Powder ID

[Henry45]

Is there a way to identify powder type in your favorite rounds? I bought some reloads a few years ago, and am getting back into reloading now. But my gun 380acp loves these rounds. They shoot accurate and low recoil. Comparing these to factory, I can shoot these in a group about the size of a silver dollar at 7 yards, but, factory, or any others, I can't get that tight of a group.

Would one way be, pull a bullet, check the size of the charge weight, and look in the book for possible matches?

 

[rcmodel]

No way, unless they are loaded with one of the Alliant "Dot" powders.

Like Red Dot, Green Dot, etc.
In that case, the powder will have a small percentage of the flakes died Red, Green, etc.

Otherwise, there is no way to positively ID it.

Load manuals give a range of charges from a starting load to a MAX load.
And there is no way to weigh a charge and compare it to a book range of charges.

rc

 

[kingmt]

You can get a good guess tho. Tell us the load & post a picture & I bet we find you a match. If not what have you lost? A little fun working on it?

 

[FROGO207]

Running a few of them over a chrony would help also if you are able to. That velocity would be a good piece of the puzzle to have. Is it possible to find out who reloaded them and ask?

 

[rcmodel]

Whoever reloaded then should have wrote all the data on the box label they are in.

If they didn't bother, I'd be afraid to even shoot them.

rc

 

[medalguy]

Yep I'm with RC on this one. No way to tell what kind of powder might have been used. This is one of the advantages of handloading-- you can get ammo that's far more accurate than any factory ammo. My own .380 isn't worth crap with factory ammo, but with my load I can get 1 inch groups at 15 yards as long as I keep it on target.

All you can do is pull a few bullets and weigh the powder charge and bullet, and chrono the load to see what the velocity might be. Then look in several manuals and try to find a load that approximates that velocity for the same bullet, then start with that load reduced and work your way up until you get equally accurate ammo.

Or just try a good pistol powder for .380 and work up your own load. No reason you can't duplicate that accuracy with possibly another powder.

 

[Henry45]

Thanks guys. I'm working up some new loads for this weekend with 231 and Berry's bullets. Going to try 231 in the 380 loads. I shoot 45 Colt too, but am using Trail Boss so there is no disputing that powder!

These were from several years ago, I bought I believe at a gun show to have a couple hundred rounds at home. Well, here and now, i'm back into reloading and just wondered if there was a way to duplicate that you guys knew of. I didnt' really think so, but, new things have come along.

Thanks for the info guys! Glad to be here. I'm retiring my ol' RCBS Single Stage for a new Dillon in the next couple weeks.

I'll be a bullet junkie again...

 

[Old Grumpy]

Not reloading the rounds yourself you have no idea what, how much, or why. As other have pointed out you need to work up your own loads. I'd pull a bullet (that will give you the type and weight) and run a few over a chrony (that will give you the velocity). Then find something in your guide that will be close and have fun fine tuning the load. W231 should be a good choice for the powder and you can find tons of acceptable bullets.

 

[GLOOB]

+1 kingmt.

Nothing wrong with looking. Some powders are fairly easy to identify. You could take a good macro pic of your powder with a dime in the pic for size reference, along with the charge weight and a pic of the bullet.

If the charge weight matches up with what current load manuals indicate for that powder and bullet, then where's the problem? If it's a max charge, just work your way up to be safe. If it's a starting to middling charge, and you can find the same bullets, then you could just load 'em up and see what the target has to say.

If the charge weight doesn't match the manuals, then you know you struck out on the powder ID.

 

[kingmt]

If the charge weight doesn't match the manuals, then you know you struck out on the powder ID.

Maybe. That is where a chrony would help. The loader may have ran them a little light or heavy to get what he thought was right.

It also depends which book he was looking at & which one your looking at.

 

[Ole'Joe]

Greetings to all. I'm a new poster on this site, so please do not take what I say as an insult. That being said,
To try to ID powder by appearances is a recipie for disaster. And useing other data, though it may narrow the field somewhat, is still NOT good. Velocity could be influenced by too many factors to be of any real use, (COL, Primer brand, size-reg vs mag, temp of loaded rd at time of firing. Even attitude of weapon before and at time of firing could effect velocity, as well as humidity of powder when loaded).
My advice~ bad idea, and definately a dangerous one.
Again, not lookin to ruffle any feathers, just my opinion and advice.
I would pick a powder and work up a load and if ya do match the accuracy, well great. If not, thats part of the fun of re-loading. ~ A chrono is a BIG help finding a starting load. Dont go by the published figures in manuals. They vary too much in every gun I've fired.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Roll yer own...

I'm with Ol' Joe on this one, Henry 45--You propose fooling around trying to identify a particular powder, with no guarantee of success, and THEN fooling around with your loading equipment duplicating the load.

I'd just go to my several reloading manuals, find recipes for an accurate .380 ACP load, and start working one up.

A one-step instead of a two-step process. (And, BTW, I agree that with some powders, ID'ing them from within a cartridge is very much a hit-or-miss proposition. And, the rounds in question could be loaded with a discontinued powder. And so on.)

No way, in the first place, would I shoot someone else's anonymous reloads, but you're past that point anyhow.

Good luck on this quest, and please keep us posted!

 

[Unclenick]

Beg borrow or steal a chronograph. Pull enough bullets to learn the charge weight and bullet weight of those reloads. Report them along with the length and weight and type of bullet and the COL of the loaded cartridge. Fire some over the chronograph. Then fire some of your new 231 loads over it. Report all the same data for your 231 loads. Report the velocities for both rounds and your gun's barrel length.

With that data the possibilities can be narrowed considerably. Add in a photograph of the powder grains and a ruler, and if it was not a surplus military powder, it can probably be identified or a couple of essentially identical performing powders can be identified.

 

[Jim Watson]

Sounds like fun.
I think that if you can identify the bullet it will do you more good than learning the powder, though.