M2 30-06 Ball powder for 303 British

[CruciBill]

My father has an unopened 8lb container of surplus M2 30-06 Ball powder that he says he'll never use. He offered to give it to me for loading 303 British. He said the powder came with a load card, however 303 wasn't on it. He suggested using the 150gr 308 service load data and reducing it 3-4 grs to start. Have any members had experience using this powder to load 303 British?

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[browningautorifle]

I'd think I would want to know what the powder was first. If it's IMR 4895 then data exists. If it's WW2 powder or even just old, it might produce results unexpected to what you want. Not a good idea to just start using a random powder hoping for the best.

[Wineman]

Unknown powder is tricky for sure. You might be able to correlate the loads on the card and extrapolate a load for the 303. For example in a 30-06 and a 175 grain bullet H4895 is 43.8 grains for a starting load. In the 303 with a 174 it is 38.0 grains. With BLC-2 it is 48.5 and 43.0 grains respectively for the starting load with 175 grain bullets. Both loads are about 5 grains difference. The 308 is 40 of H4895 and 43 of BLC-2 with a 175. Two grains difference with H4895 and no difference with BLC-2. It would seem that staying under the 308 data is safe for the faster powder but you might have issues if it is slower.

Dave

[browningautorifle]

And when the receiver disintegrates with a shattering "CRACK"...you can look around at people there and say, "What the hell happened?" And it will make for a huge long thread here.

[Bruce McAskill]

If there is data listed on the card for 30-40 Krag. Starting loads will work fine for the .303 then work up from there.

[303tom]

What does it say on the container ?...........Research & research some more, DON`T just go blindly into reloading with it !...............

[vintage hunter]

Another thing to consider is the age of the powder and under what conditions it's been stored all these years. If it shows signs of degrading it isn't safe to use.

[CINDERS]

If its old just keep it as a relic because as BAR said if it goes crack then you will be the talk of the range (Uninjured I hope) placing your faith in reducing a correlated piece of data from a different caliber to start with is fraught with danger I reckon. As the 308 is probably to SAAMI specs 60,000psi where as the ol' girls are rated at roughly 42,000 ~ 45,000psi (Mk III - No.4) No sireee not on your Nelly playing guess work with that lot going bang 6 inches in front of your beak..........

[Wineman]

For sure if in doubt, not worth the chance. The powder quality may also be suspect if it is really old.

Here is an Internet thread on a similar question:

Surplus Powder [Archive] - CMP Forums

Linked in the article above:

Surplus military 846 powder - CMP Forums

Again these are only Internet discussions, not hard data from a powder supplier. I do remember reading that Bruce Hodgdon started his company selling paper bags of surplus powder he bought by the train load.

Our History

Dave

[Bruce_in_Oz]

If, when you open the lid on the can, you get a sweet, "chloroform" type smell, AND the powder flows freely without "clumping", AND there is NO sign of internal corrosion / degradation of the container it SHOULD be good for further CAREFUL experimentation, IF you KNOW that it has been correctly labelled.

If ANY of the aforementioned "conditions" are NOT met, spread the stuff THINLY on the garden bed; nitrates are nitrates. And DON'T smoke whilst doing so.

Or, to be REALLY safe, go straight to that final "horticultural" step and then get some REALLY fresh stuff from your local friendly gun shop.

Spare parts for people are harder to get than gun parts.