Whelp, it happened to me

The grain between the two should be different enough to identify what it is.

But maybe it's time to change your system - if I quit with componenets still in my press, I use a post it note taped to the powder measure to identify exactly what I was loading, and what's still in the press.

Visual inspect between the 2 would have probably been enough

I dump the powder back into the container after I'm done loading.

I always stick some masking tape on the powder dispenser hopper & write on it the powder and charge. It has saved me a lot of investigation and doubt in situations just as you describe.

sorry to hear that friend least the yard will look good.

plodder said:

I always stick some masking tape on the powder dispenser hopper & write on it the powder and charge. It has saved me a lot of investigation and doubt in situations just as you describe.

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Same same. A little of the blue painters tape with the powder name and the desired/max charge weight so it's right there in front of my face.

Look at it. Weigh the drop and see what jives with your 45ACP data. Measure density. If u still dont know but are confident it is one of the two, load with WST data and see if it floats.

say what you will about green, blue, and red dot, at least you know what powder you are dropping if you ever get confused.

I had to fertilize the yard one time back in my first days of reloading, and haven't made that mistake since. I have since made sure I keep the canister on the bench while I'm working, and then when I'm finished, I pour it back into the canister, no exceptions. Reloading is a great hobby, but mistakes can be fatal at worst.

GS

I never leave powder in the measure. The chemicals in some powders can etch the hopper, and sunlight is not good for the powder, either. Sorry for your loss, maybe it was only a small amount. Lightman

Masking or blue tape as was already posted. Its your friend. I write powder, charge, caliber and bullet weight on it.

I don't mark anything, but there's a strict "One can on the bench at a time" rule in my cave. I guess I'll keep doing that.

I too dump it right back in the canister after a loading session. But I also only use #2 and w231. They have vastly different gainage. An old friend of mine told me that sunlight and humidity are bad for the powder. I live in Washington, it rains here. All the frigging time.

Powder will suck up moisture from the air, causes it to drop heavy which results in a lighter load. (If its not wet to the point it doesn't go boom, then you get a mess on your hands; bullet stuck in barrel, powder everywhere in the action).

Powder stored in bulk that sucks up moisture can spontaneously combust. Had a friend with a leaky garage roof that had a 100 lb keg of H1000 get wet; it went up in such a fashion. It started smoking when he took the lid off, he drug it out in to his driveway and went to call the number on the side... bright light... melted his cast iron deck table and cooked the siding off his garage and house, bubbled the chrome on his car bumper, baked the paint, etc.. damn near caught the buildings..

Powder that's been exposed to UV light for too long will suffer a similar fate.

If it doesn't smell acidic (caustic), it should be OK.

But if you can't identify what it is... fertilizer. I've had to do that a few times as well, forgetting to mark the powder. (Generally I'll write the powder name on a slip of paper and throw it in the hopper WITH the powder, that way I don't get the tube sticky with tape goop.)

After reading the Skeeter Skelton story titled "Skeeters Cow Killer loads" I havent left powder in a measure since. Its a great story, here is a synapsis:

Skeeter was in charge of loading duty rounds for the guys in his dept. They were 44mag loads using Unique. He left the powder in the hopper for quite a while and when one of the guys asked him for some ammo he just went and cranked some out for him. This deputy was dispatched to a call of a cow hit by a truck in the middle of the road. When he got there it became obvious that the cow needed put down. The deputy unholstered his 44 and put it about two foot from the cows head and pulled the trigger. There was a pop and the bullet hit the cow in the head and bounced off, landing on the ground. This act was repeated with the same result. The farmer then killed it with a shotgun, I believe. Afterword they pulled the rounds and found the right amount of powder in them, and the guns action was crudded with half burned powder. When ol' Skeet checked the powder measure the unique had "melted" the plastic inside the measure, and you could feel the scallops of the flaked on the inside with your hand, hang a nail on them even.

Its a funny story and many people doubt it. Its enough to make me not leave powder in my measure though, even if there arent any cows that need put down.

I almost committed the cardinal sin of having two cans on the bench last night, but I decided I would slow down a bit and put the one away in which I was finished. I know there is a big difference between a ball powder and a stick powder and I was using one in a progressive, and the other for a single stage, but rules are rules.

Whelp?

You gave birth to pups?

I stick a 3x5 card in the hopper with the name of the powder on it (with lot #s if I have more than one can of it) right before pouring in the powder. Its the only way to know for certain what's in the hopper. Things happen, and it's too easy for a moment away to become a month off doing something else.

Dump it back in the container when finished ! I never leave my powder thrower on the bench when finished, too many things can happen, especially to the micro twist knob on the thrower! I put things away when I'm finished, gremlin's might be lurkin' around in the basement.

Trent said:

Powder stored in bulk that sucks up moisture can spontaneously combust. Had a friend with a leaky garage roof that had a 100 lb keg of H1000 get wet; it went up in such a fashion. It started smoking when he took the lid off, he drug it out in to his driveway and went to call the number on the side... bright light... melted his cast iron deck table and cooked the siding off his garage and house, bubbled the chrome on his car bumper, baked the paint, etc.. damn near caught the buildings..

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So wet powder will burn?

Muddydogs said:

So wet powder will burn?

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Not sopping wet. If you read what I wrote, you'd see I'm talking about powder picking up humidity from the air. It makes it heavier by volume, so if you set your powder dump to a certain weight, you're actually dropping less powder for that given weight.

If it absorbs too much vapor, it won't ignite. It may also spontaneously combust if in sufficient volume (I've only heard of spontaneous combustion due to humidity in 100lb kegs; happened to a friend of mine with nasty effect).

Powder stored in a hopper (which is vented) in a non-climate controlled garage will go through freeze/thaw cycles that will dramatically increase the rate of water vapor absorbed by the powder.

Powder stored in a hopper (which is vented) in a non-climate controlled garage will go through freeze/thaw cycles that will dramatically increase the rate of water vapor absorbed by the powder.

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I doubt that people in Arizona will worry about it.

i have 3 presses in a row and i place the container i'm using behind each. some times the same powder is in 2 different presses at the same time--there is still a can by each press.
tape on each powder hopper is penciled with the powder ( 'B' for bullseye) and the grains.
if i am called away from a press, i leave the handle down as there will be no mistake as to where i was in the process when i return.

plodder said:

I always stick some masking tape on the powder dispenser hopper & write on it the powder and charge. It has saved me a lot of investigation and doubt in situations just as you describe.

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I use yellow sticky notes (2x2) the same way. Before I leave the bench, I recheck the load data, recheck the scale setting, recheck the powder lable, return the powder to the bottle, then I get up and put the bottle of powder away. I'v made an effort to make this a habit and it's worked for nearly 26 years...