The first procedure is not preferred due to the great explosion danger presented by the methyl nitrate vapour.

However, the process is usually run at a slightly higher temperature and the mixture is stirred mechanically on an industrial scale instead of with compressed air.

[6] Oxidation of nitromethane using nitrogen dioxide in an inert atmosphere can also yield methyl nitrate.

[11] Gartz shows in a recent work that only methyl nitrate with its production and explosion potential can represent the famous and mysterious "shooting water" from the German Feuerwerkbuch ("fireworks book") of about 1420[12] (the oldest technical text in German language, handwritten in Dresden and later printed in Augsburg).

[13] An extract of the text from the 1420 Feuerwerkbuch is as follows (written in Early New High German): "Wildu mit wasser schyessen // daß du kein pulfer prauch // est vnd sterker und waiter // mit schewst dann als du daß aller // pest pulfer hast das yemann gehab // en mag und ye gemacht wurd so ny // salpeter und distillier den mit wasser // vnd nym oleo benedicto dazu auch … // … vnd zunt sie an mit sinnen das du davon kommen magst … // …mit disem wasser schewst du dreytousent schrit weit … // … es ist gar köstlich…"Translated: "Do you want to shoot with water // so that you don't need powder // and stronger and further // you shoot than the very // best powder somebody might have had ever // and was made ever // so take salpetre and distill it with water // and also take oleo benedicto (the oil of Benedicus) // and ignite it with the intention that you may get off ... with this water you will shoot threethousand foot // it is so delicious"The structure of methyl nitrate has been studied experimentally in the gas phase (combined gas-electron diffraction and microwave spectroscopy, GED/MW) and in the crystalline state (X-ray diffraction, XRD) (see Table 1).