W.W. Greener's "The Gun and it's Development" covers most of the early smokeless loads and powders, from King's Semi-Smokeless to Shultze, Scheutzen and others.
: I've wondered the same thing, 9.3, but has something to do with cost of mfg. compared to return, of course. BP has certain properties the military needs, as in being a good primer for the super-slow, powerful powders used in cannon, etc. Nitrocellulose lacks the easy-start, I guess and since BP is cheaper to make, that's what they do. All theory on my part.
; Interesting stuff, Martin. Do you use BP as a kicker?
; The Pyrodex pellets have a Bp skin on one end just for that purpose. Even with that, the inlines do give some trouble igniting that stuff, which is more of a nitro than black. It's fouling, although minor in amount, is also corrosive.
; What's the chemical compositon of your friend's powder's fouling, as it changes with combustion.