The term "white powder"

[Dave]

Not long ago I was a the gun club amazing everyone with feats of shooting skill.......OK, I was just messing around. I was admiring a high wall an old guy had along with some other nice stuff. He and his buddy were having a big time. He asked me it I wanted to shoot his gun and I said I did.

Then he said "Black or white powder?" I was confused until he explained he had black and smokeless loads for the gun loaded up. I chose black since it makes the most smoke and is cooler.

I am not a big black powder guy so maybe I am not up on the lingo, but I know a lot of gun lingo and I had never heard anyone say "white powder" meaning "smokeless" before.

Is that a term you all hear very often?

[Ray Newman]

Yes, I heard it spoken and seen written. From what I've read in older shooting publications, "White Powder" it is late 19th/early 20th century term to specifically mean smokeless/nitro powder.

Same thing with "patched" bullets, which originally meant paper patched bullets. When the jacketed bullet was first introduced, it was very often referred to as "Full Metal Patched".

Same with "center fire". Winchester originally labeled many of its rounds "Central Fire".

[Les Staley]

I had an old single barrel break action 12 ga shotgun when I was a pup that was named "White Powder Wonder".. Les

[Chuck 100 yd]

I think that is what you put in your boots to get rid of odor.

[Cliff]

A lot of the early smokeless powders were whitish in color as they didn't have some of the stuff that is now put into them. ATB

[Gun Smith]

Smokeless powder is not black. The black covering was/is graphite, I believe, used to allow the powder to flow more freely for loading.
The old British Cordite was yellowish and was in long strands.

[Ray Newman]

Cliff: you made me think and I know that's dangerous.

Didn't the old DuPont market a smokeless/semi-smokeless shotgun powder that many BP shooters loaded on a bulk basis as a substitute for BP? It was a white coloured powder and very fine. van't recall the name....