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November 18, 2012, 06:45 PM | #1 |
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Win 231 powder confusion
I picked up some Win 231 for the first time the other day, and was excited to see that it was labeled as ball powder as ball powders seem to meter well. When I got it home I took a look at it, and it looks more like flake powder? My initial thought of ball powder would be that similar to my TAC powder. Is there a different meaning to ball powder that I'm not aware of? I thought all ball powder was spherical? The way it looks I think it will still meter well.
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November 18, 2012, 06:54 PM | #2 |
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I could be mistaken but I believe it starts life as a ball but then they squish it.
Cool page with pics of several powders here, including W231: http://leadchucker.net/powder-page/
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November 18, 2012, 07:18 PM | #3 |
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Ball Process Powder Ball Process
It is made via the Ball process then coated and flattened for speed control. |
November 18, 2012, 07:22 PM | #4 |
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231 meters very well.
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November 18, 2012, 07:49 PM | #5 |
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My powder measure likes W231 powder. It is very consistant.
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November 18, 2012, 10:26 PM | #6 |
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Take a look at Win 748, same thing (squashed ball). How come I grimmace when I say that ?
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November 19, 2012, 09:56 AM | #7 |
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Thanks for the posts. It makes more sense as a squished ball, and appears more that way than flake.
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November 19, 2012, 12:08 PM | #8 |
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Always been confused about that myself. Especially since W231 is said to be the same powder as HP38....which I use often. HP38 certainly isn't a "ball" powder. But, "squished ball" makes sense. The flakes (of my HP38) look like they could be something like that - and W231 and HP38 do look exactly the same.
I read the link (on the Winchester website)..... "ball process".....now it all makes sense ! Learn something new every day...... |
November 19, 2012, 01:29 PM | #9 |
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Another thought; mebbe "ball" can refer to military ammunition? As in "Cartridge, Caliber 45, Ball, 1911".
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November 19, 2012, 02:02 PM | #10 |
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CS86, yep...it's flattened ball. It's also the same powder as HP38...got this info from a large volume dealer. My chrono'd test results for identical charges in a half dozen calibers confirms that as well. Rod
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November 19, 2012, 02:29 PM | #11 |
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The flattening is one of the ways that they can control the burning speed.
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November 19, 2012, 03:10 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
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November 19, 2012, 05:24 PM | #13 |
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Flattening the powder exposes more surface area which in turn promotes a faster burn for a given weight of powder. In this way they can use the same powder and coating formulas over more than one powder yet get differing resulting burn curves.
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November 19, 2012, 05:36 PM | #14 |
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The burning rate is dependent upon the following:
Chemical make up. Coating/s. Surface area. (A bunch of other stuff that we will not worry with for now.) Take two 'balls', squish one out like a hamburger. Set both on fire. The one with the greater surface area, squished one, will burn faster. Did this help? Enjoy, OSOK |
November 19, 2012, 05:37 PM | #15 |
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SHR970 is faster than me
OSOK |
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