Today I was reloading some 44 magnum ammunition and since it has been quite awhile, I checked my data and selected Unique for some low level practice loads. Set my powder measure for 9.0 grains to go with the 240 grain Berry plated hollow point bullets and filed my powder measure. As I weighed a few charges I thought something did not look right and investigated further. Some fine grays mixed in with larger, darker powder......I mistakenly put W231 into the Unique last time I reloaded. It was not mixed up and settled on top of the rest of the powder. Went through the container and ended up disposing of a 3'rd of the pound. I am happy that I was paying attention and caught my error. Fortunately it was easy to tell the two types of powder apart and even though I have less than I started with the balance is W231 free and look's like the Unique I'm familiar with. I do not know how I made this mistake but it pays to check when things do not look right! This can happen to anyone and it finally happened to me.

I never have more than one bottle of powder on the bench. I fill my powder measure, cap the bottle and it stays on the bench while I load. When I'm done I unload the measure back into the bottle. I never leave powder in the measure.
Don't think I'd use that pound of powder you separated. I'd give it to my daughter. She's getting good at gunpowder art.

So long as you knew what powders you had mixed (231 and Unique are not that far apart) and you loaded mildly, you could have probably safely used the mixture at least to make some noise and break some bottles. But it is seldom recommended to mix powders. I remember that at one time there were various duplex powder loads developed to get the maximum performance out of the .454 Casull. I don't remember what they were.

Close one!
FWIW, I made that same mistake once ( and caught myself as I poured them together. ) I'm much more careful (ok Paranoid) now.
Now, I leave a a 1x2" slip of folded paper right in the hopper that states the type of powder (and set load.) I also keep all factory powder containers locked away/off the bench. This forces me to read the slip of paper in the hopper and match it against the container as I take it out of the locker. Not foolproof but it has been dummy proof for me the last 10 years or so.

__________________
Dave

Haven't done that one yet,but a month ago,adjusted my scale to check my measure while being chattered at and tried my darnedest to put too much bullseye in some 38s..until I looked in the first case

"One can of powder on the table at a time, none left in the measure."

Great advice given. Best to heed it.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

This piece of advice plus I put a piece of masking tape on the powder measure with what type of powder it is. Piece of tape goes on the bottle when done.

I only use CFE Pistol problem solved.

__________________
USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

I went through that pound very carefully and fortunately it is easy to distinguish between the course dark Unique and the smaller light gray W231. I am confident that no W231 is left in the remainder of the Unique. Just never had this happen before so I was surprised and recognized the problem right away. You can bet I'll be much more careful in the future!!!

I like this methodology A LOT!

Thanks for sharing.

OR

Second on the masking tape on the powder measure-powder AND LOAD CHARGE.

I keep powder in the garage and charge cases in my living room with one powder. I had some 231 left over in my 'dipper dish' after taking the powder back out and went out to put it in with th rest and dumped it into an almost new pound of 4759 that I had used the day before. I'm glad I caught it but it was disgusting in general to manage to screw up a pound of powder but being able to short circuit a safety system is more disgusting.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I should do that with my dipper dish. I used to but got out of the habit with the one powder at a time thing. Not idiot proof, but decreases chances of doing something like I did.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I've got about a pound of 40 year old Bullseye/Unique mix around here somewhere. I toyed with the idea of mixing it more thoroughly and then loading some .38's with a charge halfway between the starting loads for each, but figure the cheapest .38 I have is worth a lot more than a pound of powder.

I mark the loads and powder on tape placed on each measure that remains with a turret setup. I still check the load with a beam scale at the start of each session.

Have a blessed day.

Leon

....I had *heard* such confusion happened once upon a time in my own sector.....

To avoid such occuring [strike]again[/strike] to me I adopted the 'one power at a time' in the reloading theater....

For years I used spec-sheet cards mounted on the case hopper for the recipe details. Then I changed to using a temporary felt marking pen on the clear portion of the Dillon powder measure, which cleaned off with alcohol very easily.

That worked very well until somewhere along the line used something that sort of curdled the smooth transparent surface of the powder measure.

Eventually wore out that measure (after 15 years) & got a new one I am not yet sure about using that method.

__________________
Dum vivimus Vivamas

You figured right;the problem with powder mix is that the burning rate is nowhere near that of any of the 2 powders mixed;the faster burning will light up the slower burning much faster(since while burning,powder emits oxygen to ensure combustion even in a confined space)and thus will create quicker combustion rate.Please note that I said ''mixed''powder and not ''duplex load''which is not the same.
Qc

You gotta love the K.I.S.S. principle.

That's what I do, one powder on the table at a time, always!

That's what I do... So far, so good!

__________________
NRA Life Member

Good that you caught it before something happened. This is how we learn, so you'll adjust your system accordingly.
As an FYI, I believe you would have been ok if you had ended up loading and firing those cases. I use 8 grains of HP38 (W231) all the time in magnum cases under 240 grain Berry's plated, it's a mild load as is the Unique load you were going for. Other combos could be very dangerous but in this case I think you would have been ok.

Sounds like a pound to play pyromaniac with and make a nice line of powder on a board and light it off with a torch on a calm day.

As for me, I'm a firm believer of only having 1 powder out of the powder magazine while loading and never leave powder in the measure after a reloading session. I learned from experience by ruining a pound of powder such as you did, BUFF.

I had left powder in the measure from a previous session reloading .45 ACP and put it back into the Unique container. Had Unique on my mind for some reason. I'll go to tagging the powder on the measure and not leave powder in the measure after a session in the future. Fortunately it was easy to see the W231 sitting on top of the balance of the Unique and easy to separate it when I noticed the problem... another powder without the plain difference, could have been a real problem. Learned my from my mistake and just wanted to let others know that it can happen to the most experienced reloaders.

Well I didn't put two powders together..but I did empty a half full Mec bottle of shot into a 15 lb keg of Green Dot once. Had to find the right size screen to sift it through. It was #9 shot and green dot is a medium flake powder. Must have screened it 4 times.. and the keg was almost a full one. I did screen a mixed pound of 800X and 2400 one time..but I didn't do the dirty deed. a friend gave it to me What a PITA. I gave him the 800X back..but used the 2400

ONE container of powder on the reloading bench, and have a 'sticky" label attached to the powder measure. Empty the powder measure before you leave your reloading bench.

After my first "Stupid Act" 20 years ago, I have never had another mixed powder issue. I now store my powder at the other end of the house in a closet, and only have ONE powder container in the room with my reloading bench.

__________________
S&WHF 366

Another caution: check your balance scale for correct weight! I weigh every tenth round out of my progressive loader. I was wondering why the bullet would not seat to right depth. Thouht I had set scale at 22.8 grains but found it was set for 28.2 grains. Way over max load.