Fine dust is, of course, a totally different aspect than what we normally encounter in ordinary black powder. Dust is a hazard in a flour mill for instance. Rudolf Diesel's first attempts in developing his engines used finely powdered Coal Dust as a fuel source. After an explosion that almost cost him his life, he switched to low grade fuel oil which was more controllable.
Another aspect of black powder is it is not volatile, A good friend of mine came extremely close to losing his life from filling his riding lawn mower with gasoline. The mower had a plastic tank but he was pouring from a steel can & using a steel funnel. Apparently a static charge was built from the pouring & then a spark produced between the can & the funnel. Had he been pouring black powder instead of the volatile gasoline it is EXTREMELY unlikely the spark would have even hit the powder, much less ignite it. I don't mean to imply that one should not use care in handling black powder, but do feel the Warnings concerning static charge explosions have been greatly exaggerated. I do feel that Lyman's motive for the new "Black Powder measure was primarily to create a new market. I do not feel there was anything at all wrong with their old standby, the model 55.
