CopmBlock powder burn rate?

[Ammo Guy]

Been gone a while, but... I'M BAAACK!

Seriously I have a quantity of ComBlock/Warsaw Pact rifle powders. I have both the flake and short rod type powders. Does anyone know what they burn similar to?
I'm going to load some .303 British with 150gr bullets. Both FMJ and hunting. Having a starting point would reduce R&D tyme.

Now to really mix things up...

I have some cordite both from .303 British, (looks like short strands of whole wheat pasta) and Solinite, (aka Carcano). I once read that they are relatively fast burning powders.

Thanks in advance. I'll try not to be a stranger in the future.

[jefferson101]

Re: CopmBlock powder burn rate?

I wish I could offer you something to work from, but although I've shot many pounds of the stuff, I've never loaded any. So I basically don't have a clue.

The best thought I could offer would be to find something loaded with what you have, and weigh the charge and the bullet. If you know that "X" grains of powder produces "Y" velocity using a "Z" grain bullet, you at least have a starting point. Lighten up a few grains from there and you won't blow yourself up, surely.

Of course, case size does make a difference, so be careful going from Comblock loadings on 54r to .303 British, but that would at least get you to the point where you can load three rounds each in four or five loadings with 1 grain variations, shove them through a Chrono and figure out where you are at.

Hopefully, someone will have some concrete data to start from, although "rod" and "flake" powders could vary, I suspect, particularly with the Comblock stuff. Russian powder isn't East German powder isn't Romanian or Bulgarian powder, and so on and so forth.

If it's mixed production or from mixed producers, the best you can do is blend it well and start way low. Use enough to get the bullet out of the barrel, but don't get carried away until you know for sure.

Good luck, and be careful out there!

[Ammo Guy]

Re: CopmBlock powder burn rate?

Hi,
Thank you jefferson101 for the info.
I knew that. Just trying to short-circuit the process. I'm lazy.

I learned two things about the .303 Brit cordite powder though.
1) Boil it long eoough and put a good marinara sauce on it and its pretty good.
not
2) Learned it has a similar burn rate to IMR3031. I figure it would be good for working up low power lead bullet loads. Its big advantage would be NO positional variations.
Tahnks again.

[LEE7.62]

Re: CopmBlock powder burn rate?

Interesting old fact about cordite. Seems that lazy british soldiers use to pull the bullets off their cordite loaded .303s, chew up a couple pieces, and wait a few minutes. They'd get sick to their stomachs, turn a pasty grey color, cramp up and after about 20 or 30 minutes would feel better- just be the grey pasty color. By then they'd be on sick call. It also seemed to give a buzz sorta like alcohol or hash and was slightly sweet. Google the chewing of cordite and see what else happened. I didn't believe it but you should read it yourself.