Comment on this Open Sight article:

Bargain Powder Hazards (http://beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/20)

Excellent!

Intentional missleading/sabotage...may want to invest in one of the remote car starters if the gunshow seller decides to run a gas station. Ignorant greed or intentional destructive planning?
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Looking closer at the pictures, that Mauser did a good job of not blowing the bolt back through his head.

This is a very serious matter as it comes under the area of MURDER or attempted MURDER ! Was the ATF informed of this along with turning over the unopened can of powder to them ? This also could have been done by someone at the factory ! I have seen Mausers let loose but not like this with everything sheared off ! Your friend much have someone upstairs who still likes him ! They can track down this nut as there are many times pictures taken at Gunshows ! Sometimes by the ATF ! JAGG

I know that local authorities were informed of the issue, but really don't know how much further any investigation has gone beyond that point. Sorry, I just can't comment there.

It indeed would come under such classifications as you describe should someone be seriously injured or killed. And yes, it is a VERY serious matter, not to be taken light-heartedly.

Interesting article and pictures.

Anybody have any comments about the powders from Barlett Powders (http://www.gibrass.com/gunpowder.html)?

Yup - Don't know how many gun shows and gun club sales I've been to and someone has partially used cannisters of powder or supposedly "unopened" cannisters for sale.

Will pass them by in every circumstance. Only bulk powder recently purchased was from the widow of one of our recently departed club members who loaded only 30-30 ammo for his M94 Win. She still had an almost full 8 lb caddy of IMR 3031 Fred had been using. She would have given it away just to get it out of the house, but being Fred's, I wasn't afraid of it and purchased it. Otherwise, my powder and primers come from dealers.

Marshall,
Was that powder from the Spokane gun show, or one here in Idaho? I've never bought powder from any source other than a dealer, but it's a bit scary.

I wouldn't mind seeing powder canisters use the kind of lids put on milk cartons, where a ring separates from the main lid when opened. I'd think that would be harder to fake/tamper with.

Yes ID, it came from the Spring Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds Gunshow this year! And, indeed it is spooky to think that these kinds of deceptions are lurking out there!

Watch your powder sources.... then keep it dry!

Thanks,Marshal
Those pictures are really impressive!
It hits close to home.I just finished loading some 300 Savage rounds with 4350 powder that I got from a yard sale. The can had been opened,too.
I'm safe;I've used this powder before.
God protects most of us.
Frank

Comment on this Open Sight article:

Bargain Powder Hazards (http://beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/20)


THANK YOU for making the photos of the Mauser available - One picture is worth ten thousand words - and possibly a few folks who will keep all their body parts where they belong.

I have been given powder, hundreds of pounds over the years, and all of it has gone on the field when we were plowing.

I like all my fingers, both eyes, and all that other stuff the good Lord gave me when he sent me here, not to mention my rifles and handguns, too much to take those chances.

A friend once told me that he would not get too upset with "bargin" powders in his shotguns because they are so low pressure. He is more trusting and tolerant than I am.

Thanks for the warning - again. Saving a few bucks can never make up for loss of your grand-dads rifle that he handed down - or for your eyes. Buy fresh from a dealer and help him feed his family - and I'm not a dealer.

Bluesman

Shotguns are low pressure, but low strength. If anything they have less margin for error than rifles. However, shotguns normally use pretty fast powder (save the .410 and heavy loads in most gauges) so it's not quite a drastic as slipping a case full of Bullseye into a .270 reload....

Anyway, agree, never use it if you didn't break the tax seal.... same rule for whiskey!!!

Why you delete my post?
<ahref="http://www.nirvana-shop.com/ref.php?id=540976fcd6bb19"target="_blank"><imgsrc="http://www.nirvana-shop.com/images/banners/120nirvana.gif"border="0"alt="NirvanaCannabisSeeds-Straightfromthebreeder!"></a>

Because it was non-gun/shooting related advertising, that's why.

Posted in the wrong forum, anyway.

Comment on this Open Sight article:

Bargain Powder Hazards (http://beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/20)

Do you think this could have been done with a very definite purpose in mind? Such as showing the average citizen that reloading is very dangerous, needs to be limited/licenced/regulated/banned? Plus the bonus of a dead or mamed gun nut would be ok!
Maybe I think too much, but tree huggers and animal rights groups do some very drastic stuff.

P.S. Thank You, as I will know where my powder came from, or will consider it fertilizer.

Interesting article and pictures.

Anybody have any comments about the powders from Barlett Powders (http://www.gibrass.com/gunpowder.html)?

I've used many of Jeff Bartlet's Powders with great success. He has a good web site with lots of information. I've found his published starting loads to be valid for the 6 or more different powders I've used.

He's easy to reach on the phone and will be happy to answer your questions.

pc

That was a real object lesson. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it... in the past.

