Author Topic: "Do all" powder  (Read 1500 times)

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Offline Bucks Owin

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"Do all" powder
« on: November 26, 2011, 06:51:38 AM »
Please forgive and delete if this is too far off the forum's topic trail, but I'd value Veral's opinion...
 
Powder is ever increasing in price. Back in the days of gvmt surplus kegs of 4895 and 4831, who would have ever thought powder could reach $30 lb! (Wish I had a few kegs of it now!  :-[  )
 
At any rate, I've had good results with SR 4759 in handgun and rifle loads as well as shotgun use. I see that there is an internet supplier of newly manufactured Russian powder that uses 4759 data and sells for $100/8 lb jug. ( http://www.gibrass.com/index.html ) I'm thinking of laying in a supply to squirrel away for use in .357 & .44 mags, .45LC, .30/30, .270 and .45/70 with cast bullets, as well as shotgun use.
 
There are various burn rates available but I'd like to choose one universal powder to save for a rainy day...
 
 Veral, am I choosing the right "do all" propellent or would you go with something a little faster to get more rds per pound?
 
 
 
(BTW, the same outfit apparently has primers available occasionally, although I don't know at what price...)

Offline 45x4

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2011, 04:00:36 PM »
This is getting to be a subject of concern to alot of us.  Do a search and find Verals reply to me, on April 6, 2008.   The subject as I recall was "favorite powders", and he gave a bunch of info!!

Offline Veral

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2011, 04:26:09 PM »
  Yessir, powder prices have gone up!  When I started handloading surplus 4831 by the keg was $1 per pound.  I used to get it from a basement gunshop in paper bags for $2.

  If you like that burning rate, stock up on it.   Personally, if I were to have only one powder for handgun and rifle it would be the old surplus WC820 which is what the original Accurate 9 was.  That burning rate and it's ability to drive rifle bullets at respectable speeds, plenty enough to kill big game, and take revolvers almost to what 296 does, is what I like about it. 

  So if they offer a powder in that burhing range, and especially if its a ball powder, I'd recommend taking a hard look at it.

  Somewhere in this forum I wandered out into no mans land explaining how to make do with surplus powders.  This source is far from that, but still, if you or other readers haven't read that post, give it a good scan.   I think it is wisdom we'll be needing all too soon.
Veral Smith

Offline 45x4

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2011, 12:08:31 PM »
Correction:  Veral's post in reply to my question was on April 10, 2008.  Great info, and as you see from his post above, he remembers it too.

Offline buffermop

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2011, 12:23:04 PM »
My question is, who is Veral? I found one that suits my needs, and that is Red Dot.

Offline anachronism

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2011, 12:29:06 PM »
My question is, who is Veral? I found one that suits my needs, and that is Red Dot.

Are you in the right forum? This is the forum for LBT, and Veral owns/is LBT.

Offline bilmac

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2011, 01:14:41 PM »
Look at Blue Dot. Not top velocities with rifles, but good vels for cast bullets.

Offline hillbill

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2011, 01:18:23 PM »
My question is, who is Veral? I found one that suits my needs, and that is Red Dot.
i use red dot for all my handgun and shotgun needs. has anyone used it for bottle neck rifle cartridges?im aware of the problems of a double charge. it seems to take less red dot for what i do than any other powder ive run across.that makes it very economical for what i do.

Offline Veral

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2011, 07:16:11 PM »
  Any flake pistol/shotgun powder can be used safely in bottle neck rifle cartridges for light loads.  Just be dead sure to take EVERY precaution in the book that you don't get a double charge.  This applies to magnum revolvers also.  I bulged and split the cylinder of a 44 Ruger BH by double charging with a max load of bullseye.   Because I was blabbing to my brother who had stopped by in a very rare visit.  He saw me drop two charges in the cast but knew nothing of what I was doing.  After the explosion, when I was trying to figgure out what went wrong, he told me!

  I prefer to spend a bit more money on more buliky powders and never use a charge which can be doubled in what ever case I am reloading.   That is the shurest safety there is against double charging.

  A word about current powder prices, vs old prices.  I stated that I bought surplus 4831 for $2 per pound, and that was back in the very early 60's.  I was a skilled worker making upper end blue collor wages, which was $2.10 per hour.   And it was cheap surplus powder, equal in quality to what was sold in factory cans, but cheaper because it was surplus.  New factory cans were, as I recall, somewhere around $5 per pound.  Over two hours work.  In other words,I was paying an hours work for a pound of surplus powder, to save paying two hours labor for cannister powder.  So much for the 'good ol days' story.    Inflation is what is causing the price increases more than anything.  It has often been called the silent robber.   Had I saved all my earnings back then, until now, with maybe a 1% interest on the savings, I would be having to put about 20 hours of my 1960's labor into a pound of powder!  Today, a good craftsman drawing normal wages can purchase a pound of powder for two hours work.   

  Inflation was just taking off back when I was young.  I distinctly remember my Dad, a dairy farmer, working 12-14 hours a day as a hoddy for a cement block mason, because he needed the money so bad he was willing to do his milting and farming at night after playing hod all day.  The awsome wages he was drawing was $2 per day!  And He fed his wife and 5 kids with it!

   We are on our way downhill at avalance speed.  Stock up on the things you want and belive you'll need while the prices are so good,    --- and at least as importantly, while they are available.
Veral Smith

Offline bilmac

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Re: "Do all" powder
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2011, 06:33:11 PM »
True true, inflation is going to eat us alive. Especially us who are retired. Better to put your money into things like reloading components now and hope that they will be worth much more later. I have so much stuff sitting around that I really have no idea if I have the right balance. It would be a shame to run out of primers when I still have many pounds of powder on the shelf.