Homemade superformance powder?

[user2026]

I was thinking today, hornady has their superformance powder, which, as I understand, is a mix of fast and slow burning powders. And looking at it, different kernels are different shapes/sizes. It seems to work in some cartridges very well for getting good velocity. From my research, it doesn't seem great at temp stability, and is a poor choice for certain cartridges as the burn rate is poor for them. Why not mix 2 good, temp stable powders, at different burn rates to get better velocity, without extremely high pressures? Just measure a certain amount of one powder and a certain amount of another and mix them together. How bad of an idea would this be? I'm fairly new to reloading, but would be willing to try it with some advice. Or has someone already tried this?(And did they live to tell the tale?).

 

[Leibhart1]

!!Do not do this!!


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[akh223]

Its a real bad idea to try this at home!

 

[waspocrew]

What's the worst that could happen? Let'er rip.




JK- please don't do this.

 

[Choupique]

I suspect superformance is the same powder chemistry with alternating grain sizes but I don't know that.

Duplex powders have been tried many times and never found to work well

 

[digger]

Never

 

[ElDiablito]

I wouldn’t if I were you.

But…guys have been duplexing smokeless powders in smokeless muzzleloaders (using published pressure data) for 20 years…..

 

[vermeire]

While standard reloading advice is to start below published loads and work up to pressure; I'm sure many (if not most) of us have cut a corner and not started at the minimum load or 10% below max. I'd bet that bullet types are usually substituted if one can't find a load for the specific bullet and powder combination you want to use. While these are less risky, they violate the standard advice. I'm not recommending you do what you are suggesting. To decide if you should try you need to evaluate your risk tolerance. Part of that evaluation would include a realistic assessment of your reloading knowledge and understanding of the physics that are in play.

One thing I've done that fall outside of standard advice include using load data that I've found online. *GASP* I have large amounts of some powders designed for shotguns that I have used for unpublished handgun loads with plated bullets.

I am also in the middle of trying to determine what load data is acceptable for the ~25 pounds of surplus powder I inherited. I have used a combination of online surplus info and published data for a few different powders and tested loads to compare them to published velocities. Right now I've got 10 more rounds loaded for my 243 and if the speeds match what I expect then I should know what powder data I can START with when using this powder. This has not been a fast process and has been nerve racking at times.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Elkslut]

There are old reloaders and there are bold reloaders, but there and no old- bold reloaders

 

[gbflyer]

I shot BR with a guy that blended N133 and N135 50/50. He died of a stroke, not a kaboom.

 

[Choupique]

Ive never dabled in this but I did date a chick with a PhD in organic chemistry before so I feel qualified to opine

I see a few issues with mixing powders. How do you ensure a homogenous mix? How do you ensure the different coatings don't react with each other in some negative fashion?

I believe modern smokeless rifle powder is designed via coatings, geometry and chemistry to achieve a very specific burn characteristic and I doubt that theres any way to meaningfully improve on it. If there was improvement to be had, it'd be in a jug on the shelf already.