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Posted: 2/16/2013 7:07:20 AM EDT
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A couple months back (maybe longer), I posted what I found when I opened a jug of surplus Re15 I had bought in 2007 at Camp Perry. It appeared to have ball powder mixed in. I couldn't bring myself to huck 8lbs of powder on the spot, so I marked the jug as suspect and sat on it. This morning, for grins, I ran it through a seive twice. Holy crap! I threw a pinch of the ball back into the sifted Re15 so you can see the relative differences. I can only guess that it's M1 carbine powder.  Here's how much I pulled out (2 1/2 lbs)!  Anyhoo. I'm tired of sifting. Although it looks very good now, but I still can't rationalized shooting it. Sifted:  |
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An expensive desicion, but if it's mixed powder, obviously someone screwed up. I'd question whether the stick powder is really RL-15.
Is it worth trying a test load to see what happens? I'd say no and pour it on the lawn. It's not worth blowing up a rifle and maybe yourself. The rifle's worth a lot more than the powder and your eyes, head, etc. are worth a lot more than the rifle. |
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Not sure if this would work, but here is an idea...
Buy a pound of Reloader 15. Measure out a teaspoon (or known quantity) of it and place it in a bottle cap. Take the same quantity of your surplus powder and place it in the same type of bottle cap. Set up a piece of cardboard with horizontal and vertical lines behind the bottle cap of powder and video tape the flame height and duration as you ignite the powder. Do the same with the surplus powder. Now compare the videos. Maybe someone else with more experience can chime in, but if the flame height and burn duration are the same then you should be able to conclude that the powder is similar enough to load at the bottom of the chart. It's just an idea though. The safe bet is to use it as fertilizer. |
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Quoted:
The sifted powder looks good to me. I would shoot it assuming you bought from a recognized source at Perry. Not me - a mix like that would be really difficult to figure out loads with ( at least for me). I would either keep it for Armageddon (as pretty much suggested above), or trash it safely. I value my life too much to play with a mix like that. |
I traded a guy a sporterized mauser for a giant box of reloading supplies once. At the top of the box was a 12 pound canister of red dot.When i opened the can there was no red dots in the powder, i still am not sure what it is, cant bear to use it, or throw it out.
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There are some assumptions you can make.
1. the smallest powder pictured is ball powder thus making it a "slow burning" fast powder. Think Magnum Pistol. There is more surface area. 2. The tube powder pictured is short cut making it a fast burning rifle powder. Think faster than pistol, slower than target rifle. There is less surface area than ball but it isn't pasta cut either. 3. The powder has absorbed moisture from being open and from the sifting proccess which will slow the burn down even more. 4. A slow powder will always be below pressure in a short barrel pistol as long as there is no compression and the case is mostly full. 5. There is a gun in your cabinet that you have always not liked so much anyways.  Or is that just me. 
Why not try some loads assuming the worst possible load data? i.e. "This powder is going to spike a higher pressure than I think and probably not fill the case thus making the problem worse. Every round will squib until I know what the swings in velicity are." Load 20 rounds the same and chrono them. If you are seeing huge swings then you know something is wrong. x2 it doesn't eat and it doesn't take up space and you just don't know when you might need it. All the more reason to try some now. |
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Quoted:
I traded a guy a sporterized mauser for a giant box of reloading supplies once. At the top of the box was a 12 pound canister of red dot.When i opened the can there was no red dots in the powder, i still am not sure what it is, cant bear to use it, or throw it out.2 feet of cannon fuse and a tree stump. Just saying.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I traded a guy a sporterized mauser for a giant box of reloading supplies once. At the top of the box was a 12 pound canister of red dot.When i opened the can there was no red dots in the powder, i still am not sure what it is, cant bear to use it, or throw it out.2 feet of cannon fuse and a tree stump. Just saying.
I vote for this one ! Just video it for us please!
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I see only two options.
#1 Start WAY low and use a chronograph to figure out load data. #2 Use it as fertilizer. Why not keep it as SHTF propellant? Because I don't know about you, but if the S does HTF, the last thing I'm going to want to be doing is screwing around at a range with a chronograph trying to figure out what is safe to use this stuff for. Also, I wouldn't want to just reload and "use it" because you risk squibs, or worse, blowing yourself up. If it were me? #2. |
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Quoted:
I traded a guy a sporterized mauser for a giant box of reloading supplies once. At the top of the box was a 12 pound canister of red dot.When i opened the can there was no red dots in the powder, i still am not sure what it is, cant bear to use it, or throw it out.I have some old square tins of Red Dot powder. There are no red dots in it anymore. |
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