Reusing Factory Powder

[Win Fan]

I searched everywhere on the internet and could not find an answer to this question. I am hoping someone with some experience can point me in the right direction.

Is it possible to pull bullets on factory loads, reusing the primer and powder and seat the same grain Hornady bullet or am I asking for disaster?

[Sevens]

If you use the same weight bullet and you use a bullet of the same physical makeup and you take care to not use any more of the internal combustion space that the original load did, then there is no reason to expect any manner of a catastrophe.

However, what you're talking about doing is a royal pain for very little gain in most cases. Do you care to expound on what and why?

In most cases, it simply makes more sense to load your own. That's basically what you'll be needing to do to make this work anyhow.

[Bart B.]

Many people have pulled bullets from military and commercial ammo then replaced them with other bullets of similar weights without any issues.

[kilimanjaro]

Replacing a fmj 180-grain bullet with a match or hunting 180-grain bullet is OK. Not matching bullet weights is not a good idea.

Never, ever, ever reuse a powder if you don't know what it is.

[Win Fan]

I have two groups of rounds that this question applies to. The first group is .243 95gr Federal but after buying these rounds I discovered they are moly coated and I dont want that going down my bore. I decided to dump the powder in these and replaced it with my normal charge of 39.6gr RL-17 for the 95gr Hornady SST. I agree with you concerning the physical characteristics of the two bullets. The factory bullets are moly and BT while the Hornady's are neither. Even though they are the same weight, I thought the two were just too different to reuse the powder.

Let me tell you, if you have not tried to pull moly bullets and reload the primed brass you are not missing out. You MUST run the brass through the neck sizer to close the diameter down because the moly residue in the neck will not hold the new bullet.

[Win Fan]

The second group of rounds that I am considering this for is .270 150gr. I have some Win Power Point hunting loads that seem irregular. What I mean by that is the lead tip is irregular or inconsistent from one to the next. I am not sure how much of a difference that will make out to 400yds but I am considering pulling those and replacing them with a heavy hitting hunting bullet of the same weight. Sevens: Of course, I wont know what the bullet's base looks like until I pull one, but based on your posting, will I need to worry about B.C. from the factory bullet to the new?

[243winxb]

disaster. http://www.photobucket.com/kabooom Moly reduces pressure, requiring more powder to get the same velocity that a non-moly bullet would. Insert a non-moly bullet, pressure goes up. Bullet cores of lead may be 4 different hardness (sierra) changing pressure. A thicker copper jacket will produce more pressure.

[Bart B.]

Bullets of the same weight +3% but different shapes are typically OK. Similar jacket hardness are important, too.

It's important that the new bullet's diameter not be much bigger than the original one. 30 caliber bullets vary over a .003" spread and putting one .309" diameter in a case whose original bullet was .307" may cause a problem; other calibers have similar spreads. Especially in barrels with smaller groove diameters. Properly use a good vernier micrometer to measure your bullets. The new one can be .0003" larger in diameter and not cause a significant problem.

[44 AMP]

I don't know what your personal requirements for 400yd accuracy are, but a lot of testing over the years has shown that variations in the bullet tip (including slightly mashed soft points) does not have any practical effect on accuracy for hunting, and may not even be noticeable until you get into the target/match & benchrest sort of accuracy levels.

Variations in the base of the bullet, DO affect the accuracy, and not in any good way.

Swapping the .30-06 GI 150gr FMJ for an equal soft point was, and still is a quick way to get a hunting load for use in a Garand.

will I need to worry about B.C. from the factory bullet to the new?

ANY change in the profile of the bullet will change the B.C. How much of a change depends on how much of a change. A 150gr flat point .30 cal has a much different ballistic coefficient than a 150gr spritzer. Two different 150gr spritzers with slightly different shapes will have slightly different BC's. Will it be enough to matter? That depends on what you are trying to do with them.

[Win Fan]

243winxb, I weighed about 10 bullets and powder charges from those moly coated rounds and found that the bullets are about as consistent as any general purpose reloading bullets but the thing I found interesting was that their powder charge was spot on from one round to the next. I expected to see more of a variation in bulk produced ammo.

[gwpercle]

I have done it and survived. Just be careful.
Years ago military surplus 30-06 hardball ammo was dirt cheap. My friend and I were given 1000 rounds. Needing deer hunting ammo, we carefully pulled the bullet, poured out the powder, resized the neck ( removed de-capping pin ), poured the powder back into the case and seated a new Hornady Soft -Point ( 150 grains if I remember right ) . Every thing must have worked correctly because It was a long time before we or our fathers or friends had to buy factory ammo for our rifles.
So the answer is yes, it can be done just be careful .
Gary

[243winxb]

Win fan, good you replaced your components for the 243 win moly ammo.

their powder charge was spot on from one round to the next.

I know ball powder does this better than cylinder type, like IMR 4350. http://www.ilrc.ucf.edu/powders/samp...?powder_id=113 Some of the all copper bullets would have been a bad choice also, i think. The 270 does work at 65,000 PSI.

[lee n. field]

However, what you're talking about doing is a royal pain for very little gain in most cases. Do you care to expound on what and why?

Powder isn't that expensive. IMHO, go with a published recipe.

[Win Fan]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Longshot4]

Are you nuts! Go and purchase a Hodgdon reloading manual and read it. Infact just about any reloading manual will not recommend using that powder. Don't do it no mater what ANY one tells you. One mistake on your guessing and you could loose your...x