Mixing powders , danguras or usable ?

Put a quarter of it in the bottom of the tannerite jar and have fun with it. Rifles and bullets are more expensive if it doesn't work out well.
 
If it was a lot of powder and you have a chronograph it is doable.

For something less than a lb of old powder I would dump it, take my empty cans to the depot and go buy a fresh lb of powder.
 
Chatrbaz84 said:
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 ?
Click to expand...

Absolute no. Asking for a blow up. Is this real? W. T. F. But reminds me, I should pull that Chev part I used in my Dodge, just because I had it and didn't want to buy the proper part...
 
Munkey1973 said:
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 ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, no Manufacturers get one of their oldest employee from the plant, get him to chew on new freshly produced batch and then ask him to eat batch from previous run to compare. Then a sample from competition to determine if their is faster or slower. That's how they actually determine how fast or slow their powder batch turned up.

In all seriousness though, how do you think they determine burn rate without actually burning it? by Taste? by smell?
 
Chatrbaz84 said:
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 ?
Click to expand...

you can absolutely reuse them AS FERTILIZER! Nitro powders make good fertilizers so you can throw it on your lawn.

Using it in ammo would be pretty danguras
 
gewehr76 said:
Yeah, no Manufacturers get one of their oldest employee from the plant, get him to chew on new freshly produced batch and then ask him to eat batch from previous run to compare. Then a sample from competition to determine if their is faster or slower. That's how they actually determine how fast or slow their powder batch turned up.

In all seriousness though, how do you think they determine burn rate without actually burning it? by Taste? by smell?
Click to expand...

Of course they burn it - I don't ever recall saying they didn't burn it.

But your previous post mentioned something about a "clean surface and 5 inch line of powder" for a test?

Could it be a 4.5 inch line ?.... 2 ? ... how thick is this line?

Sit there with a stopwatch to time how fast each pile burns and draw inference from that data ?
Difference in burn rates are likely in milliseconds to the naked eye ?

If one wanted to experiment with this Franken Powder, then I would suggest loading something safe like 30 grains of varget in to a case...
This would be the "Control Case" shoot it a measure velocity.
Then load 30 grain into the same case (use primer and projectile from same lots of the control) with the Franken Powder.... shoot and record velocity.

Divide the FrankenPowder velocity by the control velocity... you now have more appropriate expectation of how the powder will work relative to varget.... one could adjust established tables for varget with this ratio.

An even better approach would be just discard the Frankenpowder all together .... becuase even if it didn't turn one's gun into an IED (sans remote detonator).. then I would gues the powder would perform like crap as the powder may settle unevenly in one's trickler/thrower and and produce velocity spreads all over the place.
 
Last edited:
Munkey1973 said:
Of course they burn it - I don't ever recall saying they didn't burn it.

But your previous post mentioned something about a "clean surface and 5 inch line of powder" for a test?

Could it be a 4.5 inch line ?.... 2 ? ... how thick is this line?

Sit there with a stopwatch to time how fast each pile burns and draw inference from that data ?
Difference in burn rates are likely in milliseconds to the naked eye ?
Click to expand...

Gewehr can argue his own case here, but what you've written shows you've never actually burned powder in the open. I've burned fast/slow powder from pulldowns, and it's quite obvious.
 
If all the powder was a powder suitable for 308 (all about 4895 in speed), by all means mix it all up, re-load it and shoot. Use a Start load on the book and make 100 rounds of plinker ammo.

BUT, if any of the ammo was pulled because it had pistol powder, then just dump it. A pound is not worth the effort.

I have three 8 pound jugs of powder marked "Dirty". My son would sweep up the loading room floor from time to time and dumped the sweepings in 5 gallon pails. I was about to throw this away, but noticed that most of the sweepings was powder.

I put a piece of window screen across a pail and strained the powder. It was 80% BLC2 and 20% 4895. I strained out dead bugs, dead primers, nuts, bolts, screws, nails and staples.

I have loaded several thousand rounds of plinker 223 ammo with this scrap powder.

Needless to explain, but I don't use this powder for high pressure loads or for match ammo.
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Gewehr can argue his own case here, but what you've written shows you've never actually burned powder in the open. I've burned fast/slow powder from pulldowns, and it's quite obvious.
Click to expand...

I've burned various piles of waste powder in the past -but admittedly I've never tried to compare times before.

If somepne can prove to me that the laboratory conditions that manufactures use to determine rates is similar to the conditions described in post # 25 ... then I will gladly use ketchup while eating a plate of crow.
 
