Squibs, Silhouette powder and rain

All righty folks I had a chance to test again. The verdict is I'm just not happy with the silhouette for .38 spc. It's a strange deal in that I am using it for 9MM and 45 just fine. But the 38's just are weak as hell. Now my time and cost add up so I just decided for now to go with Tite Group. Very happy with that for both the 38 and 357 Mag.

with that said I have a new not so much problem but curiosity, new thread Unique and 115G 9MM.

Take care all.
 
I just read through this.

One question: do you allow powder to sit in your hopper after a loading session?

I learned the hard way that powder that sits in a hopper will degrade.
 
Titegroup works great but be extra careful not to get an accidental double charge, or even an overcharge. It gets very spikey and takes up very little space in the huge .39sp case so it’s easy not to notice an over charge. I speak from experience, an accidental double charge while loading on my Loadmaster cost me my favorite.357. It wasn’t because of the machine but because of my stupidity in handling a malfunction in the Loadmaster. Complacency has no place on the loading bench, and I’ve been loading since the mid eighties without any incident. Luckily the only injury was my pride.
 
All of the foregoing is useful, but the bottom line is that if you had two quibs from two different calibers, your reloading procedures are woefully inadequate.

How many times do you verify that the case is charged? I'm not talking about using a "powder cop" die, but when do you actually put an eyeball on the case to ensure it has powder - and an adequate amount?

I have been reloading for 44 years. I have had zero squibs. In part this is due to the fact my written reloading procedures (and associated checklist) require me to put an eyeball on the charged case three times before the bullet is seated.

You need to establish written reloading procedures that you will follow every time and a checklist where you check off every step.

I know this seems like a burden, but two sqibs should be a warning to you that if you don't make some significant changes, your nickname in the future may be "One Eyed Jack".
 
Just a short aside, in your initial comment you were concerned that humidity had gotten into your powder from the rainy weather. I'm here in Mississippi and all my loading and powder storage takes place in a large metal car barn. Average humidity is 80+% on a normal hot sunny day. I try to load on days less than that but, I have loaded hundreds of rounds on days in the 90% range in the un air conditioned barn. Ball powders, flake powders you name it. I doubt gun powders are hydroscopic in nature to begin with. I have never had that problem you describe.
 
They pick up about 1% to 1½% water by weight in high humidity. This doesn't stop the powder from working, but it does lower the burn rate a little. Norma's manual has comparisons of powder kept in 80% humidity to powders kept in close to 0% relative humidity, and the burn rate changes around 10-12%, depending on the powder, with the 0% RH powder being the fastest. They also point out that in an unsealed cartridge, the powder equalizes with the storage conditions over a period of about a year. So if you were, for example, to load powder from an 80% RH environment and then seal it in a plastic bag full of desiccant for a year, you could find yourself shooting a noticeably hotter load when you pulled it out and started to shoot it.
 
Norma's manual has comparisons of powder kept in 80% humidity to powders kept in close to 0% relative humidity, and the burn rate changes around 10-12%
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I will forever struggle to wrap my head around that notion that there is any gas exchange to speak of in a proper sealed container of gun powder.
 
The solid metal is impermeable for all practical intent and purposes, but water molecules are incredibly small, at about 0.275 nanometers. By comparison, the wavelength range of visible light is about 380 to 750 nanometers. So water molecules are around 1400 to 2700 times smaller than the various wavelengths of visible light, which means that even a surface that looks perfectly optically flat and smooth and polished can still look like a collection of mountains and valleys to a water molecule. And that's how it gets in. You can't seat bullets or primers without creating lengthwise scratches in the case brass far bigger than a water molecule. So they can go right through. Not very many at once, but enough to cause the ammo and powder inside cartridges to equilibrate RH with the outside. A sealant will reduce that.

Keep in mind that pure liquid water can't pull off that trick. It has too much surface tension, and that would keep it from squeezing into the tiny spaces without an additive to break the surface tension. But water vapor is a gas, and its molecules aren't tied to each other like that, so it can make the trip.
 
Nick_C_S said:
I will forever struggle to wrap my head around that notion that there is any gas exchange to speak of in a proper sealed container of gun powder.
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When a powder container is opened, ambient air enters with humidity. When done the user reseals the container. The humid air is still trapped inside. Powder inside the container has chance to absorb the water. It is worse when the powder is used up more.

To avoid that, I would put packets of silica gel inside the sealed container.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
When a powder container is opened, ambient air enters with humidity.
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Not here :p. The climate here is skin cracking dry. Most likely, much more arid than wherever the propellant was produced and bottled.

I've done a few less-than-scientific tests where I've ended one container of powder and then started another. The contents of the new container is always more dense than the old. I do this "test" by leaving the powder hopper setting the same and when I weigh the new powder with the same volume setting it is always more. So my thinking is that my propellant(s) lose moisture over time here. Admittedly, it's not a true scientific test.
 
So, if you develop a load with fresh powder, you can expect its pressure and velocity to go up a bit over time. In that situation, I think I would just open the cans and maybe drape a rag over the mouth the keep dust or accidental splashes out and just let it sit a couple of weeks to get closer to how it will be shooting later on.

Try getting a spare pound of something, weighing it, then just let it sit unopened for a year and weigh it again. See if it loses a sixteenth to an eighth of an ounce after that time.
 
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