FloridaDudeBro Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Folks thanks for your indulgence. I bought a half case of 9mm from LAX ammunition some eight years ago. I got two squibs out of the first magazine. That spooked me enough to store the rest of it. Well now I'm thinking about getting into reloading, and figure I should learn how to process used brass, and I'm doing that now. Then I remember that big bag of danger rounds. I pull one, and the bullet is 115 gr. plated. The powder is this stuff right here. Anyone tell me what it is? Also is it safe to recycle powder into new loads? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1911in9mm Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 There’s no way to positively identify the powder used, so there’s no real good methodology to start load development from with an unknown powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaDudeBro Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 2 hours ago, 1911in9mm said: There’s no way to positively identify the powder used, so there’s no real good methodology to start load development from with an unknown powder. OK so I'm faced with two choices: Pull all 490 rounds and dispose of the powder therein, or reload with exactly 4.6 gr. of the mystery powder. My gut says not to trust the powder because of the squibs. Or some of the cases have no charge. Which again I won't know until I pull all the bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Can you describe the squibs in greater detail? Did the bullet remain in the bore (bullet in bore (BIB)) or simply low powered? I'm guessing BIB. Assuming such, when you removed the bullet, what did the base of the bullet look like? Blackened or clean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigarmsp226 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) IMO - again just my opinion - if I had two squibs in the first magazine, one of two things are happening - not enough power for the round to function in your pistol (larger diameter bullet than your pistol barrel can manage based on how the rounds are loaded) or you have a questionable batch of ammo so I would pull the remaining rounds, dump the unknown powder, and save the primed brass and projectiles. I would also measure the bullet diameter on a handful of these loaded rounds and then slug your barrel to see what measurements you get and bring that back to this group for advice on what to do or not do.... A squib could destroy your handgun and/or seriously hurt you....Two squibs in one mag would be the indicator that I would not attempt to fire another one of these rounds in that specific pistol....Just my opinion.....Good Luck and Be Safe....Mark Edited November 1, 2020 by Sigarmsp226 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TONY BARONE Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 How about calling Lax Ammo for the solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 From the pic it almost looks like Universal Clays and that would match up to a light load. The thing you don’t know is, was it a lack of or bad powder or faulty/contaminated primers? You could go through the trouble of re-powdering them only to find the primers are bad. I have figured out some mystery powders but some take lots of research and comparing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HesedTech Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Here’s what I did when faced with the same issue. Years ago I purchased 1000 rounds of 40sw for practice from a reloader who sold via the internet. It was junk, under powered and would run in a stock HK. No refunds, so I unloaded about 900 rounds, threw the powder out (actually had a grand time burning it up), reused the bullets and primered brass. My reloads worked great, was worth the hassle and inspired me to get into volume reloaded to feed the dragon. Don’t trust the loads, and maybe reload 100 at a time in case the primers are the actual issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGA Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 As Guy Neill asks, please describe the squibs. Failure to fire? Bullet lodged in barrel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Surfer Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 19 hours ago, FloridaDudeBro said: My gut says not to trust the powder. Follow your gut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstagn Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 You could weigh each complete round that you know contains powder and see how many squibs, but I would not trust anything. A light load with bullet part way down will cause damage to your gun and possibly you. Pull them all and reload properly ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Watson Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. I would experiment with it. Start pulling bullets and checking powder charges. Are they all at or near 4.6 grains? Are there any zero powder rounds? If yes and yes, I would not mind loading them back at 4.6 grains. Do a few to shoot to test for primer ignition and gun function. If OK, process the rest. You would end up with some extra primed cases and bullets from the ones the vendor skipped powder on. If the powder charges were erratic, I would trash the powder and just reload the cases and bullets with a known powder. Again with a few to check the primers before doing them all. Check bullet diameter. If the plated bullets were squeezed down or ringed by a hard crimp, the Lee Undersize sizing die would give you a better chance for bullets secure in the brass. Background and experience: After the house fire of The Incident, I pulled many bullets from water penetrated ammo. Not all were wet inside but I still discarded the powder and primers even if they looked dry. I dried the bullets and brass and loaded them back with no failures. Edited November 2, 2020 by Jim Watson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m700 Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 its about $10 in powder I would dump it. Powder is still out there. It kind of looks like tumbling media Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaDudeBro Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 (edited) The squibs were bullets stopped in the barrel. No bueno. Yeah I'm feeling to just dump the powder and enjoy the fact that I would have about 500 primed cases and mostly pristine plated bullets. Edited November 10, 2020 by FloridaDudeBro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 If the base of the bullet(s) you removed from the bore had clean bases, it means the powder was present, but did not burn. If the base of the bullet(s) were blackened, it means there was no powder. This could point to the powder not being "bad", just missing in some rounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExStreetWalker Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 On 11/2/2020 at 9:24 AM, jstagn said: You could weigh each complete round that you know contains powder and see how many squibs, but I would not trust anything. A light load with bullet part way down will cause damage to your gun and possibly you. Pull them all and reload properly ! There's enough difference in case and bullet weights to make this suggestion nothing more than mental masturbation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer61 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Have a look at this site & go through all you want. IMHO it looks like BE-86 https://www.ilrc.ucf.edu/powders/sample_detail.php?powder_id=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyVey Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Wow, what info!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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