Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Blending different powder lots....

I'd certainly dump them all in a bowl, stir with a spoon, and pour it back in the containers. Done it before, no problems. Your average can will hold more that 1lb of powder, so you may be able to fit 5lbs in 3-4 cans and save shelf space. Just stick a tape label on each can saying "1 can of a 5lb lot".

That was my first thought and I should have stuck with it. Eliminates the need to consider the gravitational effect of the angle of the Earth's axis to that of the Sun with Earth on the decreasing parabolic curve, on a specific volume of powder in the hopper.

I think I'll use a big plastic bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon.

Just mix them all together and drop back a few grains. Chronograph your loads to see if you're still getting the same velocities (within normal variations) that the old lot gave at that charge level. If all is good to go, load up. If not then adjust your loads accordingly. Once you hit the same velocities with the new blended lot - and provided other components remain the same - you'll be pretty much at same same pressure levels as the old lot even if the charge weights are slightly different.

Once you do that then you'll have 5 pounds of a uniform blend to go through.

I've only had one experience with a new lot of powder giving significantly higher pressures at same charge levels and that was with RL-22. A new lot of powder increased velocities in a .270 and .300 WM by almost 200 fps into a very definite red zone. It's a great powder for accuracy and velocity but I have been leery of it from then on.

Your wife will probably kick your azz too if you take her wooden spoon out and mix powder with it. After all, she will need it for making pumpkin pies...Geesh!!!

Some reloaders just aren't all that fussy about the quality of loads they produce..

A while back I bought 4 cans of H4350, 2 different lots. I didn't want to go through load development and then risk the possibility of adding a new variable when I switched lots. I mixed all 4 cans in a big bowl and then put them into 3 cans. Labelled each can 1 of 3, 2 of 3 etc.

I remember reading something many, many moons ago (in the 80's, if memory serves) by some writer who recommended that very thing. I've done it myself more than once, albeit after trying a number of the same loads from each lot to check for any inconsistency. OTOH, I'm not one of those 'run every load at redline' loaders.

I have blended multiple lots of Varget previously to ensure consistency across multiple containers. Not certain how much it helped. But,it didn't hurt. As above, I try not to "hot rod" my handloads. YMMV.

I clean the hopper on the powder measure after every reloading session.

The measure is disassembled, steam washed and all metal parts polished.

For best results, never allow pistol powder, shotshell powder and rifle powders in the same measure; they use different coatings and unless you clean like above, its an obvious contamination.
Same for powder brands. If you use Alliant, then IMR, everything must be re-cleaned or again, its a contamination.

Hope this helps.....

I sure hope you're using distilled water for that steam washing!

And don't forget to strain the granules of any powder to weed out those that are inconsistent in size...

I don't strain....


Tweezers

Damn, I hadn't thought of that!

Thanks for the idea...

The Alliant stuff will test your patience...

And the punkin pie was GREAT. So was the pecan pie; ate so much of it this morning for breakfast with coffee it made my stomach upset and I had to take a nap

yall are making my head hurt ...

Lots?
Hahaha!
Mann, I've got an 8 pound jug off imr4895- h4895 mixed.
Lots...
What a maroon.
And guess what?
Im shooting ragged holes with it in 308 and 375.
It's about 10;1 in favor of the imr4895.

Ahhhhh. So if I mix RL12 and RL22 at a 1:1 ratio, that should effectively give me RL17, right? (grin)








****Disclaimer: Do not be a Darwin candidate and actually try this. You and your firearms might suffer some "traumas" when something blows up........

You need to add a pinch of Bullseye to get that boost in velocity that RL17 is famous for.

I'm surprised there are as many people who weigh charges as there are. I mean really who has time for that. Dump powder in bin. Scoop a case full and seat a bullet.

Why not? ...... I've done it a couple and with Varget.

No big deal either way.