My experience with surplus powder has been that when it's gone it's gone, but here's hoping.
I made a big mistake about 10 years in not stocking up with H870 when it was discontinued - I learned from that and have lots of WC-735.
Surplus Powders
- Thread starter bearhunter
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My experience with surplus powder has been that when it's gone it's gone, but here's hoping.
I made a big mistake about 10 years in not stocking up with H870 when it was discontinued - I learned from that and have lots of WC-735.
What you have is powder that was once sold by what is now Higginsons. This goes back quite a ways (1990's or earlier), and your best chance at info is from Andrew at Higginsons, or from someone here like "bearhunter", "Eagleye" or "Why not" who bought quite a bit of surplus from them years back.
If you think that data for Higginsons "WC-735" was hard to come by, back in the day you had even less to go by. Seems that folks back then were much less fearful than today and were willing to experiment.
Most folks here haven't had an original thought in their lives, and will just say: "It's dangerous, dump it in your garden!", but there are ways to identify an approximate burn rate for an unknown powder. However, unless you have several pounds of it, it's probably pointless to do all that work unless you enjoy doing that sort of thing.
Even if you get some solid info on the powder, you'll still want to see if it's still usable (should be if it was stored properly - I have pulled powder from the 1940's that I use), and to be cautious in using it.
MIRAMICHIER
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I remember old Tom he used to go to the gun Shows in Montreal and I used to buy his Power(Ammo Mart).Nice old fella.
I started dealing with Tom close to the end of his reign, and am still burning the surplus powders I bought there. I have found some of it to be a bit faster than advertised, but always started low and worked up. the RP5 and the CF7900 were splendid, as I am a heavy bullet fanatic. To use surplus powders you need to be at the level of having a chronograph, and being able to tell when your loads are getting a bit hot. If you have that kind of confidence, it is a lot of fun, and encourages me to shoot more to work out my own loads.
About 20 yrs ago Tom Higginson put out a fair amount of data on WC755 and various other surplus powders. I still have his sheets on these. He derived this data by working with a ballistics consultant who had formerly worked for CIL. One powder that I've used a lot and found to be very good in both the .223 and .308 is Olin X2924, a ball powder with a burn rate between W748 and BLC2. There was no data for this one so I worked up my loads by interpolating data for W748 an BLC2 and by watching for the usual excess pressure indicators. WC755 is a real champ in the .308.
i got a couple 7lbs boxes of that 414 slow lot 10 that Tom was selling ... think i was going to use it in a 300 win mag but can't remember ...(long ago ! ) anyone use that lot and find it shoots good with a particular cal. ?
usta have several paper brochures/pricelists for ammomart that i carried around ... alway enjoyed buying stuff from them
usta have several paper brochures/pricelists for ammomart that i carried around ... alway enjoyed buying stuff from them
H414 SL10 was and still is some of the most consistent surplus powder Tom sold. It is slightly slower than H414 or W760 and works well in everything from the 257Rob all the way up to the 375 H&H. Very versatile powder. I have a box of it left and use it for accurate hunting loads that have to be insensitive to temperature. It is a ball powder so works best with magnum primers.
This discussion brings fond memories for me, too.
I still have a couple of pounds of WC852, which seems to be identical to an ancient powder called H450. I've never used or even seen H450, but I simply use H450 data from my old manuals and it seems to correspond perfectly with WC852. I'm currently using this powder exclusively in my little 7x57 with 175-grain bullets.
I also have a couple of pounds of WC845 left. I find that it burns very similarly to IMR 3031. I'm currently using what little remains in my .223 with 55-grain bullets.
I wish we had more surplus powders like this available in Canada!
I still have a couple of pounds of WC852, which seems to be identical to an ancient powder called H450. I've never used or even seen H450, but I simply use H450 data from my old manuals and it seems to correspond perfectly with WC852. I'm currently using this powder exclusively in my little 7x57 with 175-grain bullets.
I also have a couple of pounds of WC845 left. I find that it burns very similarly to IMR 3031. I'm currently using what little remains in my .223 with 55-grain bullets.
I wish we had more surplus powders like this available in Canada!
Absolutely!
I agree that this is the best idea and I frequently do this when I have a couple of different lots. Mixed together it kinda negates any differences between the lots.
Powders don't last indefinitely, although ball propellants are claimed to have more longevity than extruded powders. This past winter I had to dispose of 4 lbs of Higginson's surplus VV N160 which was sold as H4350 OEM. I had this stored under proper conditions in new plastic containers for some 16 yrs. I don't know how old it was before I bought it. I have quantities of several surplus ball powders as well as Varget which I've had for longer and which are still good.
