Guest Tiff Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 A friend of mine has got access to a reasonable supply of clean powder, from old pulled military loads. Is there a place where we can test this powder, to find its nearest equivalent commercial, so we can relatively easily develop loads for it in lots of different calibers. N.B Before anyone starts to flap, yes he has all the appropriate licensing to store the powder etc etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orka Akinse Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Tiff You gotta think safety mate, its old and you don't know what it is. that which promotes growth and vigour can it and work with what you know. It really aint worth the hassle IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiff Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Tiff You gotta think safety mate, its old and you don't know what it is. that which promotes growth and vigour can it and work with what you know. It really aint worth the hassle IMHO. That's the thing I'm after somewhere where it can be tested etc. just don't know what labs in this country do that kind of thing. As for it being old it's perfectly safe, just like shooting old surplus ammo etc. Its from lead lined unopened crates and the original shoots fine. Hes got enough to make it worth while, even if the testing costs a few hundred. There must be a testing centre somewhere that isn't millitary only? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orka Akinse Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 You could ask the military but my bet is they wont know what it is, they would just want the ammo to perform when required. Shame it wasn't from loads already made up then it would be just a case of pulling a load and weighing it, as long as you were using it in an identical calibre. When you say testing, you will probably have to provide samples of other powders to let them compare but if I were to put my legal hat on and think like a test center, I would touch it with a barge pole. Why? Because I would be making a claim that after testing your powder was such and such a powder. This is risky from a legal perspective. You might have to give them the whole lot your friend has to test. It might be different powders that are now all mixed up. From other posts on this or other sites, I think I read powder manf's are secretive with what their powders are even down to the retail name being completely different to the manf name etc and you would need to be 100% sure of what you have got, words like "we are 90% sure its such an such a powder would not cut it IMHO, well not for me anyway. It'll be interesting to see how you get on Tiff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiff Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 I know what you saying about the legal liability bit...but I don't think I've made it very clear in my previous posts. He's got the loaded military surplus ammo ammo still in its crates. We know the load that's in this set caliber and all the powder is the same in all the crates, since it is all of the same batch no.s etc. However we are not able to ask the manufacture what the powder is, since there factory closed down a few years ago in the Rhineland Surely there must be a test centre/lab that can work out roughly what this is similar to? Or am I looking at it the wrong way and is there a way of working out what the powder is similar to, by entering all the known figures like load weight, velocity etc. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 If loaded with a the same or lighter bullet in the same cartridge you could always reduce the load weight by 10% and give it a try. As to pressures you'd need a pressure test system (I use "Pressure Trace", expensive but informative) but for burn rate, there are too many other factors to contend with in a practical reloading sense: Density, charge weight, compression... all alter burn rates. I would scrap it or use it as I described in the first sentence -my personal inclination is towards the former.~Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Not sure if they still do it or how much, but ICI would have testing facillities. If you know what rounds the bullets were pulled from (I am guessing tracer??) or who manufactured them this may provide a starting point for enquiries negating chemical analysis - Radway Green ...... Another option is Kynoch in Sussex (I think), thye have a indoor test facillity, for ammunition, again unsure of whether this includes chemical analysis of powder. Personally think it would make nice addition to celebrations on 5th November Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldie Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I,ll bet its a ball type powder ? Military usage has always been powders that most would consider "hot". Load up some using common sense, and send them to the proof house. They will test them for you, at the appropriate rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiff Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Thanks for the replies guys Its given me a few ideas I hadn't thought of.....If you didn't guess from my previous post they are from German WW2 loads....hence finding factory data might be a bit problematic. Might set the whole county on fire if it went up at once, considering its overall weight in Kg is in low 3 figures! At £15 per Kg I think it is certainly worth while investigating a bit further! Oh and yes it is ball (flake) powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casts_by_fly Posted September 1, 2008 Report Share Posted September 1, 2008 Do you have a rifle that shoots that cartridge? If so, then I would shoot a few rounds over a chronograph and see what speed you're looking at. Then pull a few heads and weight both the heads and the charge. IF there is a commercial analog, then you should be able to narrow it down to 1-3 choices per manufacurer based on the velocity/weight/type. You won't get an exact match I'm going to wager since the manufacturer is already gone. But, it will give you a range on the burn rate chart that you are in. Of course if you can find a lab to test it all the better. Since you have a LOT of it and it is worth your time to do it right, you should look at US labs too. The exchange rate is in your favor and shipping powder isn't that bad. Thanks Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejg223 Posted September 1, 2008 Report Share Posted September 1, 2008 Borrow a rifle from a friend and a long string edi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiff Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Sounds like the proof house are able to help me out I'll update the thread when the results come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampy Posted September 6, 2008 Report Share Posted September 6, 2008 Hi tiff, I have a friend who is a real ammo conisuer (probably spells properly too) have you got any of the packaging or original rounds so i can show them to him and he might be able to come up with something for you please pm me or post on here steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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