If you have a drying procedure for powder please share what you're doing? I'm curious how it works.
Do you dehydrate your powder?
- Thread starter Cascade Hemi
- Start date
I toss a silica gel packet or two in a jug of powder when I open it. I wouldn't call that dehydrating. More like keeping it dry. That is the most I would advise.
I throw mine in the cast iron over a camp fire, helps season the cast iron as well slow dry it for about 4 hours on an open
I slow roast mine over a black cherry Yankee candle so I get pleasant aromas at the range.
If your powder got wet, toss it.
When youre not using it, keep the lids closed and sealed. Don't keep powder stored in a hopper on your reloading bench, it will absorb the humidity in the air over time which will degrade the powder to some unknown extent. I dont know to what extent as I have never felt the need to find out.
@reubenski has done a write up on this
Edit: went digging through his threads https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/drying-powder.6911979/
Edit: went digging through his threads https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/drying-powder.6911979/
I'm trying to figure out if this subject is real or a troll. I figured if anyone had tried it someone here would confirm.
Interesting timing... I just listened to that podcast that @OREGUN mentioned.
I've generally been in the camp of leaving well enough alone, but since that thread of @reubenski 's I had a discussion with a fellow F-class shooter who also dabbles in short range BR and had tried it. It sounded like he spread it out on bedsheets to dry (he lives near Phoenix), and and seemed to think it did work if done correctly / consistently.
Then in that podcast Emil talked about some issues Berger had had with ambient humidity during certain times of year there in Phoenix - which might be why some of the competitors down there were drying out their powder to begin with
The other thing that was kind of surprising was where Bryan talked about the change in atmo affecting the moisture content of the powder in a loaded round.
I've generally been in the camp of leaving well enough alone, but since that thread of @reubenski 's I had a discussion with a fellow F-class shooter who also dabbles in short range BR and had tried it. It sounded like he spread it out on bedsheets to dry (he lives near Phoenix), and and seemed to think it did work if done correctly / consistently.
Then in that podcast Emil talked about some issues Berger had had with ambient humidity during certain times of year there in Phoenix - which might be why some of the competitors down there were drying out their powder to begin with
The other thing that was kind of surprising was where Bryan talked about the change in atmo affecting the moisture content of the powder in a loaded round.
I have read previous and listen to this podcast https://longrangeshootingandcustomriflebuiling.libsyn.com/episode-49-reloading-series-part-2 that details needing to even hydrate powder because it drys out. He verified this with hodgdon.
Powder needs to be stable being to dry or to wet is a issue.
Powder needs to be stable being to dry or to wet is a issue.
I'm new to all of this, but I'm in Colorado as well & drying out jugs via exposure to the local atmospheric conditions here sounds pretty attractive!
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@slowerisfaster
My opinion, the whole thought of adding/subtracting moisture to the powder is not just futile,, but fucking stupid..
Yeah, let's just add one more series of completely unknown variables/complications/testing conditions to the reloading process which people already overcomplicate for either no or miniscule gains in accuracy.
Let's take powder, which is stored at an unknown humidity in the jug, and leave it exposed to uncontrolled ambient humidity and temperature at your home for it to gain or lose burn rate based on the time it is exposed to those uncontrolled variables.
Who is willing to log that data?
Ambient humidity in the jug of powder? Baseline velocity for a given load at given powder humidity and temp?
With that, expose the powder to varying levels of ambient humidity for varying amount of time...
What increments of humidity? 25% for 30 minutes? 30% for 40 minutes? 35% for 25 minutes? 60% for 15 or 30 minutes?
What about moisture absorption rate in cooler temps vs warmer temps?
What about less dense vs more dense powders?? Does Reloder 16 and H4350 absorb/ lose less or more humidity than Reloder 26.
Testing all these different lots of "different moisture powders" in the *exact same conditions as your baseline load for accurate comparison*
And
What actual downrange effect would it have? If my load, which already shoots well in my rifle, loses or gains 10-20fps, is that going to matter? Was that velocity change due to powder temp or powder humidity?
How to avoid all this complicated shit?
Open bottle
Pour powder into powder hopper
Seal bottle
Dispense powder within a reasonable time during that reloading session.
Repeat the same process and timeframe for subsequent reloading bench sessions.
Wow, holy shit, we just avoided introducing all these insane complications and variables by... taking reasonable stops to not introduce them. I know, totally crazy. Almost crazy enough to work.
My opinion, the whole thought of adding/subtracting moisture to the powder is not just futile,, but fucking stupid..
