Powder

A

AR10magic

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I bought 300 rounds of .308 from an estate sale and the box that they were packed in said "Do not shoot for reloading components only". I have since figured out that they all have 140 grain FMJ bullets, and good primers. What I was trying to figure out was the powder type. I would rather not throw it away, so I was wondering if there was any way to determine the powder type. It is very small flake powder and has almost a sheen to it. I have plenty powder to use, but I just hate wasting things. I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.
 
Pull the bullets and pour the powder in the flower bed, makes good fertilizer. Be safe, there is no way to identify powder by looking at it. There is a reason the box was labeled as it was. Goat
 
Tare them down. If you want the cases inspect them carefully for defects. Dump the powder (Never assume the powder). Fire the empty cases to safely punch out the primers. You will need to full length size the cases and inspect again.
 
I have 40 of them torn down to the primers and the powered separated in to a tupperware. I was prepared to dump the powder, but was hoping not to waste it, looks like I will anyway. I guess I could build some fireworks. :):)
 
just add me to the bunch. There's a reason it had that caveat! Unknown is unknown. Powder is cheap, even now. Just not worth taking a risk.
 
It would be very hard to tell the exact power. There are many powders that look similar. The load could have been too light, too heavy or some other problem completely. I would toss it. I'm pretty sure the whole fertilizer myth is just an old wife's tale. Toss it in the trash. You're not wasteing it - you're saving your gun, vision, fingers, etc...
 
Well this is just piling on but when they're right they're right.
Toss the powder.

You could light it up outside and 'oh' and 'ahhh' over it. Or if your expectations are too high you could just 'aw...is that all' over it.

Fertilizing the grass could be good too.
 
Figure it this way. Three hundred rounds of .308 Winchester is roughly two pounds of powder. Even if we high ball it that is about $60 in powder. Next we need to place a price on life and limb which is pretty difficult. Trash the powder and remember, life is good.

Ron
 
It is going the way of the doodoo!!! I was pretty sure of the answer before I asked and that is the reason I had it sitting in a tupperware and not in a powder measure. I figured there may be some valuable information from reloading gurus here that may have run into the same issue. I was fully prepared to dump it, but figure there was no harm in asking. Consider it dumped and I will retain all limbs in the process.
 
The guys gave the right recommendation. It may be the label on the rounds was because the powder proved to be wholly inappropriate for the application, like a pistol powder or some such. You don't usually see flakes in rifle powders because the burning characteristic of that geometry is not progressive and, while the same is true of a sphere, unlike a spherical propellant, there isn't much thickness for a deterrent concentration gradient to be formed in to give it a progressive characteristic.
 
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