Some of you may recall I posted about a mistake I made when returning powder to the container. I by mistake returned about 600 grains of Varget into a can of IMR 4350 with about six pounds of IMR left in it. I figure I have about 1 to 2 % of the total being Varget. I didnt know if I should throw out all of it or try to save it. I decided to try and save the powder. I started loading well under my favorite load in the 7mm mag and worked my way up my normal load of 63 grains of IMR with a 150 grain Nosler BT. So far so good, no signs of high pressure or anything else. Now I only have three more rifles to check the mixed powder in, my 338 and my two 270s. Hope things stay this way. Just be REAL careful when returning powder and you will not have to go thru this.

Adventures in reloading, be very carefull there. I assume you were using a powder measure? I put a sticker on the measure & write the powder on it. You should have only one can of powder on the bench at a time but the sticker is a safety step to prevent such problems.

It is such a small amount it may blend okay but the safest thing is to toss it in the lawn and buy some fresh powder and labels.
Safety is more important than the cost of powder.

thanks for the update.....I wondered how it was going to playout.

quote:

Originally posted by Denny:
I started loading well under my favorite load in the 7mm mag

That in itself can be potentialy dangerous if you mean below published start loads.

Varget mixed with 4350? First, that's not a good thing, of course.

what's the load difference in any given round? can you start with the varget loads.. just in case you "happen" to fill a case with 100% varget?

jeffe

I WOULDNT DO THAT IF I WERE YOU!
BUT I Will be interested to hear what happens.
Funny, in about 24 years of reloading I have never bought an 8 LB can. If I ever do, I will pour a usable amount in an mt 1 LB can, so if I screw up I only kick myself in the ass a couple times not repeatedly all day long !
I also use the 1 can on the bench at a time
method to prevent that acident. It takes some guts to share that info, and anybody who says they havent screwd up royally when loading is either lying or smarter than I am,(a distinct posibility) I once loaded 10 rounds for my 7mmSTW with what I thought was RL25 and just before heading out to the range I discoverd the can of powder on the table was !!!! (drun roll please) non other than varget. Mite have been an interesting experence !!! ...tj3006

Why do some thing that could screw you up it is not worth it , what will you write next time ?
I lost a hand or eye it just did not work .
Buy new powder be safe and for those shooting around you to be safe.
Not impressed !
Bill

Agree with Thomas Jones. LABEL EVERYTHING!! I do have 8 lb containers, and transfer to a LIKE 1 lb container. Having a breech blow up in your face is not worth saving $$ on the powder. We have all made various mistakes, but it happens when you get complacent. Think it won't happen to you? It already did.

Just remember what happens to a box of rasin bran. All the rasins go to the bottom. If I'm not mistaken those two powders have a fair bit of difference in grain size. It wouldn't be unexpected to see them stratify over time with the smaller grains heading towards the bottom.

Best of luck to you. Just keep in mind that in an experiment like this you're not sure that subsequent loads are with the same blend you started with.

All my mixed powder goes on the lawn. I've had to pull my share of bullets too.

That's about 70 to one, if you want to make the ratio a little better, buy 2 more lbs of 4350 & blend that in. that's close to 93 to one. I don't realy think that 1 granule of Varget, among 93 granules of 4350 is going to effect a change in the burning rate,& yes I'd give the caddy a shake or two before filling the smaller container.
Torg

Dont tempt fate. your hands, face, and life are worth more than the wasted powder! And the previous reply I hope was a joke! Why waste more powder by trying to dilute your already ruined batch!!

If the powder kernels are sufficiently different in size, maybe you could sift them apart. Here's a link to an article called "sifting powder for better performance" that I think includes a source for various size screens. I was personally amazed that someone would go to the trouble of sifting gunpowder in an attempt to improve performance.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jesse99/sieving.html

I think it has been established that we all think this is dangerious.

However, I would also like to add that it really isn't practical. You will never be able to get a consistant mix of powder within that 8# container.

Thus, you will not be able to produce consistant velocity / accuracy from your loads. (Which is the whole point of reloading isn't it?)

quote:

Originally posted by Denny:
I decided to try and save the powder.

Just be sure you keep a couple of things handy:

1) name of funeral home your family will use
2) make sure your will is in order
3) have emergency contact info on your person so when the shit hits the fan at the range, someone can call that contact and have you taken to the ER for injuries.

It makes ZERO sense, what you're doing. Folks who play with fire eventually get burned.

Reload and have fun, but do it SMARTLY.

Good luck.

First of all I want to thank all of you who took the time to repy to the reloading mistake. I think the best thing to do is to find some other use for the powder perhaps as suggested use it on the lawn or as a fire starter. I think I might have been able to use it up but the fact was pointed out that you never would be able to get consistent loads with mixed powder was very true. And the suggestion of the screen was interesting but the best thing is to is to get rid of it. It is hard to throw away 6 pounds of powder especially went the loads I fired with it showed no signs what so ever of high pressure. But it is the safe thing to do. Again thanks for the replies, and how much for a new 8 pound can of IMR 4350.