Military Surplus Powders

[Guest]

I'd appreciate any comments / experiences with Military Surplus powders, and the best place to find em. Since my wife and sons began shooting with me, we're going through a lot more powder!!!

 

[rost495]

They can vary in burn rate almost 10% batch to batch. But as long as you realize that you're ok. I tend to try to buy a keg size at a time so I have plenty. Last I bought was a 200 pound gross weight keg but it was pretty cheap. Thats been a few.... years back.

Powder is accurate. Its a bit dirty but liveable as ball powder goes. Temperature sensitivity is about average for ball powders.

I buy anything I need from patsreloading in massilon ohio. they come to camp perry and have always treated me right.

Again, I would buy bulk -- IE don't buy an 8 pounder and then expect the next 8 pounder to be the same lot pull and or same burn rate. Other than that for the target shooting I do the powder is well capable of a perfect score but I can't get up above 99% ever.

Jeff

 

[Mysticplayer]

I live where temps can swing 100F during a few months. Loading with ball/surplus powders is a pain because you need to adjust. However, it is cheap and usually shoots well.

My favorite is the H335 equivalents. They work wonderfully in 223 type cases. Also, having fun with them in my M305 (M1A copy). I just know to adjust my loads as the weather/temp changes.

Another is a H380 equivalent. Worked great in my 22/250 and heavy bullet 6BR.

Just be careful of this. There are some powders that came from machine gun ammo. This stuff is horrid. If you want vel variations and vertical stringing, this is for you. The powder meets the design criteria of a machine gun, not a rifle.

You will need to look at US army ammo info to find out the types of powders used for machine guns. The stuff I had was WCC 852. May be different now but my stuff worked great turning my rifle into a shotgun.

Jerry

 

[BlueMoon]

The AA2230-C is military surplus ball powder and a 8lb jug was selling for about $55 from Natchez. I bought a jug of it awhile back to go along with the jugs of AA4350 and 4064 they had on special. BM

Bill

 

[Ballistic64]

H450 that Hodgdon use to sell was a slow burning military surplus powder that my 243 absolutely loved.Unfortunately it was dicontinued or depleted.Had no problems with it at all.

 

[gonehuntingagain]

I got the H335 equivalent from www.gibrass.com and have no complaints with it in the 308 or the 223.