Unburnt powder after firing handloads

[salate]

Hi guys,

I spent the day yesterday shooting some early attempts into hand loads. All seemed to be ok... Got good groups, everything chambers smoothly (except one, but will ask in new topic for that), no problems on the day shooting.

This morning in deprimed and sized all the brass and after doing about 50 noticed there are completely unburnt grains of powder in the bottom of the bowl.

New clean bowl used, so not from earlier reloading.

Is it usual to have a few grains of powder left over in the spent brass from hand loads?

[Norton]

How much is "a few grains of powder" exactly?

Literally 2-3? Or some left over in all brass?

[salate]

Hi Norton,

I didn't count sorry and I've chucked them since.

I put all the spent brass in a bowl and after resizing it all there was maybe 30-40 granules of unburnt powder in the bowl after?

This was from about 50-60 brass.

[tarnagulla]

Your powder charge is too light - unburnt powder is an unmistakeable sign of low pressure.

Any black streaking on the necks of the cases? Another sign.

Try increasing your powder charge, in 0.5gr increments, until there are no more unburnt grains - you should find that the groups get even better!

If you can borrow a chronograph - even better. You can check the muzzle velocity of your loads against the recommendations found in reliable reloading manuals for whatever weight of projectile/powder charge you are using.

[Blackened]

Posting your load data would be helpful.

[salate]

Your powder charge is too light - unburnt powder is an unmistakeable sign of low pressure.

Hmm, it really shouldn't be.

I'll have to check the exact figures when I get home but I'm using ADI reloading data and in their starting to max load range, I'm about 3/4 of the way to max load.

I will post back with exact powder charge numbers tonight.

Any black streaking on the necks of the cases? Another sign.

I've tumbled them all now so I couldn't say. There was some black junk around the necks, I don't recall it being defined streaks though. This is one I'll have to test in a few weeks on the next shoot.

Try increasing your powder charge, in 0.5gr increments, until there are no more unburnt grains - you should find that the groups get even better!

Done all that already and this is the most accurate load I worked up. Will post back with exact load data tonight to clarify.

[Aster]

Any black streaking on the necks of the cases? Another sign.

I've tumbled them all now so I couldn't say. There was some black junk around the necks, I don't recall it being defined streaks though. This is one I'll have to test in a few weeks on the next shoot.

It's possible you had a few light charges amongst your cartridges.

To be safe, it would be worth checking the accuracy of your powder thrower/scales in case it's throwing the occasional light powder charge.

[salate]

Ok, so... I've muddled things up a bit here by doing all the brass at once before I wrote this topic, but here is the info.

On the day I shot two .308 loads and a .243 load. I sized/cleaned them all at once so don't know which loads the powder came out of, but...

.308 load 1 = 150gr pills / 46gr 2208
.308 load 2 = 150gr pills / 46.5gr 2208

ADI data for this says starting load is 44gr and max is 47gr, so I'm on the fuller end of things.

.243 load = 85gr pills / 43.5gr 2209

ADI data for this says starting load 42gr and max is 45.5gr, so I'm just below the middle. Still 1.5gr above starting though.

What do you think?

Low pressure loads still a possibility from one of these loads?

[Bark]

Too hard to say as everything's been muddled up I think...

You really need to shoot a few of each load, bag em and resize them separately to know which one caused the problem.

Check the necks for residue after too and see what has what.

[headspace]

What primers are you using? They may be old or faulty and not giving a complete burn. Only other thing could be a dud batch of powder

[salate]

Federal large rifle primers and AR2208.

Both primers and powder were bought no more than a few months ago.

[BBJ]

Federal large rifle primers and AR2208.

Both primers and powder were bought no more than a few months ago.

That's not long in terms of powder so you wouldn't think it was the problem as long as everything's stored in good conditions.

I think Bark has it for the moment though...

Too hard to say as everything's been muddled up I think...

You really need to shoot a few of each load, bag em and resize them separately to know which one caused the problem.

Check the necks for residue after too and see what has what.

Need the above, then come back for some more info.

[tarnagulla]

BBJ has a point - try a few more of each, and check the cases after each shot. Hopefully it will happen with only one calibre - then you only have to sort that one out!
Your loads sound reasonable, but bear in mind that ADI is very cautious with their "maximum" load limits. You could always try contacting their tech experts (who I have found very helpful in the past) at reload.support@adi-powders.com.au

[Turkle]

Your loads sound reasonable, but bear in mind that ADI is very cautious with their "maximum" load limits. You could always try contacting their tech experts (who I have found very helpful in the past)

Surely they're never going to give you loads outside the ADI published data though?

[ebr love]

Surely they're never going to give you loads outside the ADI published data though?

Not the ones looking to keep their job anyway...

[yoshie]

Could also be your powder is too slow

[salate]

Could also be your powder is too slow

Shouldn't be?

AR2208 for .308 and AR2209 for the .243.

Pretty standard/popular powders.