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Old August 13, 2012, 10:35 PM   #1
wpcexpert
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CFE 223...looks an aweful lot like BLC-2

I was wondering if the two were close or two completely different powders. The look exactly the same, but smell a bit different.
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Old August 14, 2012, 07:41 AM   #2
Goatwhiskers
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Let me say that there is absolutely NO way to tell one powder from another by sight, smell, or anything else you can think of. It matter not whether the kernels appear the same, measure the same--if you want to measure one, or even if one kernel weighs the same as the other. It is the chemical make-up that differentiates one powder from another. The labeled container it came from is what ID's the powder. That's why one of the safety rules of reloading is to have one and only one can of powder on the bench at a time. GW
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Old August 14, 2012, 07:54 AM   #3
UtopiaTexasG19
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Compare the loading tables of the two powders for the same weight bullet and see how close or far from each other they might be....
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Old August 14, 2012, 10:33 AM   #4
black mamba
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There are a few cross-branded powders which are the same, but CFE 223 and BL-C(2) are not in the list.

W231/HP-38, W296/H110, Acc 4100/Ram Enforcer, R-15/N203-b, W760/H414 are some that I'm aware of, but there may be others.

Regardless, whenever switching from one to another, start low and work up as always. Even though they are the same chemical compound, they are from different lots and may even have differing quality control standards. NEVER SUBSTITUTE POWDERS IN MAX LOADS!
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Old August 15, 2012, 12:18 PM   #5
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From what I have read, CFE is produced by adding a chemical which will help eliminate jacket fouling, and that additive has some effect on powder weight and burning characteristics. So, it is different enough that St. Marks cannot just make a "reduced fouling" version of existing powders by adding another chemical. It has to reformulate the powders to include the chemical, and them market them with different cannister IDs to account for differences in burning under various conditions.

If that is true, then I don't expect that the new CFE is going to be exactly like BL-C(2), even if that is what they started with.

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