Mixing powders , danguras or usable ?

That is such a disturbing question that I can only assume that you have not grasped the concepts of basic reloading safety precautions.
There may be other bad habits that you have adopted to put yourself at risk as well.
It might be safer if you stick with factory loads until some experienced reloaded can mentor you.
 
Hi guys. After years of reloading I had many live rounds at first year that I had problems with , some didn't go into chamber , some bad shape and form , some wrong load data and.....

I decided to unload them all , over 100 rounds.
Now I have almost 1lb powder.
All were loaded for 308
Bullets 147 fmj 168 and 175 smk
And mixed brass.


Now I have 1lb powder mixed
As long as remember my guess is approx
40% varget
30% 4895 imr
2% bcl2
20% 4064
8% reloader 15


Any luck or chance that I can reuse them ?

Its no big deal mixing powders. Manufacturers do it all the time, just in bigger quantities. There is lots of burn charts on the net that show which powder is faster and which one is slower.
If you have mix % as you do you can predict how fast your mix will be by the bigger % amount of given powders in your mix .

Other way to know is just make burn test yourself. use 10 gr of mix vs 10 gr of factory powder you have on hand. Spread a 5 inch line on clean surface of each powder and light them. If you notice mix burning slower or faster than factory powder then you can estimate approx burning rate of your mix.
Once you know the burn rate vs factory test powder you can estimate starting load based on the burn rate of your factory test powder. Obviously it should be tested vs application, pistol vs pistol or rifle vs rifle powders.

You can test with third powder if you wish, but its overkill. It will give more detail data, but you may waste more powder that way determining burn rate.

And no need to waste or dispose powder on fertilizing of plants, those that suggest doing that have no idea what they saying.
Black powder is good fertilizer, smokeless is not.
 
Hi guys. After years of reloading I had many live rounds at first year that I had problems with , some didn't go into chamber , some bad shape and form , some wrong load data and.....

I decided to unload them all , over 100 rounds.
Now I have almost 1lb powder.
All were loaded for 308
Bullets 147 fmj 168 and 175 smk
And mixed brass.

Now I have 1lb powder mixed
As long as remember my guess is approx
40% varget
30% 4895 imr
2% bcl2
20% 4064
8% reloader 15

Any luck or chance that I can reuse them ?

Sure ! Why NOT ? after all - the powders companies would tell you its All OK ! :slap::HR: LOL RJ
 
Its no big deal mixing powders. Manufacturers do it all the time, just in bigger quantities. There is lots of burn charts on the net that show which powder is faster and which one is slower.
If you have mix % as you do you can predict how fast your mix will be by the bigger % amount of given powders in your mix .

Other way to know is just make burn test yourself. use 10 gr of mix vs 10 gr of factory powder you have on hand. Spread a 5 inch line on clean surface of each powder and light them. If you notice mix burning slower or faster than factory powder then you can estimate approx burning rate of your mix.
Once you know the burn rate vs factory test powder you can estimate starting load based on the burn rate of your factory test powder. Obviously it should be tested vs application, pistol vs pistol or rifle vs rifle powders.

You can test with third powder if you wish, but its overkill. It will give more detail data, but you may waste more powder that way determining burn rate.

And no need to waste or dispose powder on fertilizing of plants, those that suggest doing that have no idea what they saying.
Black powder is good fertilizer, smokeless is not.

When manufacturers determine burn rates for powders do they use this method that you describe?
...or is this just something that you've done before ?
...or is this just something you thought of when you read this thread ?
 
OP, follow Andy's advice if you insist on using the powder.

The burn rates of all the powders listed are very close and in some cases overlapping.

You're the only one that knows if there are any other very fast powders in those cartridges.

When mixing slow/fast powders, depending on the ratios, usually the powder will ignite at the fastest burn rate, according to Ganderite.

Unless you're really hard up for cash/powder, IMHO you should toss it in the garbage.

Almost impossible to keep the burn rate consistent enough for accurate shooting.

As far as dangerous goes, not IMHO.

If you had some extreme burn rate spreads, I would say there is a dangerous condition there, waiting to happen. From what you list, that isn't the case.

Far to many people stop at reading the manual. They don't look into how powders are manufactured and distributed.

Ganderite has been a tome of valuable information but he tends to eke it out in dribbles.

Why don't you drop him a PM and ask the EXPERT???

He will likely tell you to toss such a small amount, mostly because working up a load with it is a waste of time, especially with the rising cost of projectiles.
 
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It's too bad so many people are schitting on the OP, since this is actually a more interesting question than many we get around here.

This isn't even as complex as it may seem. All these powders have similar burn rates. This isn't a bunch of pistol powder mixed in with slow burning magnum rifle powder. You could mix everything together (very well) and have a powder that would probably work okay. You would need to determine the starting load for the fastest powder and start with that.

Using a chronograph and cross referencing loading data you could determine where you are at as far as burn rate. Using Quickload you could even determine an optimum load.

There are a few downsides to this though, the most important being that you are playing around in uncharted territory so you might blow up your gun although it's unlikely. Biggest downside I see is that it's a waste of time and components to experiment with working up a load that you will never be able to replicate in the future, all to save one pound of powder. Like I said previously, if you had 20 lbs it would be worth experimenting.
 
It's too bad so many people are schitting on the OP, since this is actually a more interesting question than many we get around here.

I agree. While blending 5 powders together seems a bridge too far for me, coloring outside the lines a bit never hurt. I've tried blending powders before, on the slow powders for the cartridge end of the scale, and didn't worry a bit. I don't believe you can ever create a super powder with magical synergy though.
 
Hi guys. After years of reloading I had many live rounds at first year that I had problems with , some didn't go into chamber , some bad shape and form , some wrong load data and.....

I decided to unload them all , over 100 rounds.
Now I have almost 1lb powder.
All were loaded for 308
Bullets 147 fmj 168 and 175 smk
And mixed brass.


Now I have 1lb powder mixed
As long as remember my guess is approx
40% varget
30% 4895 imr
2% bcl2
20% 4064
8% reloader 15


Any luck or chance that I can reuse them ?

Just a thought here, you likely only have about 11 oz. of powder (100 x avg. 50 gr.per round). Even at current prices the bullets and primers required to use this up, in any fashion, will cost you more than the powder is worth. Throw the stuff away! This coming from an inveterate hoarder of anything that will go bang..... catnip
 
from POST #25 : Its no big deal mixing powders. Manufacturers do it all the time, just in bigger quantities. There is lots of burn charts on the net that show which powder is faster and which one is slower.
If you have mix % as you do you can predict how fast your mix will be by the bigger % amount of given powders in your mix .

Yea for SURE ! I BET they do - a little of this and a little of that ! :stirthepot2: H:S: RJ
 
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