Black and Smokeless Powders Technologies for Finding Bombs and the Bomb Makers (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix F: Committee Site Visits
Appendix F: Committee Site Visits
Pages 130-146
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From page 130... ...
Simmons, and Judith B Snow, Committee Members A subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powder1 met with Paul Furrier (commercial market manager)
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From page 131... ...
Each step of the manufacturing process is isolated in its own individual building in order to minimize damage and injury in the event of an accident. Smokeless Powder Overview The major ingredients of smokeless powder include NC and nitroglycerin (NG)
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From page 132... ...
Voorhees, Committee Members A subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powder2 visited the production facilities of PRIMEX Technologies, Inc., on March 17, 1998. Tony Gonzalez, director of Research and Development, hosted the visit.
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From page 133... ...
Additional process steps include better defining the spherical grain through solvent removal, impregnation with NO, deterrent coating, and calendar rolling to flatten the spheres to a desired thickness. Rework levels of up to 40 percent, depending on product mix, are reincorporated into the production process at the first step (NC lacquer formation)
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From page 134... ...
The questions to PRIMEX involved product identification and the degree of certainty to which two unburned samples could be distinguished as being of the same type. The burned sample from the exploded device was examined microscopically by three chemists in the Research and Development Analytical Laboratory at PRIMEX.
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From page 135... ...
Simmons, Committee Members On March 18, 1998, a subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powders visited the National Rifle Association (NRA) Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, to learn about the reloading process using smokeless powder and to observe the use of black powder in muzzle-loading rifles.
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From page 136... ...
. Advantages of Reloading Following the subcommittee site visit to the National Rifle Association headquarters, the committee received information from SAAMI and the National Reloading Manufacturers' Association regarding reloading.4 The following points were made regarding the advantages of reloading of smokeless and black powders over purchasing factory-loaded ammunition.
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From page 137... ...
Rowe, and Ronald L Simmons, Committee Members On March 19, 1998, a subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powders visited the National Laboratory Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
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From page 138... ...
Similarly, there is little public statistical information on the production of the various powders, as a means of more easily interpreting results obtained in the forensic examination and relating it to the availability of certain powders. ATF agents acknowledged that information on powder characteristics, variations, and distribution of currently used commercial powders in a statistical database would provide an invaluable reference source for interpreting forensic results.
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From page 139... ...
Simmons, Committee Members On March 19, 1998, a subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powders visited the Explosives and Chemistry Units of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C., to learn more about the forensic process used in bombing incidents.
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From page 140... ...
The FBI displayed a sample entry from its powder database, containing statistical information, a typical analytical spectra, and a photograph of the powder. As with the ATF, FBI investigations of explosive devices containing smokeless or black powder seek to identify the propellant and its source.
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From page 141... ...
Black Powder Manufacturing The first step in the manufacturing process involves intimate mixing of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium (or sodium) nitrate.
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From page 142... ...
Drying during this process produces a black powder with less than 1 percent water content. Black powder produced for pyrotechnics is unglazed.
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From page 143... ...
Gizzi, Per-Anders Persson, and Ronald L Simmons, Committee Members On May 22, 1998, a subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powdery visited the Winchester Ammunition Plant in East Alton, Illinois.
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From page 144... ...
The continuous manufacturing operation plus the rework pattern results in some small percentage of ammunition being shipped without the loading date code that allows tracing to a lot, or group of lots, of propellant that is loaded into that particular ammunition on a particular date. The distribution center receives boxed ammunition from production with the date of loading on the box.
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From page 145... ...
Schneider, and Ronald L Simmons, Committee Members On May 29, 1998, a subcommittee of the Committee on Smokeless and Black Powderii visited the Hodgdon Powder Company in Shawnee Mission, Kansas.
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From page 146... ...
Hodgdon also manufactures and markets a black powder substitute known as Pyrodex, which is claimed to have 30 percent more power than black powder. Pyrodex is loaded by equivalent volume to black powder by using a handheld volumetric measure.
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