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Old 01-14-2014, 11:38 AM
long shot long shot is offline
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Default old powder question

Guys, picked up a few pounds of Hercules RL7 (free) The question is: Is Alliant's data for RL7 the same as the old Hercules. Thanks in advance! I know Accurate #7 is a whole different animal.

Aaron
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Old 01-14-2014, 03:39 PM
ramos ramos is offline
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I don't know the answer to your question but, if it were me, I would be looking for a manual of the same approximate vintage. I use some (very) old IMR4831. Loaned out my old manuals at one point and never got them back. Glad I had all my load info recorded! I bet you could find an old manual on egay for cheap.
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Old 01-14-2014, 03:45 PM
Chuck Miller Chuck Miller is offline
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Hercules is now Alliant so I imagine it's pretty close to the current RL7. Having said that it's "your" responsibility to realize this is an old powder with burn characteristics that "may" have changed due to age and to approach any load workup accordingly. If it were me I would take it and pour it over my Chinese Boxwoods rather than lay my cheek next to an action shooting it.
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Old 01-14-2014, 04:37 PM
ramos ramos is offline
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Good point Chuck. There is good reason to use caution. However, if it has been properly stored, smells right, looks and feels right, try a round or two with a starting load. The first thing I would do is pour it slowly into a glass container, give it a good sniff test, check the color and look for any dust or other signs of it breaking down. Then put it back into it's proper container, of course. Obviously, nothing is without risk, and this is not without risk either. FWIW, I am 49 years old and I was given 15lbs of that IMR4831 in 1981. Then, and now, that powder is older than I am. We have been using it in three different rifles (270 Win, 300 Win Mag, 300 H&H) all along with no load changes. If you only have a small amount of this powder, it may not be worth dinking around with. If there is a useful amount of it, I would do some experimenting before tossing it out. With all that said, I sure would'nt hold it against anyone for (possibly) erring on the side of safety. Faces and fingers are not easily replaced!
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Old 01-14-2014, 10:05 PM
Daryl Daryl is offline
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Some time back, the lot number of Re. #7 that I had, was 2500. I'd gone through several pounds of that powder in my .17AB, and .458 calibre rifles.

What was striking about his lot #, was it APPEARED to have IMR4198 liberally mixed in. The data produced exactly the speeds it should have, according to the data then available. I kid you not, the sticks looked EXACTLY like IMR4198- mixed with the tannish coloured Re#7 powder.

Was wondering if someone could check their Re.# 7 and see if it is the same as mine was - with those skinny, long black sticks in it.

We checked 12 pounds of it- all lot 2500 and it all was identical. We had no other lot #'s for comparison.
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:56 AM
georgeld georgeld is offline
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Back in the mid 80's I loaded a hundred rnds up with old powder from my notes. Then picked up a new book and it showed the loads were about 4-5 gr over max. So I pulled 'em all down.
Then a day or two later dug out an old Speer book and found it was a plumb safe load. So had to do it all over again. Whole lotta wasted effort. But, at least I caught it in time as hadn't fired any yet.

Lesson learned: Get the right years books FIRST!!

Man I miss that 50 cent a pound powder we used to get!

Dad poured my last 18# down a hole among some rocks along with five sticks of dynamite to "Develope a spring" in his pasture. "Hey the kids not reloading any longer, this powder has to be getting old". When the big rocks stopped falling and dust cleared he went to check the spring and found a POND with a stream running.
A few months later I got back into loading again and discovered ALL my powder was gone. At that time the local stores had it priced at $16. That sure hurt that day.
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Old 01-15-2014, 11:38 AM
tuck2 tuck2 is offline
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I started reloading in 1953 . There has ben a few cans of powder that had a red dust powder in them which I destroyed. Before there were modern pressure testing equipment some of the reloading books listed some hot loads as safe. The loads were based on how the primer looked or fell out and the amount the head of the case expanded. Over the years there has ben some changes in powder lots of the same type of powder so try reloading a few rounds with the lowest grains listed in current books and look for pressure signs on the fired rounds. How old is old powder ? If it is stored on a cool dry area it must take a long time to start breaking down..
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Old 01-15-2014, 12:03 PM
long shot long shot is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tuck2 View Post
How old is old powder ? If it is stored on a cool dry area it must take a long time to start breaking down..
Tuck, I am guessing this powder is from the late 60's-mid 70's. I concur when powder is properly stored it takes a long time to break down. I just finished off a can of WW760 that had a $6.95 price tag on it and it too functions fine. I will locate some old data and compare it to the new Alliant data, load a few rounds and run with it from there....... Thanks everybody for your input.

Aaron
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Old 01-15-2014, 02:30 PM
foxhunter foxhunter is offline
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i was still sucking my thumb in 1953, andmost of the guys on here daddy's were too.


Quote:
Originally Posted by tuck2 View Post
I started reloading in 1953 . There has ben a few cans of powder that had a red dust powder in them which I destroyed. Before there were modern pressure testing equipment some of the reloading books listed some hot loads as safe. The loads were based on how the primer looked or fell out and the amount the head of the case expanded. Over the years there has ben some changes in powder lots of the same type of powder so try reloading a few rounds with the lowest grains listed in current books and look for pressure signs on the fired rounds. How old is old powder ? If it is stored on a cool dry area it must take a long time to start breaking down..
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Old 01-16-2014, 02:28 AM
georgeld georgeld is offline
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Tuck:

Finally someone admits to have started this game before I did in 1958.

Longshot:
IF you'd like, e'm me the loads you're wanting to build and I'll
look it up in an OLD Lyman book I have from back in the first days when
I got started. Just for kicks I looked at it just now. Pub 1964 Book43.
How about that for age? Not sure when they were printed but,
I have quite a few other brands of books here too, they're old issues.
gldwight1/yahoo
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