Friends All......As reloaders, we have been very lucky for many years, but those days are gone with the days we did not even know where the house keys were! For some time I have warned about powder deals, which also include many of the cheap salvaged powders. I remember well the detonations years ago with some of the salvaged stick powders........that no one seemed to know why? Homer Powley showed me a little trick. He took 10 grains and broke each grain in half......loaded it and ran presure test against unbroken grains.......300 plus % more presure! The surplus powder had become brittle with age and with the poular compressed charge was breaking up.
We are going to face a great deal of presure and danger from some of the nuts floating out there! Dixie Slugs has spent quite a deal of money having our loads presure tested with powder sold to the public and some we get from the maker.
All I can say, after watching some of the loads and loading procedures, that they have been very lucky!
Even some of the computer loading programs are dicey! Many claim to be based on Homer Powley's work........but let me tell you up front.....Homer's computer and the work he did used only IMR powders. When you see Ball powders, etc used....be careful!.......enough said......James

Even if you can "identify" the powder in question it's a good idea to err on the side of caution. PITCH IT!!!!
It's too bad some people are so ignorant about other people's safety.I have been given some powder by a friend who is a very meticulous reloader and his is the only "bargain powder" I will use. We trade ammo back and forth too so we trust each other pretty well.
I've been called away from my reloading bench to deal with things of the emergent nature (I was a volunteer EMT in a Rural MT community) I inadvertantly left powder in my #55 powder measure and then came back to it several weeks later only to find out that I had done some errant cleaning and "forgot" what the heck I was reloading and what powder was in the measure. I can't tell the differance between 4064 and 4350 and 4831 so I had to pitch about a 1/2 cup of powder. I now take a piece of masking tape and write on it what kind of powder and what the charge is and stick it to the measure so I can "remember" what I was doing. I can't blame it on CRS anymore.

A very good article.... and a VERY important lesson for us all. I am in the process now of collecting the various equipment and materials for handloading ammo for my Yugo M48...(I've never handloaded before). I will ABSOLUTELY take this information to heart. Thanks very much.

That article is horrible ... :(

Never read something worser

Might not be a bad idea for Gunshows to photograph anyone carrying gunpowder with a "for sale sign". Should be a simple process. How many people like that can there be....if they don't want to be photographed, have them leave the "POWDER" AND PICK IT UP ON RETURN.
A COMMON SENSE SOLUTION TO A PERPLEXING PROBLEM.

I'm guilty of buying bulk estate powder, too. A friend of mine owns a cast bullet/reloading component business. When he buys out estates, there's usually large quantities of powder involved. I only buy, at less than $10/lb, the unopened containers. Sometimes, if it's something like Red Dot or Green Dot, which is totally obvious as to what it is, I will buy the partial containers of it.

Last time I bought a batch from him, I got 60 lbs of powder for an even $100. All unopened except for one container of Red Dot.

Excellent article. That's why I never purchase the opened containers (they all go to a local fireworks manufacturer) and absolutely never, EVER shoot anyone else's reloads. I've been around too many times when my friends would get squib loads, heavy charges, etc. I take a lot more care than that.

I thought this was a great article - has it been published in a gun mag? I don't recall reading it here, but I remember reading it, or something very similar to it, in one of the gun mags awhile back. I could be imagining it, or CRS....but a good read.

Don't be fooled into thinking you can positively ID the colored "DOT" powders! I bought a bunch of reloading stuff years ago from an estate sale. Contained in the lot were several containers of powder, some opened, some sealed.

Not wanting to end up with the results as Marhsall's post shows, I decided to cull the open powders by pouring them out in a line and burning them off. Very good thing I did too! There was about 3# of powder remaining in an 8# tub clearly marked "RED DOT". Opening the container, it was clearly "red dot" powder with the visible red flakes mixed in. Still leery, it went to the burn line anyway and the results verified my gut feelings. The line was maybe 20' long put down on hard dry fire clay in the yard. As the line burned off, there were a couple sections that flared and burned at an obviously much faster rate than the rest of the line. Had I used this "what clearly looked like Red Dot powder", I will likely have regretted it!

Not long ago I was given a full can of 2F Goex black powder by an aquaintence. Upon outward inspection, it looked to be a normal factory filled can however these do not come with any type of safety seal over the lid. Just to err on the side of caution, I poured the entire can out into a larger open container to double check. I immediately noticed granulation size changes as I poured it out and found the can contained everything from 1F to 4F all mixed together. Turns out the person who gave it to me knew nothing about powder and simply "consolidated" the several partially filled cans of Goex powder his father owned into one to make it easier to handle. He said, "I made sure it was all Goex, what's the difference?" A simple mistake by someone who just didn't know any better trying to do something nice could have resulted in major problems even though the intent was good. Wasn't a total loss, I simply use it as priming powder in my flintlocks so all is well - and - YES, I did clearly re-lable the can with both tape and paint & permanent marker so there is no possible way to confuse it with anything else.

When I fill; the powder measure I set the container that the powder came from next to the measure. I can then look at what is in the measure as I go along. If Im using the electronic dispenser-same. Original container sets next to dispenser. Only ONE powder container on bench at a time.