Surplus Powder? Pros/Cons?

[gopwins]

I'm thinking of reloading some surplus powder in my .223 loads. I'd be interested in your experiences using it. Any significant accuracy issues? Any particular sellers you would recommend?

 

[gunman41mag]

I've been told that surplus power won't give great accuracy, it's cheap & made for machine gun ammo

 

[xring62]

Prices has went up so much in the last few years to me it isnt worth saving just 20 $ on 8 lbs .

 

[sloughfoot]

For accuracy, the appropriate bullet for the rate of twist is far more important than the powder.

 

[Aszerigan]

I use mil powder in all my plinking ammo. It's cheap, relatively clean, and it works. I have no complaints - neither has anyone that's shot my ammo.

 

[woody131]

I run wc846 in my remington 700 223 and all my minis and also in my FAL 308 but I recently was told that the wc844 is better suited for 223, I plan to try some this week.

 

[windellmc]

The biggest disadvantage I have heard is that it is not consistent from lot to lot so you may have to work up new loads whenever you switch to a different lot. I have seen it for around $90 for 8 lbs. It seems to be $40-50 cheaper per 8 lb than H335 for instance.

Driving the cost of reloading .223 up that much makes it not much cheaper than new ammo and almost the same cost as steel cased Russian ammo.

 

[Aszerigan]

The biggest disadvantage I have heard is that it is not consistent from lot to lot so you may have to work up new loads whenever you switch to a different lot.

For .223, Wc844 mil is consistent enough to load batch to batch with very little change in velocity. It's not match powder by any stretch, but you won't need to work your loads up every time you get a new jug.

 

[lon]

I bought a jug of "new" WC 844 surplus years ago and liked it.

Has anyone noticed any difference between "new" surplus powder and "pull down" surplus? The pull down is sifted, so whats the downside?

 

[red_zr24x4]

For accuracy, the appropriate bullet for the rate of twist is far more important than the powder.

I use mil powder in all my plinking ammo. It's cheap, relatively clean, and it works. I have no complaints - neither has anyone that's shot my ammo.

For .223, Wc844 mil is consistent enough to load batch to batch with very little change in velocity. It's not match powder by any stretch, but you won't need to work your loads up every time you get a new jug.

^^These three right here^^
I've used WC844 and WC846 in .223, .308, 30-06 for plinking ammo for the last couple of years and never had a problem.
The WC844 I bought last yr had the same lot # on the jug as the WC844 I bought this yr.

 

[Skip]

I have several "GO TO" loads for hunting. One is for a 240gr XTP in 44Mag that uses WC820 as the propellant. One bit hole from the Encore @ 100 yards. And, you need more because...................?

Not rifle stuff, but, I did just get some Russian 4895. I haven't loaded it up yet, other than a few tests in the .358/25 WSSM. It is much more bulky than H4895 so, that little case has a hard time getting enough in there to make it worth while BUT, it would work for range stuff.

The other powders I have used are a surplus Unique and I.P.P.. Both of those work well enough to get bullets down range and make tennis balls or golf balls for that matter, jump all over everywhere!

FWIW

 

[tenring]

I've been told that surplus power won't give great accuracy, it's cheap & made for machine gun ammo

You might have heard that, but it was wrong. 4895 was loaded for machine guns, match rounds, and billions of service rounds. Still using some 4895 PD from the 03-04 era, still have 5 jugs of CMR-100 [Canadian equivalent of 4895], and 6 jugs of 2230C that I use for several bolt guns. No problems what so ever, and they are all accurate. The 2230C came from Natchez and listed as DATA powder, and no one had any load info for it. Turns out one just had to use 2460 info and watch the signs. BTW, the 2230C wound up to be less than 10 bucks a pound to my front door. Better than any interest at the bank.

 

[lon]

Has anyone noticed any difference between "new" surplus powder and "pull down" surplus? The pull down is sifted, so whats the downside?

Anyone?