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Smokeless Powder: The Chemistry That Rewrote the Rules of War

admin · 2026-03-16T23:03:50.959Z

Long one worth chewing on — smokeless powder history, chemistry, the whole industrial mess. A lot of shooters know the end product but not the chain of events that got us here. The combustion products of smokeless powder are primarily gaseous. Black powder, by comparison, leaves around 55% solid residue — mostly potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, and potassium sulfide — a hygroscopic mess that fouled actions, corroded barrels, and had to be cleaned out after every range session or the g...

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Smokeless Powder: The Chemistry That Rewrote the Rules of War

Smokeless powder is a firearm propellant that replaced black powder as the dominant military and sporting charge beginning in the 1880s. The name is slightly misleading — small arms produce little visible smoke, but artillery firing smokeless propell

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