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Powder numbers?
1917watercooled
Member Posts: 93 ✭✭
I was in my powder storage yesterday, looking for a suitable powder for a new loading. It struck me that I may have too many kinds of powder but, more than that, all the numbers. They go from AA#2 to 4895. Is there any sense to what the numbers are for, or do the manufacture's just make a number up as they develope the powder? Thanks
Comments
There are two safe ways to determine what a powder is useful for: check manufacturers' product lists and study loading manuals. Many loading manuals also reprint manufacturers' lists, making it easy to cross-check between powders.
In Appendix D (p. 458) the 48th ed. of Lyman Reloading Handbook consolidates the lists into a single relative burn rate chart, which may be your best bet for reference. Just don't use it to interpolate your own loads in place of actual tested loading data
IMR numbers are NOT arbitrary. They represent the "test batch" number that worked out well enough to be made into a canister powder. You can roughly date their creation by putting them into numerical order. So 3031 was their 3,031st test batch, 4320 was their 4,320th, and so forth.
Creation does not equal commercial introduction, however. They standardized several powders long before they were sold commercially, so creation dates and introduction dates differ.
I'll slip that one into a conversation somewhere and WOW everyone.