New powder lot waaay slower

[HuntHarder]

I just cracked open my new 8 lb h4350 to load up some 300's. Upon shooting them yesterday, my same load was 100 fps slower vs. my last jug of H4350. I think that last jug was bought 2 years ago. I've seen changes from lot to lot, but this is the most extreme. The load still grouped great, just slow. Anyone else noticed this on the newest Hodgdon?

 

[wapitibob]

Never seen it. I never use a new container, always mix lots just for that reason.

 

[HuntHarder]

I'm gonna load some other cartridges that use h4350 to confirm my suspicion. I dont know any other reason my load would be so much slower than it was 6 months ago

 

[Lawnboi]

Iv seen a decent variation in h4350 specifically.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I just cracked open my new 8 lb h4350 to load up some 300's. Upon shooting them yesterday, my same load was 100 fps slower vs. my last jug of H4350. I think that last jug was bought 2 years ago. I've seen changes from lot to lot, but this is the most extreme. The load still grouped great, just slow. Anyone else noticed this on the newest Hodgdon?

Did you find pressure?

 

[HuntHarder]

Slightly flat primers with slight ejector marks. This gun seems to leave ejector marks on mild loads as well tho, thinking it's because of the dual ejector. All I've done so far was load my normal load of 63.5 grains of H4350 under a 200 gr eld-x.
Spreads were good, accuracy was good, just slow.

 

[Castle Rock]

Powder loses solvents and moisture over time so weight for weight you end up with more combustibles per load

 

[HuntHarder]

Powder loses solvents and moisture over time so weight for weight you end up with more combustibles per load

Basically saying my 2 y.o. powder was essentially hotter than it was when I first opened it?

 

[Castle Rock]

Yes, that has been my experience

 

[HuntHarder]

Might explain it, the only reason it doesn't quite add up is, i have been loading for that gun for 2.5 years and the velocity has stayed constant throughout. My h4350 jug that ran out, was bought new @ end of 2022. Powder was really hard to get then and I remember paying a premium from powder valley for it, so i doubt it was New old stock.

 

[Jimbee]

I just loaded about 1500rds of 77tmk/23.5gr 8208 and my velocities with the new powder lot are about 100fps slower than a couple previous lots of ammo in 2 different Tikka 223s. That was surprising and disappointing.

 

[Bater]

That’s a big reason I always buy a few pounds here and keep my 8lb jugs nearly full. Mixing in new powder largely negates lot to lot variation imo

 

[83cj-7]

I’m going through this right now with H1000. Same 8lbs of powder has been open for years and the burn rate is going up because it “drying out”. I was at 47.4 grains with a 105 at 3000fps. Now I’m down to 45 grains to make essentially the same speed. Just this past week I’ve found that 45 grains is faster than it was 6 months ago. Kinda annoying but it seems to be a real thing. I had a long talk with a Berger tech the other week and he said it’s happen to him many times.