Reloading question: mixing gunpowders

[rlewpolar]

I know that mixing gunpowders is a big no-no but wanted some opinions here.

Was reloading the other night and a couple of bullets were not seated to the right depth. So, pulled the bullets and poured the powder back into the original container.

Well, turns out I had a factory round on my loading bench that I mistakenly took apart and poured the powder from it also into the container.

Being a factory round and not knowing exactly what brand was, it's hard for me to know what the powder is.

The question is, is the powder from one 9 mm round (approximately 7 grains) likely to cause problems mixed in with about 1/2 pound of Accurate 7 powder?

The remaining powder is only worth about $10 at this point and leaning towards just getting rid of it but before I do, want some opinions whether such a minute amount of unknown powder mixed in is likely to cause problems if I keep reloading with it. Thanks.


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[FromTheGrave]

It's not going to be a problem. I wouldn't worry about such a tiny bit.

[JJE]

I agree, no big deal (but don't make a habit of it).

There are 7,000 grains in a lb, so you've got about 3,500 grains of Acc7, so the amount of "contaminant" is:

7 grains / 3500 grains = 0.002 = 0.2% = way less than 1%

[Ferrum]

Why even risk it? I can't see an upside of not tossing $15 in powder, versus potential damage to you or the gun your going to be firing it in...

[RR.44]

I don't think it would be a problem, I would just shake the bottle to make sure it gets totally mixed in, shouldn't be an issue, as said before though, don't make a habit of it.

[Captiontom]

It's like peeing in a pool. You shouldn't do it, but no one will notice

[russ69]

Spread it on the lawn.

[RR.44]

Spread it on the lawn.

If it was between 5 and 10 rounds I would say the same thing, but one rd isn't gonna be that big a deal, isn't there always leftover remnants of powder in the powder flow when you change out powders? One round just isn't enough to make that big a difference IMO.

[I Swan]

I've actually heard when they developed the 454 Casull they experimented with mixing powders! I read about it one other time too seems extremely dangerous but this is a different situation that yours. You should be fine but if only $10-15 of powder I think I'd just fertilize my lawn with it.

[MacanTaillear]

With that small an amount of powder I'd shake it up and continue using it.
Yeah, $10-15 in powder isn't much but I'm a cheap a** and I want my money to work for me until it screams for mercy.

[Chief-7700]

How do you know the factory round had 7 grains of powder?

[FromTheGrave]

How do you know the factory round had 7 grains of powder?

I'm sure he was erring on the side of caution.

But, yeah I would expect lower.

[RobertMW]

Accurate 7 is an acceptable powder for reloading 9mm, if that's what you were pulling mis-seated bullets for, so if you got the powder of a different 9mm load in with that Accurate I don't think you would come across any problems at all if you were to load it and fire it.

Powder is mostly the same formula, of course there are differences in material, but what you are mostly worried about is different burn rates. As long as you aren't putting pistol powder into a large bore magnum, you shouldn't have any issues.

By mixing two powders you aren't creating some kind of chemical reaction that will spontaneously explode or something.

[rlewpolar]

Excellent, thanks for the info. Just going to shake it up and keep reloading.


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[Faust]

1/2 LB = 3000 grains, shake the can and reload