Question on powders

1623 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by locutus, Dec 14, 2012

Tenderribbs

Discussion Starter · Dec 11, 2012

What determines a powder to be extruded and why the need for ball powder vs stick powder. Other then the throw flowing better why have a stick powder ? Why have a ball powder ? Are Stick powders better for certain calliber rifles? Thanks in advance

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locutus

· #4 · Dec 11, 2012 (Edited)

noylj said:
Winchester invented ball powder and convinced us that it was better. In general, harder to ignite and it was, at one time, harder on the bore.
However, people became concerned that despite all the accuracy set by extruded powders that the better metering and newness was better.
Like all things, there are benefits and negatives, but I simply judge a powder by the size of the group.

Ball powder is denser and you can load more. It generally burns a little hotter.

But it generally gives better velocity and is easier to meter.

IME, ball is generally a better choice in heavy loads, and extruded or flake in light to moderate loads. But that is not a hard and fast rule. Ya gotta see what every particular weapon likes.

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locutus

· #6 · Dec 12, 2012

Tenderribbs said:
So extruded just means another form of powder like you have ball ,flake and then extruded and that's like a rat turd? So when you say extrude powder you are referring to the actually physical characteristics or the shape of the powder if I understand correctly good article

Old timers (like me

) often refer to extruded powder as "stick" powder, because it looks like little sticks.

Ball is round, or partially flattened.
Flake is...well, flaky!

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locutus

· #8 · Dec 13, 2012

mountainskytop said:
Then you have the powder UNIQUE and as I hopefully correctly recall from my reloading days that are little round flaky type discs. Lol

Yep! Flake powder.

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locutus

· #11 · Dec 14, 2012

Catfish said:
I use only ball powders. The only reason is becaue I load on a Dillon probresive press. Really you can get ball or extruded powders in any burn rate you want. If your weighting every charge eather will work with the same results.

I've been loading on Dillons for 30+ years. I use mostly ball [powders, but some wea[pons lie extruded better.

I load extruded powder on my Dillon. Never had a problem.

Bench rest shooters load straight from the measure and don't weigh charges. And it's hard to argue with their results.

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