new thread what does this surplus powder compare too

[ddhotbot]

ok guys in my first thread i gave wrong info about the origin of the surplus powder i can get. the powder in question comes from s african 308 plastic bullet training ammo. the plastic bullet weighs 19 grs.this powder is coming from a well know surplus powder dealer but he was told it has a burn rate close too unique. after i did a little testing in 45 acp and 12ga loads i found it to be quite a bit faster than unique. 4.7 gr in a 45 ascp behind 230gr lead bullet gave me 859 fps, 5.5 gr gave me in the high 960fps range. 18 gr behind 1 oz of lead shot in a 12ga AA hull gave me 1175fps. this is a flake powder which is really clean burning. my question is what powder data should i be using as a reference. bullseye? green dot? etc thanks

[felix]

RD, red dot, would be my choice. If that powder is clean burning, it might be from VV. If so, use 310 data on the fast side, and 320 on the slow side. ... felix

[BerdanIII]

I poked around a little and found only one powder charge in the .45 ACP that came close to your results; Hodgdon #26 has 4.7 grains of Clays giving 874 fps with a 230-grain jacketed bullet. This was a maximum load.

[swheeler]

Sounds real close to 700x

[Old Caster]

This was a South African pulled powder but we have no way of knowing if it is the same stuff that was talked about above. The reason I am listing these loads
and velocities is to show that you can’t decide that just because a powder acts like Unique in one cartridge that it will act like Unique
in another. Notice that in the 38, it acted pretty much the same as Unique except at lower charges it was going faster but finished about the same. Then in the 9mm it acted faster than Bullseye. I always start somewhere where I expect the bullet to maybe stick in the barrel, but the load I picked for the 9mm started at 1100 feet per second when I expected about 500 and the 45 started at 759 when I expected much less. If I had just loaded the 45 according to Unique powder after my 38 results I could have gotten into trouble from the start. Basically be careful with unknown powders.

38 special 158 grain LSWC shot in model 27- 6“- barrel. Noticeably little recoil considering velocities.
I only stopped going higher because this was getting fast though I never had any extraction problems or other pressure signs.
Grains Average E.S. S.D.

5 shot
2.5 529
2.7 602 31 11
2.9 637 29 12
3.1 681 54 22
3.3 731 9.8 3.87
3.5 772 11.2 5.09
3.7 792 49 18.6
3.9 853 30.5 12.88
4.1 872 37.3 16.6
4.3 909 42.4 17.49

3 shot
4.5 935 15.3 8
4.7 992 24 13
4.9 1027 20 11.3
5.1 1034 21.7 12.4
5.3 1069 24.2 12
5.5 1085 36 21

45ACP shot out of a Les Baer wad gun. I had no pressure signs but the recoil spring was too light
to go any further. 200 grain LSWC 069 Saeco.

5 shot
4.0 grains 759 average 92.5 E.S. 27.69 S.D.
4.2 796 57.22 27.69
4.4 832 55.05 15.52
4.6 862 78 23.45



Shot out of a Beretta 92 FS at 10 feet.
9mm 115 grain FMJ

5 shot
4.0 Average for 5 shots 1102 – E.S. 29 – S.D. 11.4

4.2 5 shots 1122 42 17

4.4 5 shots 1186 22 16.2

4.6 10 shots 1201 15.2 7.24

My old Lyman manual states that the longest overall length is 1.169 which is what I used but the length may have been shortened over the years because of newer guns and would alter the results. Unique is shown in Lyman # 45 for a 121 grain jacketed of 5.8 at 1149 and they show Bullseye at 4.8 for 1142. In this case all that would fit without compressing was 4.6 grains of the South African powder. Again with less noticed recoil.