BLC and BLC(2)

toyboy

toyboy

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hey:

i just picked up a crap load of powder (lots of old stuff).
it all looks good,no bad smells or rust colors,only the "sweetness".
here's my ?--i've got an unopened can of BLC(hogden,but has disclaimer saying it's milsurp reclaimed powder from OLIN).-old can outside metal a bit rusty.

i also got a can of BLC (lot #2) from hodgson.old stuff too but not as old i guess.

can i use the same data for both cans?

i find the BLC powder smaller and more grey than the BLC2( it's slightly larger and darker/richer texture).

thanks in advance...
 
be careful with the BLC2. I've got two pounds of stuff that has turned. About 12 years old.
 
I had a similar situation. I was given a variety of older powders, amongst them was a can of BLC dated 1972. It had not been opened prior to my receiving it. It looked good & did not have a bad odour.

I emailed Hodgdon & explained that I would like to try it & they replied that the loading data would be close to the current BLC2 loading specs. They suggeseted reducing the charge & work up the load.

It shot fine. :)

You may wish to email Hodgdon, it may take a few days to get a reply but I think it will be worth your effort.
 
Ball C was the original Hogdon surplus powder, from the end of WW II. When that ran out he got another lot, which was similar but not identical, and he labelled it Ball C (Lot #2). So, you could use it but it would require starting 10% under any BallC2 data, and see what it does ( a chronograph would be useful). Ball C2 worked (works) very well in .222 Remington (probably .223 Remington) and .308 Winchester.
 
I consider powder made in 1972 as being fairly new! I still have Hodgdon's surplus powder in rectangular cardboard boxes, with metal tops and bottoms. The type, H4895 is marked on the box with a marker pen, and no other incormation is on the box. Nothing. I used some of it just the other day and it performed like any other 4895. I also still have hoddgdon's original H4831 that originally hit the retail market in a 25 pound keg. It also, is still good.
 
H4831 said:
I consider powder made in 1972 as being fairly new! I still have Hodgdon's surplus powder in rectangular cardboard boxes, with metal tops and bottoms. The type, H4895 is marked on the box with a marker pen, and no other incormation is on the box. Nothing. I used some of it just the other day and it performed like any other 4895. I also still have hoddgdon's original H4831 that originally hit the retail market in a 25 pound keg. It also, is still good.
Click to expand...

I find these stories amazing. Did they use to give away powder back then?
And is that why they are called the good old days? :)
 
warrenb, powder was never cheap per se. It was cheap by todays standards and evaluations but back in the "good ole days", say 1965, the average sawmill worker was making 65 to 80 cents an hour, the skilled trades were making appx twice that.

One saving grace was the Canadian dollar was on par or higher than the US dollar. The bad part was that very few stores carried the surplus powders and if you really wanted it, you had to cross the border to get it. In 1970, I bought 4 ea 25lb containers of 4831 from Ed Karrers Gunatorium in Millhaven for $120Can, including taxes.
The fellow that was running the local gun shop had a fit when he heard about it. He didn't know what I was going to do with it and thought I would flood the market and he would be stuck with his meagre stock of commercial powder for a long time.

I won't elaborate on the price of surpluss ammo, other than to give two examples, a pallet with 3 crates x 1120 of 30 MI Carbine ammo for $50/crate and 5 crates of 30-06 again 1120/crate for $70/crate. That sounds cheap now but at the time, it was a considerable investment. Remember, in 1970 a laborer took home about $100 per week and that was at the high end of the scale. Again, skilled workers took home 1/2 to twice as much. Commercial ammo was about $5/box x 20 for most full sized rifle cartridges. In hind sight, these were good buys. If I had invested that money in real estate, you could buy an acre of flat land in a choice location for about $750 back then, I would have made a ton of money. No, shooting has never been cheap.

Higginson Powder, especially when Tom was still around, did sell cheap powder and bullets, actually with inflation, cheaper than the good ole days. 3031 equivalent for $4/lb in 1980 and others that were actually commercial over run powders for less than 1/3 of what they could be purchased from the local dealer for. Many of the Higginson powders were of cutting edge technology at the time and much of it was old milsurp stuff that was close to its useful life span. I should have bought another 21lb lot of H414SL10 from Tom at that time, it was and still is the most consistant powder lot I've ever owned and works well in a wide range of the cartridges I shoot. It was the fore runner of powders like Varget and others that weren't temperature sensetive and extremely consistant.

I really don't think there will be much if any surplus powder available on the market any more. It will probably only be available in 8lb kegs at best and without a bulk discount. There are still screaming deals on bulk bullets and seconds though.
 
warrenb said:
I find these stories amazing. Did they use to give away powder back then?
And is that why they are called the good old days? :)
Click to expand...

Bearhunter has it pegged, things were relative, price wise.
It was the bulk H4831 that was really low priced, by comparison. In the retail trade in the mid 1960s, we could buy 25 pound kegs of H4831, delivered to a small city in central BC for $18. It was then sold out in brown paper bags to reloaders for fifty cents a pound. From the stores point of view, it was sold as cheap as it could be, so the shooters would do more shooting, hence buy more bullets, get other shooters going, etc.
I am looking at a 1962/63 Ellwood Epps catalogue. The IMR rifle powders are $4.25 a pound.
A Weaver K2.5 scope is $48, while a K4 is $57.50.
A Winchester Model 70, standard or light weight, is $154, exactly the same price as a Model 88.
A Model 94 is $89.50 while a 99 Savage, ADL, is $137.50.

Bearhunter, do you have a chronograph? I don't have one now and was wondering if you have one if we could get together and try out our WW2 powder with the chrony, to see how it is still doing?
 
I earlier stated my old H4895 had nothing else written on the cardboard container.
In looking at a picture I took, I see it was packaged by Western Scope. They were a sporting goods wholesale outfit.

PANASONIC078-1.jpg
 
You have a lot of mighty fine powder! Those sealed up square tins of Hercules 2400 and Unique are really neat.
Wow, what a lot of shooting in the barrel of Hercules Bullseye.
Those Hodgdons with cardboard and tin tops and bottoms, were probably no newer than 1960s.
It all looks in perfect condition, must have been stored properly.
So, as I said in my first post, I would conssider it as being newer powder!
Lucky you.
 
thanks for the compliments.coming from a long time reloader like you
i must have impressed...

i bought it from a guy @ work who drove 6 hours one way to purchase
some old-timer's stash.(he was getting out of the reloading addiction)

i don't think i'll live long enough to use all that pistol powder.

you should see the ancient primers i have (alcan made primers???)

i've got so much .38 spl. brass i'm swimmin' in it...
 
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