ironworkerwill
Member
Do as the Scotts man says" Feed your lawn, feedit" or burn it.
Mixed Powder
- Thread starter Scorpionbowl
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Jim Watson
Member
Having actually done it, I can report that it is possible to screen out inadvertently mixed powders. A friend dumped a measure of AA2520 into a container of Varget... or maybe the other way 'round.
I contacted a colleague at my old agency and borrowed some testing sieves. Think a pan 12" diameter and 2" deep with a screen mesh bottom, available from 300 mesh per inch up to half inch openings. We picked one that would separate the ball and extruded powders and salvaged hundreds of rounds worth.
Could I do that with Bullseye and Unique? Probably, except that I no longer have that contact and no idea where else to borrow screens. And at $72 each and up, it is not reasonable to buy them.
Can it be done with a tea strainer or flour sifter? Only if you got lucky on the mesh.
Ned Roberts described sifting bulk smokeless powder for use in Scheutzen rifles. He used two strainers and got two granulations plus worthless fines.
I contacted a colleague at my old agency and borrowed some testing sieves. Think a pan 12" diameter and 2" deep with a screen mesh bottom, available from 300 mesh per inch up to half inch openings. We picked one that would separate the ball and extruded powders and salvaged hundreds of rounds worth.
Could I do that with Bullseye and Unique? Probably, except that I no longer have that contact and no idea where else to borrow screens. And at $72 each and up, it is not reasonable to buy them.
Can it be done with a tea strainer or flour sifter? Only if you got lucky on the mesh.
Ned Roberts described sifting bulk smokeless powder for use in Scheutzen rifles. He used two strainers and got two granulations plus worthless fines.
jr_watkins
Member
kill ants!
Scorpion, what you have successfully mixed is a great fire-ant destroyer. I've made the same mistake and used the result to rid the yard of fire-ants. Push a stick in the middle of the mound, pull it out leaving a hole and a million mad ants. Pour about a cup of your mixture in the hole and light. Mound will be killed in the ensuing fire show. Doesn't really hurt the lawn at all, less the burned area that recovers quickly.
Kinda' green, eh?
Scorpion, what you have successfully mixed is a great fire-ant destroyer. I've made the same mistake and used the result to rid the yard of fire-ants. Push a stick in the middle of the mound, pull it out leaving a hole and a million mad ants. Pour about a cup of your mixture in the hole and light. Mound will be killed in the ensuing fire show. Doesn't really hurt the lawn at all, less the burned area that recovers quickly.
Kinda' green, eh?
BTDTfrankenstein406
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Thats roughly $25 worth of powder assuming a full one pounder. I can't find another gun for $25 so why not just chuck it or use as case forming powder.
Scorpionbowl
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Well, I just got back from Walmart with a nice storage bin for my powder so they will be away from the bench, except for the one I want. Thanks for all of the advice and suggestions. I realize whatever I do is at my own risk. I don't understand the potential of blowing up my gun or hands by using mixed powder, in this case anyway. It's not like I mixed tite group with 110, and could end up with 15 grains of titegroup. I think the risk would be getting to light a load and getting a squib, and I'll certainly get inconsistent velocity, assuming I load to bullseye specs as some have mentioned.
I like blarby's suggestion of a hole in the bottom to get some back. I haven't shaken or disturbed the jug, so it's all on the top. I tried sifting some with a kitchen sifter, but the holes were too big, and I'm not going to bother looking for the perfect screen, fertilizer is better. My reloading mentor suggested putting the container on my tumbler and the vibration might cause the smaller dense flakes to the bottom. So It looks like I'll use blarby's suggestion for about half the jug, then tumble the other half in a tall clear plastic jug to see if the bullseye settles to the bottom.
I like blarby's suggestion of a hole in the bottom to get some back. I haven't shaken or disturbed the jug, so it's all on the top. I tried sifting some with a kitchen sifter, but the holes were too big, and I'm not going to bother looking for the perfect screen, fertilizer is better. My reloading mentor suggested putting the container on my tumbler and the vibration might cause the smaller dense flakes to the bottom. So It looks like I'll use blarby's suggestion for about half the jug, then tumble the other half in a tall clear plastic jug to see if the bullseye settles to the bottom.
Matt Dillon
Member
Now you know why it is a best practice to only have one type of powder out on the bench at a time!
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Then, how did you sift some through a kitchen sifter?
Sorry for my skeptism.
But how are you planning on drilling a hole in the bottom either, without shaking it around and mixing it worse!
You made a mistake!
Chalk it up to a lesson you won't forget, and pour it out!
Whether or not Bullseye & Unique are real close to the same burn rate & nitro content or not?
(They aren't.)
And who can say how much the Unique burn rate will be accelerated with a dash of Bullseye 'Igniter' thrown in to change the burn rate of both!
Toss it, and write if off as a lesson learned.
rc
TexasDon
Member
Yep...I've done it ONCE, then I ONLY keep ONE container on my bench of which I'm loading at the time. 
The grass loves it and doesn't care if it's mixed..!!!
TxD
The grass loves it and doesn't care if it's mixed..!!!
TxD
ColtPythonElite
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I am amazed this thread laced with bad ideas is still alive.
ljnowell
Member
That's the problem. You are underestimating the situation. It's easy to say that you could load it to bullseye laid data. You don't know what the two powders will do when mixed together.
