Unknown Powders

[Rswan13]

I bought a small lot of reloading gear and components. Included in the deal were several hundred rounds of 9mm ammo that had been hand loaded. The boxes were marked with the amount of powder, but not the type. The guy couldn't remember what it had been loaded with, so I figured I could pull the bullets and reuse the bullets and brass for my own loads.

Is there any way to tell what kind of powder it is? So far I have found two distinctly different types of powder after pulling only about 40 bullets. Or should I just trash the powder and just use the bullets and brass?

[dawgkllr]

If I don't know the load or who loaded it (other than factory) then I won't shoot it.

[trjones87]

yes, there absolutely is!

step 1. pull the bullet and dump the powder onto a table
step 2. using a credit card cut it up into 4 small skinny lines
step 3. roll a dollar bill into a tight circle
step 4. using said dollar bill, snort the powder

from there its easy to tell whats what, just need to do alot of comparisons







joke....please do not snort gun powder

[SabreKiller]

There's not an accurate method of determining the powder type that I'm aware of. If I don't know what kind it is I usually take it outside and burn it up or just scatter it in the yard.

It's much more fun to burn it though!

[RangerRick2012]

Pictures of the various types of powders? Weights for each type?

[GoneSouth]

yes, there absolutely is!

step 1. pull the bullet and dump the powder onto a table
step 2. using a credit card cut it up into 4 small skinny lines
step 3. roll a dollar bill into a tight circle
step 4. using said dollar bill, snort the powder

from there its easy to tell whats what, just need to do alot of comparisons







joke....please do not snort gun powder

Love me some brown brown

[mrc]

If you know what year they were loaded that might narrow it down a little. Pull the bullet and weigh the charge that will narrow it down some more, then compare the powder against any you might have. But myself if they are loaded with a fast burning powder I wouldn't take the chance of there being a double charge.

[sendit]

Is there any way to tell what kind of powder it is? So far I have found two distinctly different types of powder after pulling only about 40 bullets. Or should I just trash the powder and just use the bullets and brass?

Discard the powder, it's not worth the risk.

[WTucker]

Discard the powder, it's not worth the risk.

Agreed

[Phillip Fields]

Discard the powder.

[TacticalCowboy]

Chunk it

[6.5 shooter]

Do not use it.

[softpoint]

No easy way to tell what the powder is. I'd just salvage the rest of the components and trash the powder.

[Rswan13]

Yeah I'm definitely not going to attempt to reuse the powder. I've now found four different types that I can tell. I guess it was more out of curiosity than anything. I document everything I load in great detail so I have a hard time wrapping my head around not labeling what powder/bullet was in each box at a minimum.