Yeah, let's just add one more series of completely unknown variables/complications/testing conditions to the reloading process which people already overcomplicate for either no or miniscule gains in accuracy.
Let's take powder, which is stored at an unknown humidity in the jug, and leave it exposed to uncontrolled ambient humidity and temperature at your home for it to gain or lose burn rate based on the time it is exposed to those uncontrolled variables.
Who is willing to log that data?
Ambient humidity in the jug of powder? Baseline velocity for a given load at given powder humidity and temp?
With that, expose the powder to varying levels of ambient humidity for varying amount of time...
What increments of humidity? 25% for 30 minutes? 30% for 40 minutes? 35% for 25 minutes? 60% for 15 or 30 minutes?
What about moisture absorption rate in cooler temps vs warmer temps?
What about less dense vs more dense powders?? Does Reloder 16 and H4350 absorb/ lose less or more humidity than Reloder 26.
Testing all these different lots of "different moisture powders" in the *exact same conditions as your baseline load for accurate comparison*
And
What actual downrange effect would it have? If my load, which already shoots well in my rifle, loses or gains 10-20fps, is that going to matter? Was that velocity change due to powder temp or powder humidity?
How to avoid all this complicated shit?
Open bottle
Pour powder into powder hopper
Seal bottle
Dispense powder within a reasonable time during that reloading session.
Repeat the same process and timeframe for subsequent reloading bench sessions.
Wow, holy shit, we just avoided introducing all these insane complications and variables by... taking reasonable stops to not introduce them. I know, totally crazy. Almost crazy enough to work.
does or has anyone ever tried to vacuum seal and pack there powder ? unlike the jar once you open the seal you expose it to any and all moisture in the air or if kept in a garage any moisture that is present ?
No.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the powder temperature at the time of ignition has a far greater impact on downrange performance/velocity than leaving the lid off the jug for 1 minute while pouring, or the powder in the hopper for an hour or two while loading.
Searching for solutions for non-existent problem.
THIS ^^^ RIGHT HERE!!!!!
and i will say it again.....RELOADING IS THE MOST OVER THOUGHT THING ON THE PLANET!!!
But let's just think about this for a minute.
j/k
If you get into the science of drying materials that have reasonably high surface area, you'd realize how hard it would be to work with uniform humidity in your powder. Don't even worry about some arbitrary specification for dryness because if you were to go there, uniformity would be of more utility than just being "dry".
But if you really want to go there, start by making your reloading work area dry. Dehydrate the living fuck out of your reloading room or the bottle of powder won't matter much. And don't bitch about all the static electricity pain in the asses you will endure if you can get your reloading room as dry as a popcorn fart. By the time you are done, you will realize just how hard it is to get a workplace and your hygroscopic materials dry, and how much of a pain in the ass it is to deal with dry powders, static electricity zapping your primers, etc. A dry workspace is difficult to achieve because water has remarkable ability to get into places you don't want it to. You can work in extremely high vacuum systems like a secondary ion mass spectrometer and guess what you see on the surface of every sample you analyze? Yep, water. It's a small molecule and it can penetrate glass, stainless steel, etc. And it's a polar molecule that sticks to all kinds of things. Face it, your dryness quest is royally fucked.
Most of what you guys are bitching about is completely immaterial. Use a chronograph to measure velocity, use a scale to measure powder, and use a target to measure accuracy. When the new lot matches the old lot you are done. As in the experiment and data logged in the thread Spife posted. If you didn't read it, you might want to go read it.
H1000 is not elusive... i can find it every day!!!So what he is saying is I can make the elusive H1000 by adding some water to slow the burn rate down on some Varget?
Fyi check mfr website its around
Just for the record, I loaded a couple of dozen shells on my deceased Father’s MEC progressive, in which the 700x had been sitting in the hopper for well over a year, just to see if they’de fizzle. They shot fine. I did not chrony them, but everything sounded and felt right.
I don’t store powder in the hopper either for the common sense reasons given, but most ammo is not “sealed” either and it lasts decades. Just for the record...
My reloading room is my furnace room, and it’s dry as fuck. I store my powder high under a duck where it stays warm. I chrony loads all the time and this has never been an issue.
A guy I knew painted his primers and bullets with fingernail polish befire he seated them. His old Hollywood looked like shit because of all the drippings. He hunted the Great Dismal and claimed sealing his ammunition was the only way to fly in the swamp.
