You done messed up A A-ron!

[Nimbus73]

So I committed a cardinal sin and made a huge bone head mistake at my reloading table today. Recently I loaded two test ladders for my 6.5 PRC using H1000 and new to me N565 for some new ADG brass to test for velocity and pressure limits and to compare against the Norma brass I've been using. I keep an empty butter bowl at my table with the powder jug I'm using at the moment, my funnels and a few nick-nacks. Well I didn't empty my powder dispenser for a few days after loading and today I sat down to measure water volume on the handful of cartridges I had just shot and before I was to get started I decided to empty the dispenser back into the powder jug and clear some space for my work. For some unexplained reason I had placed it (H1000) on the floor right next to the nearly full jug of N565 I had used that same loading session. I had loaded only 11 rounds from the new N565 jug. I proceeded to dispense 300gr at a time into the dish to pour back into the jug and as soon as I poured the third dish into the jug I had a oh $#!T moment. I just poured 900gr of H1000 into a mostly full jug of N565. I usually attach a post it note on the dispenser of the powder that is in it, but either it fell off or I forgot this time. Rather than throw out the now mixed container of N565 is this uh-oh salvageable? Being that the two powders are distinctly different in appearance by color and kernel size I started the arduous task of sorting the powders literally kernels at a time. As of this writing I've sorted close to 500 grains of powder. Is this even worth the effort? Being they are of similar burn rates could I dilute the ratio by adding this to an 8# keg? By doing this I calculate the H1000 to make up just under 1% of the total mixture. I hate to throw out that much powder and figure if I just work on sorting the mixture a little at a time I would be able to reclaim nearly all of the H1000 and the miniscule amount that I miss would become inconsequential to the nearly full jug of N565. Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 

[piie]

Get a good pair of tweezers, a strong magnifying glass and a good light....

 

[kyotekiller25]

That is frustrating! I would not want to be in your shoes right now...

I would also advise against mixing the two powders and shooting it. Just me though.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Have we all been there? I have dropped an amount of H4350 into 6lb ofVarget. That'll slow it doen a gnats'. Not worth bothering and impossible to sort. But 565 and H1000, I suggest would not mix well due to size. It may be easy to separate by vibrating the jug and pouring off the top - I'm guessing that 565 will rise and make sorting easier/ Might try it in a glass vessel.

 

[Jr solocam]

We have all done something similar, well at least I have

 

[Bottom Fodder]

Your making me feel better about myself and I will leave it at that

 

[Clancy]

If you’d have followed basic reloading safety, this never would have happened.

Now that I’m done with the ass chewing….

Im glad you caught it. There’s a lot less fun ways to figure out you’ve mixed powders. I know nothing about either of those powders, so I can’t help you out on what to do now.

 

[thatguyshm]

If you’d have followed basic reloading safety, this never would have happened.

Now that I’m done with the ass chewing….

Im glad you caught it. There’s a lot less fun ways to figure out you’ve mixed powders. I know nothing about either of those powders, so I can’t help you out on what to do now.

Bahaha there's always one.

Best of luck whichever way you plan on going with this! We've all made bonehead mistakes, good lesson for the new reloaders and plenty of commiserating amongst the older timers.

 

[K22]

Don't beat yourself up. Treat it as a learning experience. If one reloads long enough, mistakes happen despite our best efforts. Granted, this is an expensive one but as such, it's one you are not likely to repeat because of the financial consequences.

Personally, I would never mix different types of powder. It's not worth the risk, at least for me. My top priority in reloading is safety first, second, and third. You can buy more powder, eyeballs are not replaceable, at least the ones you can see out of.

In my experience, the one overriding factor causing most mistakes is lack of concentration and focus. I have built in "fail safe" practices to prevent catastrophic mistakes but even these are subject to failure if I am not focused on the task at hand.

Other principle is never to rely on your memory when you leave tasks undone on your reloading table. If you do have to leave tasks remaining for other times to complete, use post it notes or some other means to identify existing conditions so when you return to the table, there is no questions or guess work. Even so, personally, I never leave powder in a powder measure, I always return it to its original container at the end of the session I am working on.

It's not brain cancer so it the scheme of life, it's merely a momentary blip on the screen of life.

 

[jelenko]

I've done something similar twice now. Fortunately, I was adding powder to a measure that was already partially filled vs adding powder to a jug.

Since the measure is clear, I'm able to scoop out the new powder from the top until there's none left.

I do discard the powder that I scoop out until I can see I'm getting close to the first powder.

 

[Bronsin]

I did the same thing with IMR4895 and IMR4064. The 4895 fertilized my rose bush.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

Did that once, cost me a pound of 3031 and a pound of 4895.

 

[wedgy]

I would have vacuumed off the top layer but it sounds like you already mixed up the jug.

 

[Jr solocam]

Don't beat yourself up. Treat it as a learning experience. If one reloads long enough, mistakes happen despite our best efforts. Granted, this is an expensive one but as such, it's one you are not likely to repeat because of the financial consequences.

Personally, I would never mix different types of powder. It's not worth the risk, at least for me. My top priority in reloading is safety first, second, and third. You can buy more powder, eyeballs are not replaceable, at least the ones you can see out of.

In my experience, the one overriding factor causing most mistakes is lack of concentration and focus. I have built in "fail safe" practices to prevent catastrophic mistakes but even these are subject to failure if I am not focused on the task at hand.

Other principle is never to rely on your memory when you leave tasks undone on your reloading table. If you do have to leave tasks remaining for other times to complete, use post it notes or some other means to identify existing conditions so when you return to the table, there is no questions or guess work. Even so, personally, I never leave powder in a powder measure, I always return it to its original container at the end of the session I am working on.

It's not brain cancer so it the scheme of life, it's merely a momentary blip on the screen of life.

^ Good advice. 10, maybe 15 years ago I had a bunch of rounds loaded up and didn't label them properly. Now i have to pull them and dump the powder, I don't even want to use them as foulers....

Memory isn't what it used to be.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

SINCE Both,.. are,.. Slow Burning Powders ( And you Have, a very SMALL Amount of, H-1000, in the Mix ),..
Stir and Tumble, that "Chit" Up, Real GOOD and "work Up" a Varmint or Steel Practice Load and Go On with,.. LIFE !
I Trust that, You WON'T Be making THAT, mistake,.. AGAIN !

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

IMO If, the "Burn Rates" are,.. a "Long Way", Apart,... Use it, for,.. Fertilizer !

 

[dthomas]

That sucks.

 

[old codger]

I know it hurts, but safety first. Discard the mixed powder.

 

[Doug Casner]

Powders high but it aint that high. Scrap it. Doug

 

[Dkk37058]

New action,stock trip to the Doctor or Hospital seems a lot more expensive than trashing the powder just my two cents worth