tbradford13
Member
My grandfather passed away several years ago and my grandmother recently gave me a box with all of his reloading supplies that she found while cleaning the attic. The box contained the following: Chilled lead shot, 12ga wads, 20ga wads, .410 wads, 30-06 brass, 44mag brass, and a LARGE glass jar full of an unlabeled powder that I suspect he bought in the late 70s or 80s. Being the sentimental and resourceful guy I am, I would feel bad if I had to throw away the powder, as it hasn't gone bad and there is a lot of it. I've been scouring the internet trying to figure out what powder I have using the national center for forensic science (http://www.ilrc.ucf.edu/powders/sample_detail.php?). Based on the other items in the box, I would guess that it is a shotgun powder, but the brass has me wondering if it could be for rifle or pistol reloading. I was going to take a picture of my powder and upload it, but it appears that someone else online was in my exact situation with the exact same powder. In other words, my powder looks exactly like the second picture at the following link in that it is a metallic gray, perfectly circular flake powder, with a hole in the center: http://10mm-firearms.com/reloading/story-of-unknown-powder-testing/ .
If there are any experienced reloaders out there who might have a guess, I would be grateful. As a practicing reloader myself, I assure you that I don’t intend to go loading it without knowing what it is and blow myself up. I’d just like to know what I have and how to go about safely testing it. Any help is appreciated!
If there are any experienced reloaders out there who might have a guess, I would be grateful. As a practicing reloader myself, I assure you that I don’t intend to go loading it without knowing what it is and blow myself up. I’d just like to know what I have and how to go about safely testing it. Any help is appreciated!