Powder burn rate questions

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LeverGunFan

New member
The Western Powders Handloading Guide, Edition 1, has a multi-column/equivalence burn rate chart. This is a full 488 page guide that was published in 2017. When Hodgdon took over Western Powders, they were selling off these guides for only $5! They may be available on the used market, new ones are no longer listed on Hodgdon's website.
 
J

Jim Watson

New member
There is a brief article on the Ballistics Assistant site about how to use burn rate charts. They also have a compiled burn rate chart.
Click to expand...

I have looked at that chart. Seems strange that it shows BE84 and BE86 back up the chart from Unique and a lot of difference between BE84 and Power Pistol even though they are said to be the same stuff.
 
T

tangolima

New member
GRT generates its multiple column charts based on models in their library and 3 different criteria. Sometimes I use those to cross check things.

Good to know about the western powder manual. They are still available for $50 ish.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
S

stagpanther

New member
There is a brief article on the Ballistics Assistant site about how to use burn rate charts. They also have a compiled burn rate chart.
Click to expand...
Great chart, thanks. It looks like they don't have side-by-side equivalence except in a few cases--I guess I can assume those are identical powders when they do?
 
M

Marco Califo

New member
NO! There are NO IDENTICAL POWDERS!
That is why we use published load data ONLY!
Burn Rate charts do not yield specific actionable data. They only compare relative qualities (like Bullseye is taster than Blue Dot).
 
S

stagpanther

New member
NO! There are NO IDENTICAL POWDERS!
That is why we use published load data ONLY!
Burn Rate charts do not yield specific actionable data. They only compare relative qualities (like Bullseye is taster than Blue Dot).
Click to expand...
Fine--then what does it indicate in the few cases where they appear on the same line?
 
M

mehavey

New member
That means they are "near" or "similar" in burn rate.
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That's only the burn rate at the start.

That leaves the Gentle Reader with absolutely no clue as to
- Energy Density of the propellant
- Progressive or Regressive burn rate change once ignited/under pressure
- When/where the burn rate change stops
- The heat capacity/gas expansion ratio.

In other words it's like looking at a line of track sprinters and saying they all wear the same shoe size.
Coming off the blocks, though . . . .
 
M

Marco Califo

New member
Burn Rate Charts are approximations, proprietary formulas, and each calculated differently.
StagP, You seem to want to believe Burn Rate Charts are cookie cutter and comparable facts. They ARE NOT! At best they are fuzzy comparisons.
It is incorrect to think they mean anything specific or calculatable. They are nice to look at but do not prove anything.
 
S

stagpanther

New member
Burn Rate Charts are approximations, proprietary formulas, and each calculated differently.
StagP, You seem to want to believe Burn Rate Charts are cookie cutter and comparable facts. They ARE NOT! At best they are fuzzy comparisons.
It is incorrect to think they mean anything specific or calculatable. They are nice to look at but do not prove anything.
Click to expand...
I have been reloading on a fairly large scale--including unlisted wildcats--for far too long to be that altruistic, I assure you. What is of interest to me is what the differences are between methods of evaluation and comparison. Telling me, in essence, "be prepared to blow yourself up" doesn't really help much.
 
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