Blend away. Done it for years, and some manufacturers actually recommend blending of some powders to alter the burn rate, as in blending LT-32 with AA2015. Only 1 reason not to would be if there was a recall, you would have a beotch of a time separating them.
I mix them and don't worry about it at all. It keeps things from changing if you finish a can of one lot and start another. If I've got five pounds of Varget of different lots then I blend them all together and pour them back in the cans, now all my cans are identical powder.
If there was a slight variation in the powder, Wouldn't mixing the 2lbs with the original 4lbs dilute most of the variation?
Blended there "might" be a small variance between the two lots, but by a much smaller percentage than unblended..
I have a few rifles that just love RL22, but this powder varies more from lot to lot than any other powder I have used. mixing a couple lot#'s together does mellow it out and make it more useful.
I'm not taking responsibility for anyone else's doings, but mixing hasn't been a big deal for me.
I wound up with pieces of a couple of a couple of eight pound jugs of Varget, and a couple of new one pounders. It all went into one of the big jugs, got shaken well, and voila! Shoots great too.
I was shooting some 225 grain bullets in my .338 Lapua, using a few different powders and loads right out of the manual.
I wasn't getting the same velocities as the book, so I mixed in some Bullseye and got the speed. Manuals are just guidelines anyway.
Whittle down a wine cork, after you finish the wine, so it'll insert to about 2" depth in the end of your rifle barrel. I find this allows the pressure curve to reach optimum level quicker then flat-top for an extended duration. Keeps the mostest pressure for the longest time, not that you'll get to see it of course.
Colossians 3:17 (New King James Version) "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
I guess I'm just in the file that reads... " when/if in doubt DO NOT". Of course, everything your read on the internet is true.. it must be, it's on the internet. Rock on....
Why does a man who is 50 pounds overweight complain about a 10 pound rifle being too heavy? SCI Life Member 4**
I have no problem blending lots of the same powder and do it on a a regular basis. I've never had a problem and load data stays very consistent. Mixing in Bullseye to bump velocity? Remind me not to shoot your reloads. Glad it worked out for you.
+1 same lots no problem. I am not brave enough to add 'just a little' blue dot, bullseye, unique... To bump velocity I just add more of the same powder I'm currently using, not so complex that way.
happiness is elbow deep in elk guts. NRA life member
I have no problem blending lots of the same powder and do it on a a regular basis. I've never had a problem and load data stays very consistent. Mixing in Bullseye to bump velocity? Remind me not to shoot your reloads. Glad it worked out for you.
+1 same lots no problem. I am not brave enough to add 'just a little' blue dot, bullseye, unique... To bump velocity I just add more of the same powder I'm currently using, not so complex that way.
Well, as long as we're fessing up, I'm not either.......and I don't even own a 338 Lapua......
Phil Sharp even had a chapter devoted to blending different lots of the same powder. Recommended using a sieve for the chunky stuff.
In most old photos I have seen of him he had both limbs still.
I did it with a several 2 lb cans of H870 to prevent load work up each time I switched jugs. I was tempted to do the same with AA8700 but it just didn't load the same as the surplus 870.
Two to three grains different in max loads is too much for me to consider them the same.
Same powder with close lot numbers I don't hesitate but I consider the blend a new powder and work back up.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
A blend of two different but very similar powders will end up halfway between in burning rate. This is exactly how powder companies "adjust" powders to keep lot-to-lot variation at a minimum.
It's also mmo companies usually "adjust" powder when they get new lots. They usually don't use blended home-handloaders powders, but large lots of unblended powder. They test new lots to see what works best, and while they can usually find a load that works, sometimes they'll blend powders as well. In fact one of the original factory loads for the .300 WSM used a blend of what we know as Winchester 748 and 760.
But mixing different lots of the the same powder involves about as much risk as using different toothpastes.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
I habitually take the last bit of powder in a can and add it to the next can of the same powder. Only once did I run into a lot of powder with a vastly different burn rate and that was RL22.
I had safe loads worked up for the .270 and .300 Win. Mag. with one jug of RL22. These were top loads but did not exceed listed manual levels. When the first jug ran out I bought another and loaded to the same charge weights. My safe 3060 fps .270 load with a 130 grain bullet suddenly produced 3300 fps with everything else the same. The .300 Win Mag load also showed about a 150 fps increase in velocity. I had to back down at least two grains with each load to get velocities back into sane levels.
But other than that, I've never had a problem taking leftover small amounts of powder and dumping it into a new bottle.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