I read an article once where two powders were mixed and the resulting mix behaved like a faster powder than either of the two in the mix. Had something to do with the way one affected the other as they burned.
I'm not a scientist but all my guns are in one piece because I don't mix powder.
Catshooter
Member
Scorpionbowl,
This is one of those cases where if you have to ask, then, as you lack the training/understanding of what happens with mixed powders then you should either label it as mixed and keep if/until you do know of your own understandings what to do or throw it out.
Years ago I traded into twenty one pounds of unknown powder. I didn't know what to do with it. So I just held onto it until I learned what to do and what not to do. I didn't just ask for advice, I made sure that I understood the application of interior ballistics enough to know on my own what to do.
Then I did it and became the proud owner of twenty one pounds of 4831!
Cat
This is one of those cases where if you have to ask, then, as you lack the training/understanding of what happens with mixed powders then you should either label it as mixed and keep if/until you do know of your own understandings what to do or throw it out.
Years ago I traded into twenty one pounds of unknown powder. I didn't know what to do with it. So I just held onto it until I learned what to do and what not to do. I didn't just ask for advice, I made sure that I understood the application of interior ballistics enough to know on my own what to do.
Then I did it and became the proud owner of twenty one pounds of 4831!
Cat
Potatohead
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Potatohead wondered the same.
Potatohead
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LOL! I had a feeling yesterday that it may be headed to the thread graveyard soon.
Potatohead
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That's interesting..and should give one pause.(hopefully)
Scorpionbowl
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I scooped a couple teaspoons off the top and it didn't sift anything, so I tossed that on the lawn...
Potatohead
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Fair enough
jcwit
member
I can see cutting a hole in the bottom and letting a portion flow out, but I sure as heck would stop long before I got anywhere near the powder on top was at.
JMO
JMO
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Ever watch powder run through a funnel.
Or Metamucil run out of a funnel?
Or grain run out of a storage silo?
It's full, then it starts running through a weak spot in the middle where the hole in the bottom & surface tension is not supporting it.
Then the top caves in, and then the sides of the top caves in, and the top runs down the ever widening hole in the middle first.
That's why grain elevator workers standing firmly on top of a storage silo full of wheat drown under it when a co-worker opens the valve on the bottom of a silo!
And that's why cutting a hole in the bottom of a can of powder to drain of the bottom 'good stuff' won't work.
The top goes to the bottom where the hole is, First.
rc
Or Metamucil run out of a funnel?
Or grain run out of a storage silo?
It's full, then it starts running through a weak spot in the middle where the hole in the bottom & surface tension is not supporting it.
Then the top caves in, and then the sides of the top caves in, and the top runs down the ever widening hole in the middle first.
That's why grain elevator workers standing firmly on top of a storage silo full of wheat drown under it when a co-worker opens the valve on the bottom of a silo!
And that's why cutting a hole in the bottom of a can of powder to drain of the bottom 'good stuff' won't work.
The top goes to the bottom where the hole is, First.
rc
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Quanah
Member
You are not the only one to have done this. I used mine for unconventional warfare against moles. During damp weather, of course,
Jesse Heywood
Member
I haven't mixed powders, but...
Oned day I was loading 45 Colt with 800-X. Started having problems with the powder charge. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Finally I decided to clean the powder measure. While I was pouring the powder from the measure to the bottle I had a WTH moment. Mixed in with the powder were spent primers. There were spent primers in the bottle of 800-X. I broke down the rounds I had loaded that evening and found spent primers in the cases.
I have since quit reloading when I am tired, as I have woke up in some strange situations.
Oned day I was loading 45 Colt with 800-X. Started having problems with the powder charge. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Finally I decided to clean the powder measure. While I was pouring the powder from the measure to the bottle I had a WTH moment. Mixed in with the powder were spent primers. There were spent primers in the bottle of 800-X. I broke down the rounds I had loaded that evening and found spent primers in the cases.
I have since quit reloading when I am tired, as I have woke up in some strange situations.
jcwit
member
Brand new bottle of powder?
Carefully cut/slice thru one half of the bottle at the 3/4 area, slide a sheet of cardboard into the slot cutting off the top 1/4 of orginal powder. Cut hole at edge of bottle on bottom and let the bottle drain. Keep eye on powder at top of bottle.
Should work, this stops the top going to the bottom.
Carefully cut/slice thru one half of the bottle at the 3/4 area, slide a sheet of cardboard into the slot cutting off the top 1/4 of orginal powder. Cut hole at edge of bottle on bottom and let the bottle drain. Keep eye on powder at top of bottle.
Should work, this stops the top going to the bottom.
Reefinmike
Member
That $6.50 pound of powder was bought back when a gallon of gas was 90 cents and minimum wage was $3.80/hr, right? its all relative, inflation works in magical ways. Everything goes up in price!Yup.
Seems like we all seem to learn that lesson the hard way. I did it once, too.
OP- If you are up in an isolated area of alaska and needing that powder to bag a few more deer before you are snowed in for the winter, grab a fine screen and try to sift the bullseye from the unique and trash the bullseye. the bullseye is a lot smaller than unique. Otherwise I'd burn it in the back yard... $20 isnt worth the risk.
Reefinmike
Member
precisely what I was thinking I'd do, but i didnt want to advise a stranger to do so.
however, id only do it if I realized the instant I poured it back in and Id cut much lower down if I were to handle the bottle any after the fact. bullseye is a lot smaller and I bet it would sift down through the unique fairly easily.
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