Old Dupont powder identification SR 8159-X

[xringshutr]

Anyone heard of this powder? SR 8159-X. Stored in a sealed metal drum. Made in May 1972 per the Dupont date code.

There is enough that testing would be worth while.

Thanks!!

[Eddie Southgate]

I looked in my manuals from 1957 to the mid 70's and can find no mention of anything even similar . Lyman, Speer , Sierra, Norma, Hornady as well as the last Dupont powder leaflet I got before they sold out in the 70's and there is no mention . There also appears to be 0 info on that number of powder on the net . Might contact the current owners of the IMR brand , they might know what it was for . If I couldn't find some solid info on it I would fertilize the grass with it . The SR designation is for Sporting Rifle so if it was released to the public it should show up somewhere but I can't find it under Dupont or IMR either one . 4759 is a close as I can come and it is much older than the 70's .

[xringshutr]

Hey, thank you for searching Eddie. I really appreciate it. I thought it would be a full metal "mini" barrel, but turns out it is only 1/4 full. So only about 5-6 lbs. If I don't find any data I'll likely get rid of it in the garden........with a small tear running down my cheek. LOL.

[Eddie Southgate]

Yup ! I hate pouring powder out , especially Dupont.

[Ford SD]

Anyone heard of this powder? SR 8159-X. Stored in a sealed metal drum. Made in May 1972 per the Dupont date code.

There is enough that testing would be worth while.

Thanks!!

before you use it in the garden

send a email to

https://hodgdon.com/company/contact-us/

[243winxb]

Listing of many OEM powders-- http://www.theballisticassistant.com...owder-catalog/

Click on the 2 links for more modern updates of newer powders.
http://www.theballisticassistant.com...owder-catalog/

[Bent Ramrod]

The bulk of the smokeless powders manufactured by the powder companies have their own pressure/burn rate characteristics, which vary from batch to batch. They are formulated and processed and assay and look like those powders offered to handloaders, but they will burn at different rates and pressures than the specially-blended “canister” grade powders we buy. (As my old Mentor used to say about rocket propellants, “You can calculate Thermodynamics to an amazingly close match to reality, but Kinetics is in the lap of the Gods.” Overall energy yield can be calculated ahead of time, but burn rates and pressures are Kinetics, and the only way to find out is to experiment.) These runs of powder are given their own lot numbers and designations and sold to the ammunition companies.

The ammo companies all have laboratories with combustion bombs, where they can determine the minimum and maximum loadings in the various cartridges they want to use them in without having to depend on the peculiarities of individual firearms. A safe standardized loading (which can be quite different from the load recommendation in reloading handbooks) is determined, and later tested in cartridges in the universal receiver setups and pressure barrels that we see in the articles in the gun magazines.

It would appear that you have gotten hold of a container of one of these lots. Often, in energetic materials or chemical propulsion jargon, the addendum “-X” means “Experimental;” ie, not standardized or “frozen” into a production specification. So the slightly more than WAG is that DuPont made a test batch of something they might have hoped would be the latest&greatest in whatever cartridge they were experimenting with, and somebody managed to smuggle a container of it out of the factory for home use. The fact that the drum is still sealed would indicate that, for one reason or another, he never got around to doing whatever he planned to do with it. Which would give me pause, for sure. Maybe the “experiment” didn’t work out at the plant, and the smuggler got cold feet after hearing about it. At this late date, who knows?

I can’t recommend that you do so, but if I inherited such a quantity of unknown powder, and wanted to see if I could use it, I would read the chapter on load development with unknown powders in Naramore’s Principles and Practice of Reloading Ammunition (again), compare the powder with the pictures of powder grains in Propellant Profiles and Sharpe’s book for a general idea of what cartridge(s) might have been in mind for such a powder, and, following Naramore’s instructions, do some very cautious experimentation to develop some loads. Whether it’s worth the risk to your firearm (and you) is strictly up to you.

[xringshutr]

Thanks for all the input gents......I can use the powder for virtually anything, as I load for most every caliber you can think of. I'm well versed in surplus powders and even techniques to test powders that are somewhat unknown. Just thought I would reach out to the masses to see if anyone has encountered this particular powder. Overall powder supply is not an issue in my powder cache so losing a few lbs of this stuff is not a big deal. I'll keep it around and when time allows, do some testing.

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[xringshutr]

Follow-up on the mystery powder. Worked up loads in 45 ACP/1911. 5.9 gr is running 780-790fps with a 200 gr SWC. Clean burn and functions great. I couldn't waste it.....LOL. Gave away a few lbs to buddies with load data and got similar results from them. Success.

Will try some in 38 Special next!

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[jim 44-40]

I just put some Dupont 5066 to work today in 45 ACP loading of 5.0 grs. Worked great.

[skeettx]

Great report and effort on this unknown powder.
Thank you
Mike

[xringshutr]

Thanks Mike. A little more detail on the load development. I started at 4.0 gr and worked up in .2gr increments. Up until 5.2 gr the case did not eject and stayed in the chamber. Very light loads. Case dribbled out of the ejection port at 5.4 gr. 5.5 gave me 715 fps. 5.8 gave 750-760 fps, and 6.0 is giving just a whisker under 800 fps. I under estimated the amount in the tin. There was 15+ lbs. Transferred it to sealed plastic powder containers and life will be good in pistol powder land for a while. . If anyone is remotely interested I'll post 38 Special results too. Might try it in some reduced 44 Mag as well. The way I interpreted it is that I have something about 10-15% slower than Unique. That's not a bad realm to be in.

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