When my dad was a kid he split logs by drilling a hole in the end with a brace and bit, pouring in a little shotgun black powder, inserting a fuse and tamping it with clay. He didn't get to do that much of course, as it was too expensive, but it worked well. He was out blasting stumps with both black powder and dynamite when he was about 9 years old. People were much more reasonable about things like explosives and guns back then. (He was born in 1911, in Alabama.)
Posts: 1325 | Location: Bristol, Tennessee, USA | Registered: 24 December 2003
I test all my new loads with my 2 foot basement log (hickory) before going to the field/range/dump/river. I don't care about boolit performance per se, but I am looking for the powder/primer speed characteristics in that case-size/bullet-weight circumstance. I measure fired case diameters to get an idea on how this "new" combo is working in terms of pressure consistentancy. ... felix
Posts: 477 | Location: fort smith ar | Registered: 17 September 2002
I once watched an elderly gentleman split a stump about 3 ways w/ BP. He bored a rather large, deep hole in the stump with a brace and bit , filled it with BP, fused it and sealed the hole w/ a homemade wood plug. He carved a notch in the side of the plug to allow for the fuse and tamped it in with a hammer. I was amazed at the results!
Posts: 234 | Location: 40 miles east of Dallas | Registered: 21 December 2002