Now that ive gone through this thread, i would be curious... (with no intention to attempt such an experiment) if mixing powders... what effect would mixing extruded and ball together (assuming similar burn rates). I look at it and see "kindling" vs "logs" and feel like pressure would be very erratic from round to round. Given how the physical properties of the powders would effect how they settle in a container or come out of the powder dispenser, some rounds could have a lot of ball powder, others could have more extruded... may be overthinking this... which is probably why my answer to this post would be... it's just not worth it.
 
gewehr76 said:
..... In all seriousness though, how do you think they determine burn rate without actually burning it? by Taste? by smell?
Click to expand...

Munkey1973 said:
I've burned various piles of waste powder in the past -but admittedly I've never tried to compare times before.

If somepne can prove to me that the laboratory conditions that manufactures use to determine rates is similar to the conditions described in post # 25 ... then I will gladly use ketchup while eating a plate of crow.
Click to expand...

They do it by igniting it in a Closed Bomb Test, where they measure the rate of pressure rise in a sealed container. I'm sure Ganderite can help us out more in this regard.

Ted
 
Hahaha! I knew a fellow who used to dump whatever shotgun powder he had in his Lee Load-All, use whatever wad he had available, same with primers. He was sure crying the blues after he bulged a brand new Rem Choke 870 barrel and the choke would not come out. He sent it back to Remington for warranty and they told him to go pound sand! Then he blew a model 1400 apart and followed that up by wrecking an old A-5...sure was a slow learner! Laugh2Laugh2
 
Last edited:
Munkey1973 said:
Of course they burn it - I don't ever recall saying they didn't burn it.

But your previous post mentioned something about a "clean surface and 5 inch line of powder" for a test?

Could it be a 4.5 inch line ?.... 2 ? ... how thick is this line?

Sit there with a stopwatch to time how fast each pile burns and draw inference from that data ?
Difference in burn rates are likely in milliseconds to the naked eye ?

If one wanted to experiment with this Franken Powder, then I would suggest loading something safe like 30 grains of varget in to a case...
This would be the "Control Case" shoot it a measure velocity.
Then load 30 grain into the same case (use primer and projectile from same lots of the control) with the Franken Powder.... shoot and record velocity.

Divide the FrankenPowder velocity by the control velocity... you now have more appropriate expectation of how the powder will work relative to varget.... one could adjust established tables for varget with this ratio.

An even better approach would be just discard the Frankenpowder all together .... becuase even if it didn't turn one's gun into an IED (sans remote detonator).. then I would gues the powder would perform like crap as the powder may settle unevenly in one's trickler/thrower and and produce velocity spreads all over the place.
Click to expand...

By no means what I suggested is the most definitive test, you can do same as in this video, which is useless as it only burns in one spot, but you get the idea.
As for how thick and how wide its up to tester to decide. I only suggested 10 grains 5 inches. If you wish you can put more and longer strand, get stop watch, put high speed camera on it and count still frames while it burns. record humidity, wind speed?
Its a rabbit hole, you really want op to go there for just a pound of mixed powder?
keep it simple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZCwqffEx0
 
gewehr76 said:
By no means what I suggested is the most definitive test, you can do same as in this video, which is useless as it only burns in one spot, but you get the idea.
As for how thick and how wide its up to tester to decide. I only suggested 10 grains 5 inches. If you wish you can put more and longer strand, get stop watch, put high speed camera on it and count still frames while it burns. record humidity, wind speed?
Its a rabbit hole, you really want op to go there for just a pound of mixed powder?
keep it simple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZCwqffEx0
Click to expand...

I have to admit .... that was an interesting video to watch.
I feel like the guy was flaunting how rich he is by lining up his powder collection!

I agree with keeping it simple.
Thats why if I were in the OP's situation, then I wouldn't even bother reloading with this powder.
I'd wait until it was winter, build a snowman at the range, mix this Frankenpowder in with some tannerite (to see if it enhances the fireball effect) and nuke the snowman at 100 + yards.
 
Munkey1973 said:
I have to admit .... that was an interesting video to watch.
I feel like the guy was flaunting how rich he is by lining up his powder collection!

I agree with keeping it simple.
Thats why if I were in the OP's situation, then I wouldn't even bother reloading with this powder.
I'd wait until it was winter, build a snowman at the range, mix this Frankenpowder in with some tannerite (to see if it enhances the fireball effect) and nuke the snowman at 100 + yards.
Click to expand...

There is many ways to have fun, OP asked if he can reuse it for its intended purposes. The answer is yes.
its up to OP to decide how to use it in the end.

gun powder is just a fuel, same as gas can with 87. 89 and 93, when you put it in your car, does it make your car go faster?:p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom