So I go to load up some 6mm rem wtih 52 grs H-380 and 55gr bullets. When I fill the first case it almost completely fills. It seems odd so I grab another handload and give it a shake, I can hear the powder inside. I pull the bullet and weigh the powder, 52grs. So I empty the first case and fill it with the powder from the second case and there is lots of room. I weigh another charge 52grs and put in the case that I pulled the bullet from and it fills it to the top. I weigh and load another 20 cases and all are almost completely full. Have you ever seen this much variation from one lot of powder to another?
Powder density variation
- Thread starter skhunter
- Start date
Not possible if they're equally compressed.
Any chance you mixed up powders? If so (as you are no doubt thinking) this could be dangerous. So the issue would be deciding what's in each case. The failsafe would be to dump all of it.
Any chance you mixed up powders? If so (as you are no doubt thinking) this could be dangerous. So the issue would be deciding what's in each case. The failsafe would be to dump all of it.
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- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
When in doubt, discard the powder and start again. If you had some H-110 (for example) in the bottom of your powder measure when you started, 52 grs would take up less space than would an equal weight of H-380, and the pressure upon firing would probably take your rifle apart and injure you. If you think that your H-380 was contaminated with another powder, dump it, all of it! Even a thousand dollars worth of powder isn't worth blindness, facial injuries, chopped off fingers, or a wrecked gun.
The powder measure was empty when I started and it was a brand new pound of H-380. The first case that I filled was full and made me suspicious so I pulled a bullet out of a previous reload, same recipe. I have used this recipe for a long time. I weighed the powder from the previous reload and it was 52gr, both charges weigh 52gr but the new powder takes up way more room in the case. I charged 20 cases with the new powder and all are full.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
There might be differences lot to lot in powder manufacture, but what you've observed seems excessive. Have you calibrated your scale against a weight check? Something doesn't seem right to me, so proceed carefully.
Are the grains a different size, shape, or colour?
I know what happened. I went to pull the bullets out of the "problem" loads and when I give them a shake I can hear the powder inside. So I pulled a bullet out of a handload with the "problem" powder and there was plenty of room in the case. I weighed it 52gr, pulled a bullet from old handload same amount of space in case weighed it 52gr. I weighed out a 52gr charge from the "problem" pound of powder dumped it in the case filled to the top, gave it a light tap and powder settled to identical level as the other two loads. I feel better now.
