Zmego Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I had a stupid brain fart the other day while reloading... I reload all my rifle and pistol on a single stage press (I know, sucks to be me), and I only have one powder measure that I empty and fill up each time. Apparently I didn't empty the powder measure all the way last time I was reloading .223 and left a small amount (maybe 50-100gr) of H335 in the powder measure. When I went to load some pistol the other day I didn't see the left over H335 before I poured in some Win 231 over top of it. At the start of any reloading "session" I charge a piece of brass dump the powder from the brass on my scale to make sure the charge is right then return the powder to the powder measure. I did this 4 or 5 times charging the left over H335 then returning it to the powder measure with the Win 231 in it essentially mixing the the two powders. I loaded about 25 rounds and added some more Win 231 on top of the returned H335 before realizing my mistake. Normally I would just dump out all the "contaminated" powder and start fresh with a lesson well learned, but with pistol powders being as scarce as they are and this being my last half pound of Win 231 I really don't want to dump it out. With the amount of H335 I have mixed in with my Win 231, am I being unsafe by continuing to load or is it not enough to matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Not worth the risk. There's no way to tell how those powders will burn with each other. Powder is valuable right now but it's nothing compared to a blown up pistol or an injury. JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Dump it all unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You have some expensive fertilizer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVvrroomm Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Those will be some interesting loads. Keep us informed how they work out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmego Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 I figured this was the response I would get, I was just wanting to be wrong. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Think how much better your lawn will look this summer !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I am not suggesting you do anything!!! But, I ask, when you mix a faster (pistol) and a slower (rifle) powder, you can't be confident the burn rate/internal combustion pressures and resulting velocities will be somewhere between the two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I am not suggesting you do anything!!! But, I ask, when you mix a faster (pistol) and a slower (rifle) powder, you can't be confident the burn rate/internal combustion pressures and resulting velocities will be somewhere between the two? I'm thinking over pressure situation.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifeislarge Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I always blow out my powder measure completely with the air nozzle and compressor. I don't like cross-contamination in my peanut butter and jelly nor do I like it in my powders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solvability Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 (edited) My thought would be you would get more flash and more erratic performance if shot in a pistol - if loaded in a rifle - danger! Edited April 8, 2014 by Solvability Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I am not suggesting you do anything!!! But, I ask, when you mix a faster (pistol) and a slower (rifle) powder, you can't be confident the burn rate/internal combustion pressures and resulting velocities will be somewhere between the two? I'm not an expert but I could see one of the powders burning much hotter or cooler temperature wise. Who knows what that will do to the other powder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Shoot it up! Ackley would be proud! Disclaimer: this is not actual advice, please use discretion when discharging firearms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLG8R Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Sounds very dangerous. Search a thread by Alamo Shooter... Learn from his experience...I'm glad Jamie made it out without being too badly injured! Not worth the risk in my opinion, scarce powder or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLG8R Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=149220&view=findpost&p=1691453&hl=%2Balamo+%2Bshooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmego Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Would 100 grains mixed with nearly 3500 really be an issue. I am fine dumping it but I have a hard time believing that it would have a catastrophic outcome...then again I only got a C in chemistry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poseidon215 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 It's won't cause a problem. The guy above accidentally used pistol powder in a .223 round which caused catastrophic failure. You are talking about a few flakes of a slow burning rifle powder in with fast burning pistol powder. Load it up use it for practice Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.roberts Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Would 100 grains mixed with nearly 3500 really be an issue. I am fine dumping it but I have a hard time believing that it would have a catastrophic outcome...then again I only got a C in chemistry. If your 100gr H335 in 3500gr W231 is accurate, you'd have less than 0.2 gr of H335 in a 5gr of the H335/W231 mix. Pretty sure I wouldn't worry about it. Note: if you blow some shit up, not my fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Note: if you blow some shit up, not my fault. There is the rub, it will be his. I am with the folks that suggest not loading ammo with it. Unless your firearms are of less value that the amount of powder you mixed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 ^the voice of reason, you're talking about what? $15 worth of powder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifeislarge Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. No, but seriously, it's powder not your last jar of baby food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Did you blend the powders? Or simply dump the pistol powder on top of the rife powder? The problem comes in that even with blending you may not get a uniform mix. That means one charge may be all, or mostly one powder. If you dumped the pistol powder on top of the rifle powder you may (no certainty) be able to dispense (meter) most of the rifle powder out as if you were charging cases for however many powder measure strokes it would take to clear the amount of powder you feel is wrong - plus some as an insurance factor. Should you try to salvage at least some of it. Overall, safest would be to discard all of it, but if you could potentially dump most/all the rifle powder out the bottom, leaving the pistol powder, you might get some loads from it. Your choice as we are not there and not in your shoes! The greater risk is (I feel) potentially sticking a bullet in the bore from a cartridge containing all or most rifle powder. But we have no real way of knowing the results unless tested under controlled conditions (as in a pressure gun ...). Good luck. Keep us posted on what you end up doing. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poseidon215 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 More than likely the rounds just won't perform as well with a mix of slow burning rifle powder but they should function for practice ammo. Just pay attention for squibs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmego Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 I am going to play it safe and fertilize the lawn with this moronic mistake. Thanks for everyone's input. I am willing to bet that I dn't make this mistake again, especially if I can't reload 9mm for months to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Man, now I'm just so curious. Go out and borrow some guys hi-point, put it in a vice and shoot the gun via string. Run the loads over the chrono and we'll all have the answers to our questions. If the Hi-Point blows up, who cares, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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