I am looking into trying some surplus powder for .223 and .308. So far I think wc846 is the ticket. The downsides I see are the differing burn rates from lot to lot. I did read that the wc846 is temperature sensitive, with performance similar to BLC2. These reloads will only need to keep "minute of varmint" accuracy inside 200 yards and I am not really interested in max velocities from either caliber. .223 will be used in a T/C Encore (rifle) and the .308 in a Remington 700 LTR, no gas operated guns. Any personal experiences (especially any negatives) loading with surplus powder would be appreciated, as would any other considerations I may be missing. At about 1/2 the price of what I use now (Varget, IMR 3031 and W748) I'd like to think the wc846 will work out. Thanks for any opinions.
Where did you find 846? I am in dire need of at least 8 lbs of ball rifle powder. Some users of pull down powders will but 2 or more canisters and mix them together yielding one new lot. They then work up a load with this "blended" lot of powder. Of course this only applies to different lots of the same powder. You would have to be out of your mind to blend two different powders (BLC-2/W748) to get a "new" powder.
Robocop- The only place I saw it stocked semi-regularly is: http://www.patsreloading.com/patsrel/prices.htm Apparently now they only have WC846T in stock. From what I can gather the WC846T was for tracer rounds and burns a little hotter than WC846 in order to ignite tracer compound. Do you know what this would change in relation to a loads performance? I assume it would accelerate throat errosion and barrel wear. I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would mix powders either. I suspect the PhD educated chemists with multi million dollar budgets do a good enough job developing powders, good enough to negate my interest in experimentation anyway.
Now this could have a very explosive reaction - Ouch This is not a good thing to do. Now as far as Military Pull down powder. I talked to Pats reloading, and they (at this time) have both WC846T and WC844T. I have an order with them and was told they were planning on shipping with in the next week or two. But for .223 I really would look at WC844(T). You also can use WC846 for .223. I do have a Military reloading chart for almost all of the small rifle calibers using these powders. If you want a copy, please PM me with your email address and I will send it to you.
