Ball powder ID ?

[shpanther]

Slightly larger than 2230.

A little darker than 2230, "blacker".

Ball, but has "flats" or "sides" to it.

I'ts in some rounds(reloads) that that shoot well in a problem rifle.

Jump on in here!

 

[bohem]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

What caliber, bullet, and what's the charge weight that you pulled down?

 

[former naval person]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

IMHO...Put it on your tomatoes and do NOT reload that which you do not know. My opinion.

 

[former naval person]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Wait,wait, don't tell me...as the Radio show title goes...I made a hasty response. If you have a couple of hundred of NOT known reloads, with powder you don't know...put it in the garden. The tomatoes will love you. However, if you have 10 or 15 POUNDS of powder that you pulled out of known military spec rounds, that you know the origin and the weight of the bullet from whence it came and the average powder charge weight...THEN it would be worth starting low with recommended loads...especially since you had recorded the individual round charge weight....and work up a load for your rifle. Otherwise...make the worms happy. JMHO

 

[High Binder]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

In response/agreement with FNP, really you wouldn't have to know what brand it is so long as you're willing to work up from a pretty mild load. But coining a phrase from the restaurant world, "when in doubt, throw it out."

 

[TrooperBrian]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Shot In The Dark</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In response/agreement with FNP, really you wouldn't have to know what brand it is so long as you're willing to work up from a pretty mild load. But coining a phrase from the restaurant world, "when in doubt, throw it out." </div></div>

If only all restaurants used that, ever been to McDonalds?

Yes. Throw it out.

 

[shpanther]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Known quality.Unknown exact powder.Hence the question.

It's not surplus or pull down.

.223,55FMJ,24.7 gr.+-

This rifle has shot nothing well,ever! It shot this random load five groups five rds. each moa or better.

I'm checking other crap like seating depth with a comparator.I've used the case,primer and bullet type before(and alot of others).Trying to narrow down the current production powders without alot on hand.

Any help would be great. And my tomatoes are doing great,sandy soil!!!

 

[Grump]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Possibly one of the Hodgdon powders, but going by color and kernel size and shape is unreliable at best.

Got a mass spectrometer so you can start to analyze how much of these various ingredients:

Dibutyl phthalate there is, in proportion with Nitroglycerine, Polyester adipate, Rosin, Ethyl Acetate (that might be why some spherical powders smell like Elmer's glue, to me...), Diphenylamine, N, Nitroso diphenyl amine, Potassium nitrate (yes, as much as 1.5%), Potassium sulfate, Tin dioxide, 2-Nitro diphenyl amine, Graphite, and Calcium Carbonate

there is mixed in with the dominant ingredient, Nitrocellulose?

Even then, all you could most likely do is figgure out which powders it's NOT, based on what your sample has which powder X doesn't, and what powder Y has which your powder doesn't.

It's probably faster and cheaper and far more reliable to do the old industrial espionage thing and pin down what powder the manufacturer was making...which probably WASN'T a canister-grade powder that you can buy anyway.

If you're trying to buy and duplicate the load.

Perhaps better to shoot it in three different barrels and fudge QuickLOAD data until you are within 2% on all three data points, and then just find a powder that comes closest to what those loads do in those rifles.

 

[shpanther]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Thanks for the reply.It was/is an off the shelf powder.

They were loaded as blasters by me or one of the village idiots.It was an every day powder.Just don't have any more to reference it against.

It was one of those,look 55gr fmj's on sale lets load up a bunch.

I have jacked with this rifle on and off for years and finally gave up on it. Had some problems with a similar platform recently that I worked through so I pulled this thing back out.

 

[bohem]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

As FNP got to, and I was getting more information about. I'm trying to get an idea of what the burn rate is by the case adn bullet you're shooting with it, adn what the charge weight is you can pull down the ammo to work with it on your specific rifle.

If it's an off the shelf powder for 55's adn 223 you could be with H335 or BLC2 as my first guesses without seeing it. They are certainly not interchangable.

If the goal here is to figure out what the load is adn duplicate it you're not that far away actually. Pull down 20 of them and measure each charge weight. Take the average and compare it to the acceptable range for h335 and BLC2. Try loading some of whichever (or both) that happen to be in that safe range and see how they do.

 

[Grump]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Must apologize, didn't catch "reloads" in your first post, shpanther.

Give us the velocities in two different barrels and the fired case capacity for at least one of them, and I would be happy to render an edjoomated guess.

ETA: Canister-grade makes a HUGE difference, AFIC.

 

[BCP]

Re: Ball powder ID ?

Chrono it.