Smokeless powders

Mehefski · January 9, 2014, 07:20 PM

A friend has two pounds of smokeless powder and does not know what it is. Is there a way to test it or use it safely?

jwrowland77 · January 9, 2014, 07:22 PM

Safest thing is to use it as garden or lawn fertilizer if you don't know what it is.

Otherwise, very bad things can happen like kabooms where guns blow up and either you or your friend lose a body part or worse.

LE-28 · January 9, 2014, 09:54 PM

No there isn't. If it is not labeled your friend is out of luck.

I hear roses really like the nitrates in it.

It's a total loss

DannyB1954 · January 9, 2014, 10:08 PM

2lb of powder has a value of $50. Ask them how much their safety is worth.

Clark · January 9, 2014, 10:14 PM

It is only good to advanced reloaders and should not be given to beginners or slow learners.

I gave a guy who had never reloaded, a mystery powder. But he and I together helped an electronics company that was being sued for not supporting the schedule for the starter generator for the jet engine on the customers jet program. He and I got the starter electronics designed, working, and the prototype jet could taxi on the runway.
He came up with a way of estimating the effective series resistance of the winding [based on history] so the back emf could be used to estimate the speed and phase.

So I knew he was smart enough to use an unknown powder, and he did.

Mehefski · January 9, 2014, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the replies to the unknown powder issue. I have been reloading for twenty years and have always labeled all my residuals. I told him I would check but it was probably hopeless. The roses are a good idea!

Nick_C_S · January 9, 2014, 11:07 PM

Quote:

use it as garden or lawn fertilizer

^^ The first response was the correct one. ^^

mnoirot64 · March 3, 2014, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mehefski

A friend has two pounds of smokeless powder and does not know what it is. Is there a way to test it or use it safely?

YIKES!! Don't try to use it.

reynolds357 · March 3, 2014, 09:42 PM

I like to pour it out in a trail and scare the neighbors cat when it comes by.

January 9, 2014, 07:20 PM	#1
Mehefski Junior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 6	Smokeless powders A friend has two pounds of smokeless powder and does not know what it is. Is there a way to test it or use it safely?

January 9, 2014, 10:14 PM	#5
Clark Senior Member Join Date: December 4, 1999 Location: WA, the ever blue state Posts: 4,678	It is only good to advanced reloaders and should not be given to beginners or slow learners. I gave a guy who had never reloaded, a mystery powder. But he and I together helped an electronics company that was being sued for not supporting the schedule for the starter generator for the jet engine on the customers jet program. He and I got the starter electronics designed, working, and the prototype jet could taxi on the runway. He came up with a way of estimating the effective series resistance of the winding [based on history] so the back emf could be used to estimate the speed and phase. So I knew he was smart enough to use an unknown powder, and he did. __________________ The word 'forum" does not mean "not criticizing books." "Ad hominem fallacy" is not the same as point by point criticism of books. If you bought the book, and believe it all, it may FEEL like an ad hominem attack, but you might strive to accept other points of view may exist. Are we a nation of competing ideas, or a nation of forced conformity of thought?

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January 9, 2014, 07:22 PM	#2
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	Safest thing is to use it as garden or lawn fertilizer if you don't know what it is. Otherwise, very bad things can happen like kabooms where guns blow up and either you or your friend lose a body part or worse.

January 9, 2014, 09:54 PM	#3
LE-28 Senior Member Join Date: September 24, 2012 Location: North Carolina Posts: 759	No there isn't. If it is not labeled your friend is out of luck. I hear roses really like the nitrates in it. It's a total loss

January 9, 2014, 10:08 PM	#4
DannyB1954 Senior Member Join Date: December 10, 2013 Location: Pahrump Nv USA Posts: 480	2lb of powder has a value of $50. Ask them how much their safety is worth.

January 9, 2014, 10:23 PM	#6
Mehefski Junior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 6	Thanks for the replies to the unknown powder issue. I have been reloading for twenty years and have always labeled all my residuals. I told him I would check but it was probably hopeless. The roses are a good idea!

March 3, 2014, 09:42 PM	#9
reynolds357 Senior Member Join Date: December 10, 2012 Posts: 6,164	I like to pour it out in a trail and scare the neighbors cat when it comes by.