disecting handloads

[jtw]

I bought a gun from a guy who inherited it from his grandpa. It came with a box of handloads that work perfect out of the gun. Ive got two left and am wondering if theres any way to find out what he used by taking apart the remaining loads. Unfortunately the grandson has no idea. And the reloading equipment and any notes are long gone. Any ideas?

[wraithen]

Nope, short of spending a crap ton of money sending it to a lab. Even if you did figure it out, there's a good chance the powder he used changed or was discontinued.

[bobcat]

You could at least weigh the powder charge. That may give you a clue as to what powder it might be.

Then go by appearance as well. It's worth a try.

[copasj]

I would second pulling it apart and weighing the powder charge and bullet.  Figuring out what bullet he was using should be possible. 

But if nothing else you will be able to tell if he was using a ball or extruded powder, and how much he was using.  That should get you started with a list of likely suspects for powder. 

Powder and primers can very a good bit lot to lot, even if the powder recipe hasn't been changed.  I just got a new jug of H-4895, and an extra grain of powder still left me 40fps behind the load from the older jug.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2