I recently was given two pounds of powder that I cannot find any info about. It is in a round red container about 8" high and on the side is written: Ammo Mart 55 Rifle Powder Ball Type Hawkesbury, Ontario. It has been stored well and is a very fine ball powder similar to Winchester in appearance. I hate the thought of throwing it out as both are full cans. Can anyone tell me where I can get reloading daya for it? Many thanks. Mike K.
#55 Rifle Powder from Ammo Mart
- Thread starter Mike K.
- Start date
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northeast Ontario
I would give higginson powders a call, they might be able to help out on that one.
#55 is a surplus Olin ball powder. It was made around 1971 specifically for the 223Rem.
Olin called it 744 and claimed it was the perfect powder for cartridges up to 30-06.
This comes from the Ammomart data sheets that came with the powder I purchased many moons back. I like it a lot and still use it. It has the same burn rate as BLC2.
In all honesty, IMHO it is BLC2 by another alias. It is the best and most consistent powder I have for the 250 Savage as well as the 223Rem. It also gives impressive velocities in the 7.62x51 (308Win) and the 7.62x39.
If it has one failing, it's that pressures build up very quickly. It has a tight loading range.
Be careful with it. Open the cans first and examine the powder. Some of the powders that Ammomart brought in were near the end of their useful life span and were breaking down. For example #44 powder which was just a hair faster than 3031 and OEM4350, which was really N160. Both very consistent powders. They both broke down before I used them up and I had to dispose of several pounds of each. That hurt, because they were two of my favorites and the OEM4350, gave me the best results of any other powder in my 338-06, especially with magnum primers.
What you need to look out for in the case of #55, is sweating and clumping. Also sniff it very carefully, outdoors, for a sour acidic scent. Another sign of deterioration is rust inside the can or staining on the outside of the can, if it has paper sides.
PM me your email address and I will send you a scan of the load data from Ammomart. It really isn't needed though as BLC2 data works just fine. I use magnum primers with all ball powders. There are a lot of arguments over this practise but it always works for me, especially when the temps get low.
Hope this helps
Olin called it 744 and claimed it was the perfect powder for cartridges up to 30-06.
This comes from the Ammomart data sheets that came with the powder I purchased many moons back. I like it a lot and still use it. It has the same burn rate as BLC2.
In all honesty, IMHO it is BLC2 by another alias. It is the best and most consistent powder I have for the 250 Savage as well as the 223Rem. It also gives impressive velocities in the 7.62x51 (308Win) and the 7.62x39.
If it has one failing, it's that pressures build up very quickly. It has a tight loading range.
Be careful with it. Open the cans first and examine the powder. Some of the powders that Ammomart brought in were near the end of their useful life span and were breaking down. For example #44 powder which was just a hair faster than 3031 and OEM4350, which was really N160. Both very consistent powders. They both broke down before I used them up and I had to dispose of several pounds of each. That hurt, because they were two of my favorites and the OEM4350, gave me the best results of any other powder in my 338-06, especially with magnum primers.
What you need to look out for in the case of #55, is sweating and clumping. Also sniff it very carefully, outdoors, for a sour acidic scent. Another sign of deterioration is rust inside the can or staining on the outside of the can, if it has paper sides.
PM me your email address and I will send you a scan of the load data from Ammomart. It really isn't needed though as BLC2 data works just fine. I use magnum primers with all ball powders. There are a lot of arguments over this practise but it always works for me, especially when the temps get low.
Hope this helps
Good Morning All,
Stumbled on this thread while researching some powder my neighbour found cleaning up his GF house.
Same as the OP, red cardboard cans with tin top and bottom.
Mine say "33 Ammo powder Use 4198 data for safe loads"
Also the same as OP, if i can use it, I'll load with it.
If its even remotely unsafe, well, I have 6lbs of it and a few tree stumps to remove after we logged lol
Thanks for any info!!
Stumbled on this thread while researching some powder my neighbour found cleaning up his GF house.
Same as the OP, red cardboard cans with tin top and bottom.
Mine say "33 Ammo powder Use 4198 data for safe loads"
Also the same as OP, if i can use it, I'll load with it.
If its even remotely unsafe, well, I have 6lbs of it and a few tree stumps to remove after we logged lol
Thanks for any info!!
