Changes in Ramshot Powders

[Windstone52]

I've been using several of the Ramshot powders for over a decade now and have noticed that several of their powders have changed recently.

For example, I recently finished off my stash of older (about 2017 production) Big Game. I am about to start using some Big Game that I have purchased within the last year or so. However the new powder is clearly different.

The older Big Game was a perfectly round ball powder with even sized balls throughout, whereas the new production powder has varying sized grains, that range from balls to long oval shapes. When the old and new production are compared side by side the difference is fairly obvious. The new powder also weighs more per a given volume.

Tac also seems to be a bit different but I was unable to compare them side by side.

My question is, has anyone else noticed this difference in Big Game and other Ramshot powders and have you noticed any differences in loading the newer version?

 

[simonp]

Tagged for info as Ramshot Tac is a preferred powder for me in my carbines.

 

[Windstone52]

Tagged for info as Ramshot Tac is a preferred powder for me in my carbines.

I pulled one of my remaining rounds with the older TAC and compared it side by side with the new powder. They are definitely different, the new powder has larger, flatter grains, you could almost call it a flake powder. I don’t know if this will actually affect how the powder performs since I haven’t tried it yet.

 

[RegionRat]

I pulled one of my remaining rounds with the older TAC and compared it side by side with the new powder. They are definitely different, the new powder has larger, flatter grains, you could almost call it a flake powder. I don’t know if this will actually affect how the powder performs since I haven’t tried it yet.

Some friends who favor using TAC reported the same thing. I will ask their opinions, but as I recall it wasn't any more different than the difference from lot to lot in the past as far as re-tuning their loads.

Just my opinion, but if we are picky about load to load variation as the context, I don't trust any of the powders to stay the same batch to batch.

All of the ones that were supposedly controlled have let me down in this respect and I am always careful about the water content and such. It forces you to buy larger batches to avoid this issue, but after the elections and Covid this all got more difficult.

 

[Doom]

Most powders are a blended product. Even if a specific formula is run there are going to be batch to batch variations in the final products so its likely that the manufacturer will blend a batch to meet the desired specification. In other cases the specific powder is a blend of diffract speed powders to meet a specification. It is obvious in some of the powders from St. Marks where some of the powder will appear as ball (rounded) and some will appear flattened or flake. I have also seen extruded powders where the length of the kernel is different indicating a different batch/specification. References below support the above.

Ammunition Making-NRA by G Frost-1990 _text.pdf

Ammunition, Demystified-Jeff Siewert