If you only have one type of ball, flake and stick (IMR) powders its simple to tell which is which just by looking at them.
But if you've got more than one ball powder, they look quite similar, as do some flake powders. Personally I always thought the reason they put the Red Dot, Green Dot, and Blue Dot in those powder was so the people at the plant could do a visual check to make sure they got the right labels on the cans...
Another drawback to visual ID is that its not impossible that a different batch (Lot#) of the same powder can look slightly different. And, its also possible for different lots of the sam powder to look exactly the same and yet have different burning and pressure characteristics.
At one point waay back in the 70s (which doesn't feel that long ago to me, now but everyone says it was a different century) there were 3 different identified burn rates of H110 powder on the market at the same time, the only way to know was by lot#, and if you blew up your gun, or not...
Its rare, but tis not impossible, so visual ID is not something you can rely on, for safety.
But if you've got more than one ball powder, they look quite similar, as do some flake powders. Personally I always thought the reason they put the Red Dot, Green Dot, and Blue Dot in those powder was so the people at the plant could do a visual check to make sure they got the right labels on the cans...
Another drawback to visual ID is that its not impossible that a different batch (Lot#) of the same powder can look slightly different. And, its also possible for different lots of the sam powder to look exactly the same and yet have different burning and pressure characteristics.
At one point waay back in the 70s (which doesn't feel that long ago to me, now but everyone says it was a different century
) there were 3 different identified burn rates of H110 powder on the market at the same time, the only way to know was by lot#, and if you blew up your gun, or not...Its rare, but tis not impossible, so visual ID is not something you can rely on, for safety.
