Has Anybody Seen This With LT-30?

[jackieschmidt]

I have two 8 pound jugs of LT-30 that I bought a number of years ago. I just recently opened one of them to try in my 30BR.

One is Circa 2014, the other 2015. I started with the 2015.

This powder looks kinda strange. It does not have the usual black kernels, but a mixture of fine black kernels and elongated tan colored kernels. I opened the 2014 Jug and it is nothing but fine black kernels.

This has morning at the range, I compared the two with each other and to my standard 4198.

First, both lots of the LT-30 shot identical in both velocity and agging capability. Both are about 1/2 grn slower than my 4198. with 34.8 grns of 4198 my average velocity is around 3020 FPS. To reach this same velocity with the LT-30, it takes 35.3 grns.

All velocities were checked within 45 minutes of each other In the same lighting conditions.

Both lots of the LT-30 produced very good accuracy at the 35.3 grn load, equal to my load of 34.8 with the 4198.

But the different appearance of these two lots of the LT-30 has me puzzled.

Here are the two powders side by side. You can see the difference.

 

[stacy]

INTERRESTING

 

[RegionRat]

There are some powders that are adjusted to meet a tolerance for every batch and some that are not.

When you see the warnings to adjust your load recipe when buying surplus pull down powder, it is because that powder isn’t made to a specific tolerance and the factory does pressure/velocity tests to bulk load. When you buy powder that is sold to reproduce load data, it must meet a tighter tolerance on the burn rate.

To make the adjustments for a tolerance on the burn rate they are often blended. Sometimes that blending can make a cosmetic difference but sometimes it doesn’t. What you are seeing in that 2015 batch may be one of the methods for slowing it down, but only the folks at the factory could say for sure. They have more than one technique for adjusting, so you may notice color or size changes on different batches.

If you notice the powder clumping, or turning into reddish rust color and emmiting strong acrid odor, then you follow up to see if it has gone bad. You have already run the definitive tests and are good to go.

 

[Ned Ludd]

If I didn't know better, I'd have said someone dumped a few kernels of Varget into your LT-30 .

In the picture on the right, if you ignore the longer, differently colored kernels, the remaining very tiny dark kernels in between look almost identical to the powder kernels on the left. That suggests a couple possibilities. A different batch could have been mixed/blended in, either on purpose, or by accident. Alternatively, some portion of the extruded kernels weren't cut at the proper length (i.e. longer than the rest). Given the color difference, I'd favor the first possibility (different batch blended/mixed in). Further, since your results suggest the powder is working as it should be, that suggests (but does not prove) it was likely not some "accidental" mixing in of a different type of powder. Have you contacted Accurate Powders about this? I'd be interested to hear their response to these pictures.

 

[divingin]

I've seen a similar thing with some bottles of Varget. Seemed to work pretty much the same, so never really worried about it.