I had a friend give me some old Norma powder. I can't find any data on it. I have 2lbs.each of Norma 200, 201, and 203. Their in red and black tins. What would be the burning rates of these powders compare to and what might they be an appropriate powder for?

107 N-120
108 AA-1680
109 N-200
110 W-680

118 N-201
119 H-322
120 AA-2200
121 N-130
122 Xterminator

162 BL-C
163 N-540
164 Big Game
165 N-203

http://stevespages.com/powderrates.html

I'm in the ballpark now at least. I find it a bit confusing where Norma and Vitavouri use the same prefixes ahead of the powder type. Vitavouri should use VV-133 as opposed to N-133 and so on.

Well I dug a little farther in the box of stuff I was given and found 3 more cans so that is 9 cans stuffed to the lid. Closer to 1.5 or so lbs of powder per can. On closer examination the powders appear to be identical even though the numbers on the cans are different, large stick powder, looks suspiciously identical to IMR-4350 or 4831. I would assume three varietys of norma powder would not look identical, and I've never seen store bought cans of powder stuffed that full. I believe I have only one type of powder that someone might have bought bulk and put in empty cans that they had lying around. Anybody got any ideas how I can positively identify this powder.

If the cans are containing the type of powder that the label states and are unopened it should be a tin seal that have to be removed when you open the cap.

The 200 is a quite fast burning powder suitable for the .222 Rem etc. 22,5 gr of 200 in a .222 Rem with a 52 gr bullet is quite hot and close to a max load. 200 is allmost identical with Wit. N-130

201 is a bit slower and goes well in a .308 Win if the bullets are medium weigth. 201 is close to Wit. N-135 in burning rate.

203 was discontinued a long time ago and I have not used it at all (I started reloading in the mid 80:ties). There is now a Norma powder named 203-B that is close to identical with Wit. N-150. The old 203 should be in that region but I�m not sure about it!

Stefan

All the cans have been opened, factory seals tore away. Just opened another box of goodies and found yet another can but this time it is a dupont SR-4759 can, again stuffed with this long extruded powder which i know isn't SR-4759. Not sure what I got, but got lots of it now

There is no reliable way to tell the type of powder by appearance. Don't take a chance , spread it out and burn it or fertilize your lawn.

You now are the proud owner of some very good fertilizer...

Yup! That old N-203 is of no use to you.. If youd like I can get rid of it for you free of charge..



Or you could just find some equally old data to "carefully" accompany it.



Incidentally I was trying to read up on that specific powder the other day in an effort to research some old load data, I recall reading that N-203 was highly subject to lot variations. If it were mine I would reduce max loads by an extra grain to err on the side of caution.