Blending Powder
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When the powder "dries out" - is this due to loss of water? Or is it loss of something else, maybe a solvent?
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- Saskatchewan
If I have a half dozen 1 lb bottles of the same powder but 2 or more different lot numbers, I may mix them into one "lot" if I am shooting a particularly fussy rifle / cartidge combination. But for most shooting, lot numbers don't matter. That's why canister grade powders were invented in the first place - to standardize performance and reduce the variation lot to lot.
I certainly would not mix powders of different makes into a blended hybrid powder. That's a whole different subject.
I certainly would not mix powders of different makes into a blended hybrid powder. That's a whole different subject.
I have been mixing various lot numbers of the exact same powder for decades.
Gives me consistency over a longer period of use. While today's powders tend
to be reasonably consistent, lot-to-lot, variances still show up at times. Dave.
Gives me consistency over a longer period of use. While today's powders tend
to be reasonably consistent, lot-to-lot, variances still show up at times. Dave.
Water content is one of constituents of powder, and is also used as a moderator of burning speed. As powder dries out of water and solvent, it speeds up a bit. This is why a new can of powder may seem a bit slow.
Varget, for one, really demonstrates this. Easy to witness increasing velocity with the same load if the bottle gets used up over a couple of years for a hunting load, during which time more and more air occupies the interior.
Ted
This spec sheet mentions the water content and the solvents ("volatile matter"). The percentage varies from powder to powder, and also from lot to lot.
This powder may be the powder that ReLoader 15 is made of.
This powder may be the powder that ReLoader 15 is made of.
LOL there was a GUY ?? on face book the other day who blends different powder numbers( like 4350 with 4895 ) to CREAT his own Burning rate powder and he thinks this is Perfectly Safe ! He says he works up his loads so NO problem - Maybe he's right or One day he will blow something up !RJ
I got got called an idiotic fudd on one of those facebook groups for saying that was a very bad idea ! Maybe a ballistician can blend 25 pound lots and have access to pressure equipment, but no way on this God's earth am I going to mix a few different types of powder and call it good!
Lot to lot of the same , yes, but 4350 and 4895 for example? NOT A CHANCE!
Cat
I used to do some work with EXPRO (they make the IMR powders). This subject came up once. I was talking to the head of R&D (a Ph.D. chemist).
he explained that the net result would be peak pressure determined by the faster component and the slower powder would just bulk up the fill of the case. There was no way to make an "improvement".
On another occasion, the plant accidently dumped a few hundred pounds of 4350 into a few thousand pounds of 4895. I used it for loading 30-06. The load was about the same as a 4895 load.
he explained that the net result would be peak pressure determined by the faster component and the slower powder would just bulk up the fill of the case. There was no way to make an "improvement".
On another occasion, the plant accidently dumped a few hundred pounds of 4350 into a few thousand pounds of 4895. I used it for loading 30-06. The load was about the same as a 4895 load.
What I'd give to have 2 tons of RL-15
Those were the days. I used to buy powder by the ton. It was expensive. Sometimes as much as $8.00 a pound....
I know a guy who ALWAYS fills up 1 lb. containers to the top from other containers ( hopefully of same powder).
He never has Part Containers in his stock.
One day he shot his reload from a custom "F" class bolt action rifle. The stock brock apart. The receiver jumped out of the stock.
The barrel & receiver ring BOTH bulged upwards a LOT. The bolt could not be opened , even back in shop with tools !!!
His face had many small cuts from wood flying every were. Because he always was pouring powder from 1 can into another
maybe he mixed 2 types together ? Luckily he & those shooting beside him were not badly hurt. He was banned from using reloads
@ that range.
He never has Part Containers in his stock.
One day he shot his reload from a custom "F" class bolt action rifle. The stock brock apart. The receiver jumped out of the stock.
The barrel & receiver ring BOTH bulged upwards a LOT. The bolt could not be opened , even back in shop with tools !!!
His face had many small cuts from wood flying every were. Because he always was pouring powder from 1 can into another
maybe he mixed 2 types together ? Luckily he & those shooting beside him were not badly hurt. He was banned from using reloads
@ that range.
Probably dumped ball pistol powder from the thrower into a can of ball rifle powder. An easy way to blow up a gun.
Just rub our faces in it why don't you $8 a lb
Gee whiz next you'll tell us milk use to come in glass bottles and be delivered right to your door!
#4831 from the Hodgdon's storage facility $40US per 50 pound White paper covered pressboard drums with tarred brown paper liners. Or if you bought the 250 pound wooden crate with six drums, $180US. Back then, the Canadian dollar enjoyed a premium to the US dollar.
Just south of Vancouver in Bellingham, Yaeger's/Kesselring's(Burlington) used to sell it in brown paper lunch bags, at $1US per scoop, which was appx 14 ounces. That was very cheap, even for the late sixties and early seventies.
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Yes, milk was delivered to the door. A horse pulled the wagon and kept pace with the milkman.
$8.00 was the expensive stuff, like VHT and Bofors. IMR was around $3.00
I used to buy it 1300 pounds at a time, because that is all my truck would hold. It maxed out in volume and weight.
yup and if you bought more than one, the cost went down. I picked up 20 of those 100 pound drums from Kesselring's. They had a very large metal building behind the shop at that time and it was filled to the ceiling with 4831/3031/4895
I picked up the powder for Alan Lever, who distributed it to different businesses, for a healthy profit. I picked up an extra drum for myself, because Kesselring threw it in as a bonus. I believe Mr Lever paid UScents40/pound. He was OK with me getting the bonus drum. He was good that way.
I sold that powder off over a couple of years to local shops, in bulk form of course. 20 pounds at a time. Back before early 1970s, handloaders were akin to alchemists of the 16th century.
Some people still consider them to be the same.
The US military suppliers and the different branches of their military had stockpiles of powder that were never going to be used as they had transitioned to different firearms and different ammunition. All components were dumped onto the commercial markets. Joyce Hornady mortgaged his soul to purchase thousands of tons of these components, which he marketed to the public at very reasonable prices. For an example, 5000 30-06, primed, Lake City brass cases, new in the crate, US$200. All left overs from WWII and Korea. Even Viet Nam couldn't use it all up, so off to the surplus markets it went.
