Powder

[.284me]

I have done it and I works great. The way I see it, you're basically matching the moisture contents of the 2 different lots as the powder itself is essentially the same. I know people now that will dump different lots of the same powder into a Rubbermaid container, mix it up a little and let it air out/dry out. That's what I'm going to try next time. Obviously in a dryish, controlled environment.

 

[BrentM]

Yep. Mix lots, let them sit in an open tub for a day and balance out the moisture level. I like doing it with large lots of 8 lbr's.

 

[baldhunter]

I've done it a lot of times with no problems.The one thing to think about though is what if one of those powder lots gets recalled.I ran into a powder lot that was recalled a couple of years ago.When the powder went bad,it went bad quick.Rounds I had loaded with that powder went from shooting very accurately before to really high pressure after the powder had gone bad. So from now on,I think the best thing to do is load a few rounds from each lot and see if they give consistent results so when switching from one lot to the next things shouldn't change.So my answer to you is,I've done it with no problems,but I don't do it anymore.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Like Carlos88, I been doing it for decades. When I buy more than one pound of powder, even if it is from the same lot I mix them in a large bowl and then return it to the original containers.

But then I used to do duplex loads before some of the better powders came out.

 

[D$tring]

Ok….. Question? Has anyone ever taken two containers of powders, in this case Reloader 16, both new 1# bottles, but from different lots and mixed them together. Essentially making your own lot, neither of the powders have been used yet to reload. It seemed like a viable solution to todays problems, seeing that you can't buy powders in effective quantities…

Pros-Cons…? And go!

I do this almost every time when I have two different lots of the same powder. Seems to smooth out the differences in lots. I especially like it at from the beginning of a load work up. Label the bottles for that specific rifle and you are good to go. Never mix difdent powders! But I have never had an issue mixing different lots of the same powder.

 

[Greyfox]

While I have successfully done this, I will generally try to avoid mixing lots of powder.
For my LRH and competition loads I have blended when the measured velocities and ES of my loads for "each" powder are within 10FPS. The potential issue, in my experience, is that if the velocities differ much more then this the ES often ends up not averaging, but spanning the two powders, thus increasing the ES of the mixed powders. Not an issue for mid-range work, but problematic at the longer distances.
Additionally, if the established load is running at max pressure, it would be wise to know the what the individual lots(new) max pressure/velocity is to avoid an over pressure situation with the blend. I have seen different lots of the same powder exhibit velocity differences as high as 40-50FPS with the same charge weight.

 

[Chrsm]

Yes Never looked at the lot # and I don't care!!! So there!!!

 

[Zstingray]

Ok….. Question? Has anyone ever taken two containers of powders, in this case Reloader 16, both new 1# bottles, but from different lots and mixed them together. Essentially making your own lot, neither of the powders have been used yet to reload. It seemed like a viable solution to todays problems, seeing that you can't buy powders in effective quantities…

Pros-Cons…? And go!

I do this on a regular basis with Varget which varies from lot to lot. I buy Varget in 8 lb jugs.

 

[Roughrice]

Yep! Every time I get a new batch. Gives a better average powder and doesn't affect load as drastic.

 

[capona]

It's like when painting.
Boxing is the term , and it's done all the time in reloading to even out difference in batches.

 

[freddiej]

I've done it many times over the years. sometimes it's the only way to get one big lot of good powder to use for hunting, varminting, and target.

 

[John McLaughlin]

Who can find enough powder to mix? JM

 

[baldhunter]

Like I said,I've mixed lots of powder and have on hand mixed lots of powder with never an issue,but all it takes is one time to mix a bunch of different lots and have one of those lots be recalled.The powder I had that was recalled,I bought two pounds and had it for about two years.I shot one pound and part of another pound without issues.Then the recall notice came out and very shortly after the notice,powder that had never given me any issues suddenly went bad.It started sweating around the lid and a reddish dust cloud poured out when the lid was taken off.This powder was stored indoors with a controlled cool environment.So the best I can explain it was like an expiration date.Once it reached that date,I went bad and turned very acidic.Ammo that I had loaded and shot with no ill affects just a month or so before showed that the powder went bad in the case as well.When I broke the ammo down,the powder looked wet and the base of the bullets showed a blueish corrosion.I had shot one of those rounds that was like that and it was extremely high pressure and it smeared the head stamp on the brass when I ejected the round.That one time bad experience made a lifetime believer out of me it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[243ai]

Lot what? The number that matters is R-16.