World’s Easiest Hand Drill: Gunpowder Friction Fire

Adding a little gunpowder makes friction fire unbelievably easy. In a recent video, I showed that this might allow even a novice to get a fire started with a bow drill if they found themselves in an emergency situation without other means of starting a fire.

Here is the link to that video if you missed it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUVwnHE2eVs

I wanted to see if this would be a feasible technique with the hand drill. The spindle was one that I had gathered the previous day, so this wasn’t a perfect experiment, but it worked well enough that I am confident that this is a viable technique; at least in dry conditions.
Instead of taking the time to make fine curls, I opted to make thicker shavings that might be more representative of what an average lost hunter or hiker might be able to make in an emergency.

Unfortunately, the first ignition wasn’t enough to get the shavings burning, so I had to try a second time to get sustained flames. There was unburned powder in the reservoir after the first attempt

I used the grommets in my kydex sheath to pull the bullets to show that there are probably a ton of options that you could find to accomplish this if you dig around in your pack.

Warning! Handling and disassembling live ammunition is potentially hazardous, so do not attempt this if you are not willing to accept those risks. If you choose to try this, you do so at your own risk and it is important to understand that even a momentary lapse in judgment could result in serious injury or death when handling firearms or ammunition. I recommend wearing both leather gloves, and ballistic rated eye protection if you choose to experiment with this. I used .22 LR for this demonstration because it is very common worldwide and easy to disassemble. Other rounds may require other methods for pulling the bullet, but regardless of the approach, this is the most dangerous stage in the process, so extreme caution is required.

I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of something that they saw me doing; so you don’t feel confident in your understanding of the risk involved, then please refrain from recreating this.

Materials Used:

Spindle: Salmonbery (gathered the previous day)
Hearth: Western Red Cedar
Ammo: 22LR
Knife: Ontario RD7 Bush

Music:

Luca Stricagnoli – The Last of the Mohicans (Guitar)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kbv1OpIpaA

You Blew It!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5RtlpXsl8k