Powder blend

[meatyrem]

I think what he is referring to is what hodgdon does with their superformance powder which is supposedly a powder blend but not necessarily different lots more like different burn rates? Not exactly sure how they do it but I guess if OP wants to blend powders he could try superformance powder. Other than that I can't offer much more to help out as mixing different powders would not be fun to find out what will happen

 

[shortgrass]

So,,,,, I guess all this means I shouldn't try out my new ACME gun powder blender? BEEP BEEP!

 

[Sending156s]

Anyone ever blend rifle powder? If so how did it go. I know ammunition manufacturers blend powders to achieve there needs and bullet speed for proprietary purposes.

I traded a jug of RL26 for a jug of Varget not long ago. It was very cold and I was without a jacket. On getting home I found out it was opened and weighed 8.8 #'s. It actually looked like a different colored powder mixed with old Varget. I contacted Hodgdon Tech Support and sent them close-up pictures. They agreed it didn't look like just Varget. I followed their advice and used it as fertilizer on my pasture. Since without very expensive lab work it's only speculation I will not mentioned that poster's name. While discussing my situation they highly advised against mixing powders. When they do it, it's professional chemists working in a professional laboratory.

 

[VTbluegrass]

ACME the coyote does it ALL THE TIME....

Come on now this is serious stuff. His name is
Wile E. Coyote "Genius"

 

[BrianID]

I've only mixed two types of powder by accident. I dumped some superformance into a half full CFE223 bottle. I realized my mistake when I was starting to pour the powder. That powder ended up in my scrape powder pile that I get from cleaning up the loading bench. I would never consider loading it.

 

[Recon$$]

Let the pros do the chemistry I'm a caveman that can follow their instructions.

 

[droptine]

I recall older guys talking duplex loads for 30/06 back in the late 70's early 80's when I first started loading. But that's about all i remember.

I did not see it but in mid 90's buddy of mine swore he pulled a factory 25/06 and dumped the powder and he said there were two or maybe 3 different powders based on the shapes. If I recall he said it looked like a ball powder mixed with cylindrical and maybe some flake. It's been a long time and don't recall. He was the kind of guy that had no reason to lie.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I had a buddy accidently dump the remaining powder left in an autocharger into the wrong bottle. It was probably 200 or so grains left. He asked me what I would do. If you looked at the mix, you could easily see the different kernels. I told him:
1. Throw it away.
2. Take a few days and pick out every kernel that is not right.
3. Throw it away.
4. 1 & 3.

He chose option #4.

 

[droptine]

That's why you never ever have any powder except what your using on the bench. Same for primers, bullets etc.

 

[QuietTexan]

He chose option #4.

Where was option #5 - light it on fire

When I have junk I've swept off the bench I have a ceramic bowl I'll put it in, the boys get a kick out of me hitting it with a butane torch.

Safety Brief: We're talking like 0.3gns of powder here, in the middle of the concrete drive way only on nights with no wind and 17 fire extinguishers handy, the fire department is actually already there supervising, and we have a 17-minute pre-fire briefing. I feel like this needs to be said because people on the internet terrify me.

 

[timo308]

I shoot BPCR (Black Powder Cartridge Rifle). I have seen some load data using a small charge of smokeless powder and then a charge of black powder, called duplex loads. Supposedly helps ignite the black powder better. Would I try it. NO!!! I like my ugly face as it it, no need to change my looks. Plus I like my rifles, don't need to "modify" them, even though my rifles are capable of shooting straight smokeless loads. I have blended different lost of the same smokeless powder though.

Duplex loads where a small charge of smokeless powder is used under a main charge of black powder is nearly as old as smokeless powder itself. Its main benefit has always been the fact that it cuts fouling between shots by an incredible amount. I've seen rifles that would foul the bore in 5 shots running straight black powder make it to nearly 50 shots before they needed to be cleaned running duplex loads.. That being said, you're still dealing with a known quantity of one type of smokeless powder under a adjusted charge of black powder. I don't know of anyone who is mixing different types of smokeless powders together, even in duplex loads

 

[venatic]

So just as an exercise let's say you added 2lbs roughly of let's say MR4000 to 6lbs of Reloder 26 which have similar burn rates and just loaded based off the lower recommended data between those two.
I would surmise you would not encounter any issues related to excessive pressures but it may not be the most consistent velocity results possible.
Just saying it would seem to be a safe endeavor albeit no reason for anyone to try it just throwing out a scenario that could happen if someone grabbed the wrong container when combining two same lots of powder.

 

[Heavyiron]

Let me say first before going any farther. I do not blend powders of different numbers, and burn rates. Back before magnum primers came into being it was common to light off slow burning powder with small amounts of bullseye, maybe 2 grains. There was a time that 4831 was the slowest powder available. The next available powder was surplus machine gun powder. It was very, very slow in its burn rate, and hard to ignite. Therefore that was a common practice then. I have read of triplex loads. Testing the strength of an action is dangerous, and not wise. Wildcatters went wild with the 264 winchester case but stilled lacked the powders that we have today. I am surprised that more people didn't get killed thru the years of ignorance. Now we have safe and proven data. And just when you think that they are thru with burn rates, up pop new ones. We are living in the golden years of handloadiing. Even thou, supply right now can not keep up with demand.

 

[StanleyActual]

A buddy sent me pics the other day of a fired cartridge. The case was split, primer gone, face full of gas, bolt was locked up and the chronograph read almost 1000fps more velocity than it should have but otherwise no other problems. It was his first shot out of a brand new batch he just loaded. He pulled the bullets on the other 19 loads, weighed and checked everything, all was exactly as it should be. The other 19 were reloaded and shot exactly as they should no issues, so the only thing he could come up with is he hadn't cleaned out his powder dispenser as thoroughly as he thought and that he may have mixed two powders on accident. This was a 223.

1000fps more?!? Any idea what his load was? Asking for a friend….