New Reloader Powder Help

E

edppcli

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GunNutz
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Ottawa
Hi All
I am just getting in to reloading (9mm for now) and stumbled across a great deal on an almost full box (yes box not canister...4lb)) of powder. It was part of a Winchester Primer deal. Primers were in the older white boxes so assumed the powder was of the same vintage (say late '90s). The Powder box has a warning sticker with the Ammomart logo (now Higginson) and the only Powder ID is in ball point pen "WC230" (incidentally the inner bag is also stamped the same). I initially assumed it was an older version of Winchester 231 and was going to load accordingly but am now having second thoughts.
Can anyone clarify...maybe from older reloading manuals?
BTW the previous owner used to reload for a BHP but no longer had any load data so I am pretty confident it is a faster pistol powder.
TIA
Ed
 
:eek:

Things that can explode are poor things to be making assumptions upon. The powder may still be good, but unless you KNOW exactly what it is, and have loading data for that EXACT powder, don't even think about touching it. Be sure, it's your hands, face, eyes and least of all gun, we're talking about here.
 
231 has been around since at least 1987- that's at least 20 years- lord only knows when your lot was made- that's out of the speer 11, which first printed 87=ignition might be shoddy at best,- i just did asearch on this and it dates back to 76 or 77 and is a tad faster burning than 231( which makes sense, if you know ww burning rates)
 
Thanks for the fast replies guys hmmm so according to t-star this powder is 30+ years old....I guess I'm off to the EE to make someone a good deal on some powder....just joking, to the compost pile it goes.
Any favorite loads for a G17 while were at it?
Cheers
and thanks again
Ed
 
I didn't say it was no good or not to use it. Just be sure you know what it is. So long as it doesn't have rust in it, and doesn't smell sour, or like ammonia, it's very likely still good. Proper loading data, is what you need to look for at this point. Just substituting based on assumptions is dangerous, but if you have good data, you're good to go.
 
Place some pic's if you can and more characteristics to really predict it and as long as in doubt PLEASE do yourself a favour , don't use it . Is it's powder , flake , small balls , long sleeves or short or whatever . Atleast something for GOOD
 
RojamB21 said:
Place some pic's if you can and more characteristics to really predict it and as long as in doubt PLEASE do yourself a favour , don't use it . Is it's powder , flake , small balls , long sleeves or short or whatever . Atleast something for GOOD
Click to expand...

+1 Post all you can about it. You'll be surprised, some guy here will see a picture of it, or the box it came in, and he'll say, "Oh, Yeah, that's ###X, I used to use that stuff all the time." This board really is quite a powerful resource sometimes. Figure that powder, to replace, is gonna cost you at least $100. It's worth trying to find out what it is. If you can't find out, and never use it, oh well, but if you can use it, great.

Like he says, post a picture of the box, the bag, the actual grains of powder (use the macro, little flower, feature of your camera), along with as best a description of the powder as you can muster. If you don't know how to post pictures, email them to curtmg@hotmail.com and I'll post them up here for you.
 
My Hornady book printed in 75 shows a 230 powder used in a lot of pistol loads. It doesn't say WC in front but I'm assuming it's the same powder. I have a friend that is shooting the last of the 8lb kegs he bought around 1960 and that was WWII surplus. If it looks and smells good I wouldn't be scared of it but thats up to you.
 
There is a listing for '230' in the hornady vol.2-1973. from what i can find it may be an old Olin powder. 230 was replaced with Olin 231. but is not the same powder. 230 is faster. between red dot and bullseye. were winchester 231 is slower. Is it a flattened ball type???
 
Id say dump it if it wasn't sealed. It will not be easy to find any load data for anyways. Try powerpistol. In my Glock 17 I'm using 4.8 grains with 125gr plated round nose, OAL - 1.15. I am waiting for the next time I see someone at the range with a chronograph to test some loads, but these function well, and arent very snappy at all.
 
KEEP IT , it's gonne be a waste if it's still good and let the guys here or at your gun club do the job and then only then DUMP IT , otherwise prices are gone too high to dump that much powder
 
fogducker said:
dump it......unless im in your will:D
Click to expand...

Don't know about the will part but yeah, dump it. It isn't a good deal unless you know exactly what it is and how it was stored for the last uhhmmm . . . . 30 years??? And you don't know, so dump it. Makes a great lawn fertilizer so I hear.
 
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