Trying to help someone figure out who made this powder.
Attachment 220892
Thank you for any help.
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Trying to help someone figure out who made this powder.
Attachment 220892
Thank you for any help.
If the powder is unknown you are taking a risk trying to load with it. Load data is for known powders. Figure or guess wrong on powder and use a load you "think" is right is one way to turn a firearm into a pipe bomb. Does make good plant fertilizer however.
Thank you, I did find this square flake powder PC 88 but no mention of it being green.Attachment 220903
Look up Nobel Sport Vectan powders and the pictures of the powders they make.
jdjax64
like several have asked, some details of it's origin may help those who are trying to help you
Like 472x1B/A I have seen similar powder. Pulled down some 8x57 dated 1929, 1935, 1945 and other pre WW2 dates that had powder that looked like your picture.
Quite a few years back, I bought a bunch of really cruddy milsurp 7x57 to pull down for the bullets...brass was Berdan-primed with serious corrosion issues. Powder was square flakes similar to your pic but dark gray rather than greenish. Ammo was packed in cardboard packets, labeled in Spanish, each containing four 5-round strippers. Don't recall any headstamp info but, from the water damage to packaging and corroded condition of brass, ammo had been stored someplace wet for quite some time.
Bill
My guess is AL - 8 which is a slow shotgun powder by Alcan. Between Bluedot and 2400 in speed and somewhat useful in straight wall with cast. IIRC it was produced in the 60's to early 80's. I have some that was marketed by Smith and Wesson as it has their label.
Only good for fertilizer or getting you hurt. Be safe never guess on unknown powders. Had a good friend eat the bolt on a rifle guessing on powder. Went by it looks just like, but it wasn't.
I bought some 7.92x57 MM rounds for a song. They produced a hearty roar, heavy recoil but excellent accuracy. On the con side 40% of them split their necks upon firing. Some rounds fired seemed extremely loud and others weak. I decided that they were too unsafe to utilize. I broke down quite a few rounds. I used the projectiles with other cases and fresh powder. I still have the cases and the powder, about 2 lbs of it. I may save it for the 4th of July and burn it in the open in small piles connected by a trail of powder so it goes off pretty fast and people enjoy it.
This stuff was Turkish Surplus and upon weighing I found wildly different amounts of powder in the pulled down ammo. A few cases were a compressed loading and others had up to a half inch air space below the projectile and the powder. The primers were sealed with a black tarrish goo which has dried out to melted metal which is attached to the primer and case head. The powder is cut just as yours but smelled nasty and was as black as can be. The markings on the cases sometimes had a year indicated.
the years ran from '34 to '53. I could not read the other marks on the casehead.
I paid very little for these rounds. The came with a cardboard wrapper around 10 rounds mounted 5 each on stripperclips and inside a cloth pocket on a cloth bandolier which had 7 pockets. The writing on the bandoliers was not English but had different years marked: '34 to '50.
Thank you Krashenbirn, Messy bear and Crash Corrigan.
I have seen it in many European loadings, calibers that the above have mentioned. I have a bunch of 6.5x55mm from Norway with the same powder type. FN, Norma and DWM used this or a similar powder.
I've seen similar from pulled 8x57mm. I vote burn it for Memorial Day. There's no reason to load ammo with unknown powder as said by all.
Thank you leebuilder and BCB.
I would fertilize my garden with it.
I realize that reloaders are, by nature, cheap. But come on, using unknown powders is foolish and dangerous. Read the reloading manuals. Look at the pressures that are generated by known powders. Saving a few pennies is far outweighed by the trip to the ER, or worse. Your call.
The usage of an unknown powder isn't even debatable in my opinion, unless you'd like to be a test subject for Darwin's theory. God only knows what it is or what it was intended for. It's anyone's guess, and if you value your face I'd certainly advice against using it. If in doubt, toss it out!
If one had massive quantity then it might justify having some sort of professional lab work done to identify the powder. Depending on cost of lab work against quantity of powder salvaged I suppose. Couple of 40# barrels with label unreadable might be worth spending some money to find out what it is. A coffee can worth from an estate sale. Eh? Not so much.
