Reloaders, powder ID question????

[heckinohio]

I have a bunch (2000) 1940 dated German MG ammo that is rusted and I have been reclaiming the powder and bullets, duplicating their loading with Winchester brass & CCI mil. spec primers to use in my gas operating 8mm semi rifles. Local MG guy gave me 3-4000 rnds of Egyptian he claims is 80% duds. I pulled one of them down to take a look at the powder and the bullet. The bullet appears to be 180 gr compared to the German one of 196. The powder LOOKS exactly like the German. Some various other 8mm duds I have pulled down have little sticks or black pepper fine powder and I pitch all of that & reuse only the bullets. Never have many of them anyway.

Question is, is there any way to find out if the German & Egyptian powders are the same??? Sure would be handy to be able to put it all in the same container rather than to have so many seperate ones.... I load for 8-10 or so calibers.... PJH heckinohio@att.net

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[jjroth]

for IDing old powder.

Best bet would be to load with new powder, one kaboom might ruin you day, appearance, firearm, etc

[Jerome Cooper]

I don't believe there is any practical way to ID powder from foreign countries in the WW II timeframe. Nor can we trace who was actually making the stuff, or what the actual burning rate is/was. Going by what the powder looks like is kind of risky even with our own modern day powders. Its not worth it to have any kind of accident resulting in an injury to anyone or ruining a gun. Salvaged bullets are one thing/ok, but unless you can positively identify the powder, I wouldn't take any chances with it. JC

[Pattern14]

Question is, is there any way to find out if the German & Egyptian powders are the same??? Sure would be handy to be able to put it all in the same container rather than to have so many seperate ones.... I load for 8-10 or so calibers.... PJH heckinohio@att.net

I would never advise mixing powders especially from different countries- too many variables that could lead to a catastrophe. On the same topic, I had a lot of turkish 8mm ammunition back when the market was flooded with it and dirt cheap. I pulled and saved the bullets and weighed the powder charge for the original round. The powder was marked and placed in a container with original charge labeled and weight of bullet. When reloading with this powder I reduced the original charge by 10%. Worked fine, however, I would never go this route when mixing powder from 1930's headstamped ammo with say 1945 since I found the charges varied considerably over a long span of years.