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Going thru my family horde I found some powder unlabeled, the Oldman swears it's a 50BMG powder (was loading lots of 50BMG for BR). But he is developing a bit of old timers so he can't remember which powder.
I put some samples under the optical measuring machine and measured the sizes vs some known powders...IMR4895 is the first, next H50BMG, last is my mystery powder. 4895 .030 diam .060 long , H50BMG 0.055 x 0.070, powder ? 0.040 x 0.080.
Next is probably a burn test but any advice would be welcome. There is a significant amount and powder isn't cheap.

20230503_112330.jpg 20230503_112056.jpg 20230503_111901.jpg
 
A significant amount of unmarked powder?

Well perhaps there is a lab somewhere, that does powder burn rate testing?

Aloha, Mark

PS....LOL.....start low and work your way up.

Then.....
I'd have to have REALLY BIG ONES. To base my decisions just based on looks. Yeah.....all of them past women looked "really fine". BUT, But, but.....
 
As tempting as it is - if I dont know exactly what the powder is - it beomes plant food. Fingers dont grow back and good guns are exspensive.
 
Last Edited:
I used 1mm and 2mm as average size and guessed at some of the other characteristics and entered them into this Powder ID database search. The results were that IMR 4831 and IMR 7828 are about the size of your mystery powder.

This may be wrong, so you should enter the correct powder description instead of me guessing.

Go here, then click "Physical Characteristics" and enter your powder description. You will need metric measurements.


Bruce
 
DANGEROUS BUT.......

Well, since the guy use to burn a lot of .50 BMG ammo. Maybe....assuming you got some.....you could pull a few of the leftover marked reloads? And, try with a start/comparison of the powders?

Aloha, Mark
 
I have some loads to take apart. I do have quick load , could use a load that's safe either way in a smaller caliber then chrono and compare. Some burn rate comp. would be fun. Slow mo cam with the go pro on weighed comparison powders.
 
I would not trust this. There is only one powder in my home that I 100% trust without a label and that's because it's the only powder I ever bought that has a purple color to it. Otherwise, no mark means no use, period.

Unless you're talking about thousands of dollars of powder that would be worth hundreds of dollars of lab work to save, don't.
 
Dims look real close to 8133... The oldman swore 2-3 times it was powder for the 50BMG with 750grain bullets.
I still have buckets of them, 750gn Monolithics (solid copper) with golf ball dimples (his own idea).

Under-the-Microscope-600x192.jpg 0123221416.jpg
 
If I find the same type in a loaded round I'm sure its safe load, he shot alot of 50bmg.
Can't find any 7828 - 50bmg load data, I have 4831 and its different.
 

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