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Posted: 9/8/2012 8:12:17 AM EDT
Not sure how this occured. I never mix, I never load two types at the same time. I load one type, clean up, then switch. It is surplus powder, so I can only guess cross contamination when it was packaged. IMR 5010 style pulldown from Hi-techammo, Lot LC 12699HP. It's not a HUGE amount, but enough for me to be concerned.
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| If you know how to pan for gold and there's enough weight difference between the two types of grains, it maybe could be separated. I once dumped some Unique into some H110 and used my gold panning training to separate the powders. The Unique grains being lighter and a different shape than H110 grains floated to the top with enough gentle swirling and shaking. I still threw some away, but salvaged most of the H110. Having a gold pan with ridges in the side helped. Of course I knew the 2 powders I was dealing with. |
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What am I looking at here? Can you pour some out into a pan and take a close-up pic? -Deke It's stick powder. If you look mid picture, you can see some ball mixed in. Luckily, this is from the bottom of an 8 pound jug. Maybe a pound or so left in the bottom, so it's not a huge loss if I pitch it. Still stings though. If you see the balls in the pic, you'll notice they are more towards the top. That's towards the bottom of the jug that I poured from.... if that makes sense. I wonder if some ball was in the bottom, before they put in the 5010. |
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Have you tested any of the loads you made from this batch? Be careful, I am not familiar with this surplus powder and if it isn't supposed to look like this I wouldn't risk my fingers and eyeballs on a test. We have machines for that sort of thing. Been using that same jug for some years. An occasional ball never bothered me (i.e. a few in a reloading session). But today, I've seen A LOT. I think either it settled, or some ball was in the bottom. Luckily, I have a different container to use for today's loading...but...Each 8 pound container is roughly 243 rounds of live ammo. It adds up. Probably safer to just pitch it. 
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Yea, I would wonder about what that ball powder was every time I tried to settle the sights and squeeze the trigger. It wouldn't be much fun like that.
Guess I would have to agree with pitch it, unless one of the screening methods the guys have pointed out could work. You would have to get lucky with just the right size screen do pass the ball and leave the extruded. It might just be sitting in your kitchen drawer and take five minutes, or it may end up not worth your time......... |
| I've got a jug of Re15 surplus I bought at Camp Perry about 5 years ago. Found the same thing (when I opened it for the first time). Not nearly as much as you've got. I wrote all over the jug with Sharpy––having a hard time bringing myself to just throw it on the lawn. |
| Bought an 8 lb jug of surplus IMR 4895 some time ago and near the bottom of the jug it had some ball powder mixed with the stick powder. To separate it I took some drywall sanding paper screen and poured it slowly onto the screen. Ball powder fell through and only stick powder stayed in the screen. Perfectly separated. Since the drywall sanding screen comes in different grit sizes you can pick one course enough to let finer powder go through and courser powder remain. Not saying this is the thing to do in every case but it does work. |
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Some .50 BMG is loaded with ball powder, I don't know the ID number. I've got 5010 (stick) and US 869 (ball), could be possible some got mixed in. Danny  THat's kind of what I'm thinking. I haven't noticed any pressure issues. Loads are all right where they should be. Part of me says keep an eye on it, but don't toss it. |
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