A guy I knew painted his primers and bullets with fingernail polish befire he seated them. His old Hollywood looked like shit because of all the drippings. He hunted the Great Dismal and claimed sealing his ammunition was the only way to fly in the swamp.
i live in nevada we have just enough humidity here to keep all this from happening....BUT....sense we are over thinking reloading once again....if i lived in the driest place on the planet and you lived in the most humid place on the planet and we are both shooting 6BRAs..your barrel is #1 mine is #2 from the same lot of steel drilled and rifled on the same day same machine by the same guy..chambered by the same smith with the same reamer on the same day...same length...same brake...same actions 1 number apart...same stock..same scope..same rings..same trigger...same lot of peterson brass..same lot of 109 hybrids..same lot of fed205m primers..same lot of varget...same 31.1g load...i probably missed a few sames but you get the idea....
would these loads shoot the same groups? same velocities? if not would it be because your powder was moister? mine was drier? or would it be one(or several)or the other things involved?
my point is again...reloading is the most over thought thing on the planet....i just tapped a new lot#/jug of powder this morning...i did not check the moisture content...i did not go on quick load to see what it had to say...i loaded 50 rounds with 30.5g(put them in the garage to cool down)and im headed out in about an hour to check at 100yds on paper then out at distance on steel...if it dont shoot ill adjust the charge...or better yet just adjust the new tuner while im there and be done....see no over thinking involved just straight caveman....dump powder stuff bullet shoot LOL!!
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Seriously.
I was looking at it from a Normalization aspect. Like annealing, the goal is to create consistency from cartridge to cartridge.
Well then instead of asking people you don't know for opinions, try it out all your baseline loads, then do all the high speed powder manipulations and let us know how it goes.
Don't talk about it and sulk. Be about it.
You do realize this is the reloading section on a shooting forum where members ask strangers for information and opinions don't you? If not here then where? Would holding a sign up on the side of the freeway be a more appropriate location to ask about reloading technical information?
We are in the reloading forum which is an accumulation of data points from shooters that others can glean some insight as to how that actual data can be used. It's pretty clear nobody has any actual quantifiable data regarding this. Cool beans, I accept that.
All I did was pose a bunch of questions relating the information needed to quantify what the subject was, how it was useful, etc, and then state my opinion on the subject.
If that's emotionally charged, then very well.
Let all of us know how your humidity v. Velocity logs turn out and what hydrometer you used to measure, how long the powders were exposed to what temperature and humidity, and what the actual results were.
No way. Doesn't hold a candle to trying to get laid, rich or famous.
yes way over thought
reloading is very simple...ppl make it difficult
and yes it would be impossible to tell if there was a difference what was causing it due to all the variables with all the components involved.
you got me in a corner with that one LMAO...but you are right!!
I’m still holding my dick broke as fuck and no one knows me!
I like to bring my powder into my bathroom while I take a hot shower. It gives me a 1 sd/es and shoots .1s all day if I do my part.
This is not a new chain of thought really. Go look around about volume vs weight for charging powder. There is a lot of information pointing toward varying moisture content causing varying powder performance.
Yes, I read your thread about your 6mm gun and 30gr +/- of varget experiences and how you used uou master bedroom in your home to dry out the lot of powder instead of an oven (smart choice). Did your ever fix that shrinking hard wood floor issue?
I also read the Accurate Shooter blog post Spife posted reference the powder info from Norma.
Yes, I know, and have known, moisture content of powder has an effect on burn rate. If the OP wants to dry his powder out for whatever the reason he wants, by all means, go right ahead. I still think it is an amount of time and effort invested in reloading that will only impact downrange accuracy for those who want to squeeze every single last 0.1" out of their groups. If that level of time is worth it for you, good for you. Get your super consistent, lot to lot powder with single digit ES and go forth with All The Accuracy
I don't want to run and do endless experiments and do this or that with powders, therefore, MY OPINION is I belive the effort is pointless FOR ME. I put powder from jug into hopper and I load my loads for the level of accuracy I want from my rifles which definitely isn't teeny, tiny groups, or bench rest, or F Class, or whatever. MOA or better with 8-12 SD and 30-50 ES.
yes exactly.
new lots as in same lot# number new jug or new jug new lot#? and do you think they are slower due to moisture content?
Yes, endless. As current wisdom stands, with each lot of powder you do a baseline load to see where it's at compared to your current load, then tweak from there.
Add in the moisture content thing and thats another layer of testing, or, as some call it "experimentation".
You guys can have all that to your heart's content.
Too funny a thread, guess here is the beginning of the new $1200 vacuum powder moisture stabilizing kit.
oh i can load good ammo the tuner just takes another step out of the load development...now if it holds up remains to be seen...on the down side it adds another variable to the equation.
