Powder lot to lot variation

[brian b]

I stated earlier in this thread how inconsistent RL22 and RL25 was from lot to lot. I was in my reloading room earlier today going through some old notes and remembered one even worse.
In 1995 Hodgdon introduced Varget, apparently I bought enough to last me 22 years. In 2017 I ran out. I bought a new 8# jug, wish I had only bought a 1pounder. not even similar powders or burn rate

 

[MagnumManiac]

I like the idea of mixing all of my 8lb jugs....any idea how I might best mix 80 lbs of H1000?

An industrial concrete mixer would do the job just fine.

Don't tell my missus, but I have used her cake mixer on several occasions to blend lots of powder!! LOL.

Cheers.

 

[WWP2012]

I stated earlier in this thread how inconsistent RL22 and RL25 was from lot to lot. I was in my reloading room earlier today going through some old notes and remembered one even worse.
In 1995 Hodgdon introduced Varget, apparently I bought enough to last me 22 years. In 2017 I ran out. I bought a new 8# jug, wish I had only bought a 1pounder. not even similar powders or burn rate

I just bought a new 8lb jug of RL26 and it looked quite a bit different than the 1lb one I used for load testing. The kernels were glossy and seemed to be a larger diameter. I pulled out the chronograph and this lot consistently shoots 80 FPS faster than the old lot. 65g was my desired load and was 3050fps and the new one at 64.75g is averaging around 3100. I'm still getting low ES and SD so I'm happy with the new stuff. But a drastic change none the less.

 

[BountyHunter]

Buy powder at least 8 lbs at a time. Drop 10% from your current load and Chrono three, match them to the 10% less load, same grain weight, from the old batch of powder. I record all of these test loads. It is pretty easy to tell if the new batch is faster, slower or the same. Only a few times have I found a difference bigger than 20 fps on loads over 45 grains. Once I know the relative comparable velocities it is easy to match the new powder to the old without having to go through a big load redevelopment.

good practice here.

RL 22 had an extremely hot lot get out in early 2000s that bit me big time. Got caught short on powder before a big match and did not have time to retest when I discovered it. Blew primers which sheared sears and went thru 3 triggers in one day. Found out later is was well over 10% hotter than previous lots. They recalled that entire lot within a short time. Buy 8 lbs min at a time if it is a powder you use often, when you change lots drop down and test.