Smokeless powder is a great nitrogen fertilizer so if you or the spouse has some sort of garden it won't be wasted if you spread it around the plants.
Remember pulling a few bullets from some 1946 San Francisco who manufactured military ammo for the Argentine military. Forget what the bullet weights were but this was done just a few years ago. Powder was not green flake type as you pictured but black flakes. Also had some FYA HP 7.65x53 that was made by Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik in Austria in 1928. Again powder was black flake type powder. The San Francisco arsenal? had a long history of making ammo for the Argentine military. They even made up sporting ammunition also in 7.65x53. Somewhere they screwed up and instead of a 53mm case they went with a 54 mm case. Some 1891 and 1909 rifles and carbines will take the extra long case but don't know anyone who had that good luck. Thing most if not all Argy MilSurp ammo was imported by interarms in 100 round boxes. Still have a few loose rounds for old times sake as the 1891 rifle was my first real high powered rifle. I do own a couple sporters though. One of the common complaints I have heard is deteriorating powder. I do have about 70 rounds of SF commercial 7.65x54 and not one will fit my two sporters. So what you see before you represents represents my total sum of knowledge regarding Argy Mil Surp ammo. By the way,if your powder is clumping strongly suggest you ditch it as well past its prime time. Either burn it in small amounts or use it for lawn fertilizer. Hope this helps. Frank
I have many small lots of powder from decommissioning old ammo. The LGS comes across some from time to time so I turn some into drill rounds and I can keep the powder. I recycled some had great j-thingy loads but no more of that powder to shoot, can't get more and didn't know what it was to begin with. So it's good for a few rounds, now I toss most into a can for fertilizer.
Just my experience
Be safe
If you must use it don't forget to film it for posterity .
Even if you get CLOSE, it still won't be safe for use reloading it. Fertilizer is it's best use. Don't blow up your gun or your hands trying to get too durn cheap with OLD unidentifiable powder.
And, remember old CORDITE powder is extremely corrosive. You have been warned
Also cordite burns hotter than a regular nitro or smokeless powder like we use today. So if its going on a burn pile don't get carried away and chuck anything over a pound and make up a long trail of powder to set it off. Unconfined old cordite will give you a pretty good light show. Had about 700 303 WWII rounds that had less than a sterling storage history. Once you get the bullet out of the case the fun is only beginning. something sharp to pry out the wad above the powder then tweezers to get started on removing the powder. Scrapped the cases as corrosion was pretty bad. gave to to a buddy upstate ny. With explicit instructions as to how it is to be burned. Well instead of a pound he chucks the whole mess on the burn pile. Flames about 8' high and all sorts of noises. Good thing his burn pile us a good distance away in the field. Said it was an interesting experience. Frank
I was wondering if the OP had put this stuff on his tomatoes yet, or blown up his gun?
Why are we even discussing this anymore?
My AL8 is green. Certainly s light green, but it's green. Fantastic powder in the 500 Smith and Linebaugh. Wish it was available.
AL-8?...
I have two 6-pound jugs of it...
It may be useful for fire forming cases?????
It shape looks like some of the old Alcan powders. I thought at least one of them had a sort of OD green color. Being extremely frugal and if I had a .38 or .357 in a TC Contender I would start with a couple grain load and a 148 grain wadcutter and work up slowly. And if that did not work, powders do make good fertilizer. Did that with two different unknown powders and it worked with one and the other went onto the lawn.
Cordite is interesting stuff. If one pulls the b*llit and strikes the primer (from a safe distance), it goes off with a bang - just like a blank. A load bang I might add. If the case is not secured I would imagine it would fly back at you with great speed.
Vectan A1? http://www.vectan.fr/FR/les-gammes-de-poudres
I've got some and it's square and green just like that. Much depends on where you got it and how old it is. They make a few square powders.
Vectan A1? It looks like this
Attachment 223694
//www.vectan.fr/FR/les-gammes-de-poudres
Vectan makes great powders. I have all 3 of their "square" powders and they are good stuff.