning powder to the point that it will make good fuel for small rockets.

~Zero

Meal powder IS black powder. For a rocket to... NOT explode, the BP needs to be compressed. How to do this is up to you...

Meal powder is black powder just more coarse, coarse grain bp or packed and binded powderd bp will both work the later will work better, also kno3 rockets are usaly good also.

CTR

Meal powder, black powder, gunpowder, grain poder, lift powder are all the same

they all have the same chemicals(except for some, some have binders, but that doesnt really matter). Some are made different ways, so i guess they arent the same, even though they have the same chemicals.

When Black Powder isn't granulated, and is in a super fine powder state (similar to that of Talcum Powder) it is called "Meal Powder".

-U.N.

Of caurse you could stic a fuse in a estes rocket engine and tape that to a dowl, soner or later though I'm going to have to do it the homemade way. Could I just pour some still wet bp into a small pipe and let it mold inside it for an engine?

I doubt it. If you're going to do it "the homemade way" you should consider the KNO3/sugar propellant and Nakka-Rocketry

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Originally posted by Insomniac119:
Of caurse you could stic a fuse in a estes rocket engine and tape that to a dowl, soner or later though I'm going to have to do it the homemade way. Could I just pour some still wet bp into a small pipe and let it mold inside it for an engine?

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why would it be wet what method are you using in making your black powder ? also wouldn't the black powder be prone to shrinking in the the tube when it drys