Combine Two 1-lb lots of Varget ?

[rogina]

It also just as well might shoot better.

If the two powders are several years apart in age I will not blend them.

 

[Jager]

For anyone who has a couple of partially-full 1lb canisters of the same powder - doesn't matter if it's the same lot or not - that you're willing to sacrifice, here's a little experiment...

Take a couple bottles of blue and a couple bottles of red food coloring. Mix each batch of powder with one or the other, ensuring that all of the powder in each batch is thoroughly colored.

Spread each batch of powder out on a flat surface and allow them to thoroughly dry. Give it a few days.

Now dump the two batches together into a bucket, or whatever it is that you use to mix powder, and blend them together however it is that you normally blend powder.

Now pour a cartridge's worth out on a paper towel.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

I "blended" 748 and N120 once..... the lawn improved.

 

[JEFFPPC]

If the two powders are several years apart in age I will not blend them.

Your choice.

 

[rotts4u]

Here is the only concern I have. If you mix two lots of power with a "different" burn, then each load could vary depending on how much of the slow powder it has vs the faster batch. You could end up chasing your tail trying to find why SD or ES is bad one day and not another. The whole time it could just be how well it was mixed. Unless you shoot Benchrest or F class you aren't likely to even notice, but if you are are chasing the 10 ring at 1000 yards I would expect the ES to be higher on a mixed batch than on a non mixed batch. Maybe this is a little too nerdy but its just my thoughts

 

[Bottom Fodder]

I got 8lb jug of Varget when it get about half empty I add a couple of one pounders and sake and bake. I guess that’s why I shoot good one match and bad the next, that my excuse and I’m sticking with it

 

[Firearmsunlimited]

I think we all forgot to tell the OP to do the smell test before he mixes the older canister with the new one.

 

[Firearmsunlimited]

I got 8lb jug of Varget when it get about half empty I add a couple of one pounders and sake and bake. I guess that’s why I shoot good one match and bad the next, that my excuse and I’m sticking with it

 

[Ned Ludd]

As long as the two Lots of powder are mixed well, there shouldn't be any issue. I have done this for years, mixing various Lots of Varget or H4895 together to make a single larger "mix". I use a 5 gal plastic paint bucket with the rubber o-ring snap-on lid. I begin the mixing process by adding a small amount of each powder (</= 1 lb) to the bucket sequentially, until all the powders have been added. Then I tape down the lid, and shake the bucket back and forth, as well as rolling it on the floor over some period of time until I feel it's mixed thoroughly. I typically do not add more than 10-12 lb into the bucket for a given "mix" so as to leave plenty of dead volume to facilitate mixing via shaking/rolling.

I cannot distinguish the performance of my Varget or H4895 "mixes" from that of any single Lot. In other words, the "mix" behaves just like I would expect for a given Lot of Varget or H4895. The velocity for a given charge weight using the "mix" should be very close to the weighted average of all the individual Lots that went into the "mix".