cold powder

[rbaker]

needing advise,I work up a load of us869 in fall temps,50 t0 60 degrees,106 grains of us869,fed215 primer, e.s.15fps. now temps in the 20-30 range,getting e.s. of 50-60 fps,im guessing ignition problems due to cold,any advise.thanks

 

[steve smith]

In my experience ball powders, will have a very large drop in velocity when you have a large drop in temperature. The drop in velocity is also a sign of a drop in the chamber pressure and as a result the shot to shot consistancy goes away. I found that when using ball powders that the only way to keep the velocity variation small was to keep the load at or near the top end. Which entails having loads worked up for different temperatures, in order to maintain muzzel velocity.

 

[MachV]

Used to use a lot of WC860 and WC872. The best thing I found was to keep the loaded rounds in your inside shirt pocket and dont let them cook or cool in the chamber long. Working up loads for different teperatures works but leaves you with a lot of rounds that can make for a nasty surprize if you dont mark them well !

 

[J E Custom]

needing advise,I work up a load of us869 in fall temps,50 t0 60 degrees,106 grains of us869,fed215 primer, e.s.15fps. now temps in the 20-30 range,getting e.s. of 50-60 fps,im guessing ignition problems due to cold,any advise.thanks

The fed 215 is hot enough but the load is probably not.

Lot's of powders are temp. sensitive and will act differently with temperature changes.

What round are you loading ? there may be a powder that will work better in those
temperatures or you may have to up the powder charge and produce a cold weather load
that would be to hot for summer time temps.

I have loads that change over 125 ft/sec from winter to summer because of temperatures

J E CUSTOM