Is any foreign debris in powder acceptable?

[CQB45ACP]

I pulled a couple of Acme bullets from rounds I didn’t care for, dumped the powder in a container and spotted a lead sliver shown in photo.

I dutifully took my tweasers and fished out the offending debris. As I was doing so I wondered if it really made a difference, hence the subject question.

That’s a 9mm case to show scale.

 

[LiveLife]

I pulled a couple of Acme bullets ... and spotted a lead sliver

As I was doing so I wondered if it really made a difference, hence the subject question.

Lead sliver is likely from shaved bullet during seating or perhaps manufacturing artifact?

Had you not pulled the bullet, you probably would never have noticed any difference and would never have started this thread.

Now go forth and do not shave lead bullets or use bullets with sliver artifacts no more ... Just kidding.

 

[N555]

I get little tiny bits of paper and fuz in my CBI. But for around $12 a pound I can't complain.
I wouldn't worry about a little fleck of lead too much.

 

[longdayjake]

Over the years I've bought hundreds of lbs of pulled powders. Lots of it was military powder that had laquer or tar sealant on the loaded round. Some of that stuff would flake off and get into the powder. Sometimes I've even seen small amounts of corn cob in it. It works perfectly. Granted there wasn't very much of it. I would imagine that if you got like a big ratio of debris it could make a difference, but it was like 99.99% powder and .01% debris.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Thanks

Instinctively I thought no big deal but then recalled several times when my instincts were all wrong. So, better safe than sorry.

 

[AJC1]

I get a little brass debris in the cases some time from chamfer or debur. There is nothing extra in my powder bottle. I want to weigh clean powder, small bits of case prep, bullet savings or whatever doesn't matter.

 

[dredd]

Thanks

Instinctively I thought no big deal but then recalled several times when my instincts were all wrong. So, better safe than sorry.

Definitely better to be safe than sorry.

This has yielded some interesting finds by the others that were kind enough to share.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Slamfire]

Don't do what I did. I wanted to see if grease inside the case would reduce jacket fouling. Grease on the bullet does, but that is messy. So I packed at least a case neck's worth in some 30-06 cases and shot them. Regular loads, nothing super hot. Blew primers on every case. I thought because there are all those fireforming loads with kapok inside the case that a little grease would not cause trouble. Well, it did.

Not sure if kapok is all that good of an idea when I can grease up the outside of the case, and not have any pressure issues.

I am going to say, a spider here, an ant there, probably won't cause issues inside the case. Rocks, not too sure. I have busted firing pin spindles on rocks that were in cases, after tumbling! Glad I found them before they went down range.

 

[AJC1]

Don't do what I did. I wanted to see if grease inside the case would reduce jacket fouling. Grease on the bullet does, but that is messy. So I packed at least a case neck's worth in some 30-06 cases and shot them. Regular loads, nothing super hot. Blew primers on every case. I thought because there are all those fireforming loads with kapok inside the case that a little grease would not cause trouble. Well, it did.

Not sure if kapok is all that good of an idea when I can grease up the outside of the case, and not have any pressure issues.

I am going to say, a spider here, an ant there, probably won't cause issues inside the case. Rocks, not too sure. I have busted firing pin spindles on rocks that were in cases, after tumbling! Glad I found them before they went down range.

I'm always breaking them on rocks and 22 cases before tumbling.... the life of a brass chicken

 

[foxmeadow]

Don't do what I did. I wanted to see if grease inside the case would reduce jacket fouling. Grease on the bullet does, but that is messy. So I packed at least a case neck's worth in some 30-06 cases and shot them. Regular loads, nothing super hot. Blew primers on every case. I thought because there are all those fireforming loads with kapok inside the case that a little grease would not cause trouble. Well, it did.

Not sure if kapok is all that good of an idea when I can grease up the outside of the case, and not have any pressure issues.

I am going to say, a spider here, an ant there, probably won't cause issues inside the case. Rocks, not too sure. I have busted firing pin spindles on rocks that were in cases, after tumbling! Glad I found them before they went down range.

Try a horsefly in the powder hopper. Caused me to have to pull a lot of rounds once.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Lead sliver is likely from shaved bullet during seating or perhaps manufacturing artifact?

Had you not pulled the bullet, you probably would never have noticed any difference and would never have started this thread.

Now go forth and do not shave lead bullets or use bullets with sliver artifacts no more ... Just kidding.

I prefer my lead bullets to have full beards and mustachios.

I’ve had gnats, pollen, cat & dog hair, dust, all sorts of little things in my powder when loading outside and it never seemed to make any difference. However! those were all loads I intended to use right away, not stack on a shelf for long term storage. If I’m storing them, then they get the BSL-4 laboratory treatment - no dust, no bugs, no fur, no kidding!

 

[41 Mag]

For the most part all of my powder is clean. I have however used a lot of surplus that has had bits of this and that in it. One lot I had, I ran through a sifter to remove what appeared to bit bits of copper, tar, and other bits of debris. I doubt it would have hurt anything but it just bothered me.

I have dropped or knocked over 1lb jugs and swept the spilled powder up and dumped it right back into the jug. What little dust or corn cob media that went with it was loaded and shot. This was a full jug of Bullseye I was transferring from an 8# to a 1# iI use at the bench. I've not noticed any detrimental effects in accuracy or function.

If you do it long enough your going to either knock something over or drop it at the absolute wrong time. Then it's your decision whether to use it or loose it. One tip, don't pick up any jug or can by the top, they can and do pop off when you least expect it.

 

[lightman]

A small (you define small) amount of debris shouldn't hurt anything but none would be better. I would guess that animal hair, fuzz, dead bugs, ect would burn and brass or copper shavings would be harmlessly blown down the barrel.

 

[LiveLife]

And "fillers" have been used to push powder charge against primer flash hole to eliminate air space without much negative effects - https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/fillers-for-reduced-rifle-loads/316610

 

[FROGO207]

To me if it is small enough that it would not alter your case capacity by anymore than one step of your loading ladder I would just go with it. Might save out and mark the round just for science when shot but nothing else.