Feasibility of repurposed powder

[xBen15x]

Lots of very good points here. The input is greatly appreciated and will all be taken under advisement.

The general consensus here it seems is that it SHOULD be fine but isn’t GUARANTEED to be fine. We will see and ill report back!

 

[bearhunter]

You're advising him to use an unknown powder to load with. He has no idea what it is and guessing would be foolish.

Yup, it's simpler than you want to believe. Especially between the 243 and 308.

He already has an idea as to its burn rate, so just choose the fastest burning powder on his list and use the start load to work from, according to the manual he's using.

 

[bearhunter]

Lots of very good points here. The input is greatly appreciated and will all be taken under advisement.

The general consensus here it seems is that it SHOULD be fine but isn’t GUARANTEED to be fine. We will see and ill report back!

There are no guarantees in life, one way or another.

If the OP or you are not comfortable with going through the processes of doing it safely, don't do it.

Anyone who used or uses the surplus powders from a few decades ago understands some research needs to be done, then once the burn rate is established, as much as needed to get a reliably consistent load for the firearms it's going to be used in, before proceeding with an established safe load, which is proprietary, of course.

This means you can't proceed with blind trust like most handloaders do today, believing it to be absolutely safe because it's been published.

With surplus powder, just because a powder with a similar burn rate is on the box, it doesn't guarantee anything.

Most of the surplus powders are proprietary to military needs, or the cheapest commercial application it was purchased for.

Even if they have the same designation, the lot is proprietary and only applies to the lot number designated on the box. If another box has the stamp of the same designation but a different lot number, it will be different, sometimes extremely different.

From the OP's first post, I would with IMR4064 start charges for the heaviest bullets for the 243, unless the powder is ball, rather than extruded.

 

[270WSMXBolt]

Came into some 308 win 180g ammo, didn’t have a need for it, and am to remote to make selling scary, dangerous explosives (according to shipping companies) feasible.

I repurposed the brass for the 243, sold the bullets, and kept the powder.

Average of 40 rounds was 43.7g (per my Fx-123 balance) of a ball powder.

Ammo shot 2565 fps from a friends 24” 308 rifle… and no, he was not interested in buying it.

Is using published load data and drawing correlations to burn rate charts a reasonably effective way to determine if its safe (and how much to use) of the powder for the 243 rifle? Not concerned with precision, temp stability, etc… its just for an initial firing to bang out some minor “lube dents” out of the cases, and have some fun with some sub-25m beaver hunting.

Looking at reloading data, the same amount of IMR 4064, Varget, W748, and RL15 should net the same velocity for the bullet weight/barrel length. On the burn chart, IMR 4064 is 106, Varget is 113, W748 is 114, and RL-15 is 110.

While im aware that generally this is not advised… neither is pistol powder and cream of wheat..but its frequently done without issue. Having over half a lb of this unknown powder is enough to make it worth looking into repurposing in my opinion.

I have a wide array of 243 bullet weights, and a cursory look at load data indicates somewhere around an 80g bullet may be appropriate with a roughly 35g of powder (an estimated low charge weight).

Thoughts?

The origins of the Hodgdon's reloading company is a legacy about repurposed powder. If you read up on it through wiki they explain the origin of the company was based around buying up surplus and reclaimed powder from the war efforts.
I have listened to some precision shooters who like to box or mix new with old powder of the same type so it reduces changes at the match that can be catastrophic with performance on paper. However They weren't mixing types of powder to my understanding. Just the general powder lot so to speak. So really just different lot types. Cheers

 

[22to45]

This is why you need a chronograph. I have loaded surplus powders for 30 years. It is not that hard.

 

[270WSMXBolt]

That amount of powder isn't worth your life or hands or face..
However it could be used in a stump removal demonstration... Don't ask cuz I can't say on der interweeb...

 

[gallen270]

Do it, just use common sense and start on the light side. You can chronograph and go from there, watching for pressure signs of course.

 

[SuperCub]

Ive done it before. If you can make an educated guess on what the powder is from other manuals you can usually determine what it is or what its similar to and start with lower charge weights. You probably wont blow yourself up. 100 rounds doesn't seem like a lot but that's quite a bit of trigger time and powder isn't exactly inexpensive anymore. Proceed with caution.

I've done that as well. There was two pounds of powder and worth the effort.

The 1st rule of reloading is start with mild loads. I started with really mild loads and kept them mild using 147gr FMJs getting 2500fps in a 308. Good beater loads at the range.

 

[todbartell]

I pulled apart a case (200 rounds) of 308 Norma Mag 180gr Oryx ammo, as it was way cheaper than unprimed brass and I wasn't interested in shooting a bullet that is shaped like a peanut. It was an extruded powder, charge weight was in the ballpark of what 4831 burn rate stuff is for my rifle with the same grain bullet. I use it now in my 280AI, works awesome - accurate and good velocity

I use the Oryx 180gr in my Ruger Scout 308, good bullet for that setup