Powder burn temps

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GunnyMack
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Powder burn temps

Post by GunnyMack »

Did I see here in another post about powder temps? Or somewhere else...

Reason I mention this is, over the weekend I went out to the club to shoot some trap. Trying out B& P Mach 2 factory loads. I never shoot much factory stuff, I've always used 18.5 of 700X and never felt barrel heating like I did with the factory stuff.
Olympic trap is a 2 shot game so both barrels get a workout, especially since I shoot pieces( or at them) quite often. This keeps you 'in the gun'. Anyhow I've never noticed the heating with my reloads. By the end of a round of 25 it seemed my barrels were much warmer than I remember. It wasn't an overly hot day maybe high 70's.
Has anyone noticed this phenomenon? ( yes spell check at work)
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Yes , some powders ( Hi nitro content) do burn quite a bit hotter than others. They usually burn a bit cleaner also.
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GunnyMack
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by GunnyMack »

Doing a little more snooping online this morning, B& P website has powders listed, if I read it correctly they have different mixes for their powders. The Ammo I have are light(7/8 oz) at 1360 fps uses a Very Fast powder. Now of course it's an Italian powder so trying to find an actual burn rate will probably prove very difficult.
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marlinman93
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by marlinman93 »

Of course powders have different burn rates, and that's why they use different charges to get the same velocities. I'm not sure they reach much difference in temperature, but how fast they reach complete burn is what designates them on the burn rate charts. Using faster burning powders will certainly warm your barrels up quicker than slower burn rate powders.
Considering temperatures inside the case and barrel can for an instant reach 4,000-5,000 degrees, the barrel can vary in temperature quite a bit depending on which powder burn rate your load has. Most shotgun powders have a pretty fast burn rate anyway, so expect them to burn a fair amount hotter.
Your 700x is #12 on the total burn rate chart of about 150 powders.

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AJMD429
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by AJMD429 »

From a purely 'physics' standpoint, you have a given amount of chemical energy, which is turned into pressure via chemical reaction, and 'heat' is one aspect/byproduct of that.

I find it amazing that there seems to be a huge difference in the amount of 'heat' producing the same velocity with the same bullet, just using a slightly different powder.

I will stay tuned to see if someone can 'splain to me why that is....
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Chuck 100 yd
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

Calling a powder fast or slower burning is not a true indication of what goes on inside of a shotgun barrel. Fast powders are most often found under light charges of shot and fired at moderate target load speeds. On the other hand " slow burning " powders are used to launch heavier charges of shot at higher speeds. Powders also have different compositions. Double based powders contain nitroglycerine and are the hottest burning.
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GunnyMack
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by GunnyMack »

I snooped around some, the B&P website shows the powders they use. The powder in the shells I'm using have the fastest burn rate of all they list. Actually says it is HIGH NITRO.

I guess I'm so used to my old standby load, yeah my barrels heat up but not like this stuff does.

Next time I shoot I'm going to bring my infrared temp gun and try shooting both my loads and the factory stuff.
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by JB »

I'd be curious if the loads causing more heat are also resulting in higher pressure.
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by piller »

I find that LI'L Gun makes my barrels hotter than H110/296 or 4227 in the same cartridge. Yes, some powders do cause the barrel to heat up more. When reloading shotgun shells I do not notice any difference in heat from Universal and Longshot. Longshot gives a little more kick, but the manufacturer published recipes state higher velocity for Longshot than for Universal. In rifles I have noticed that Reloader 17 seems to heat up more and faster than H4895 or H4350. IMR30-31 seems to take a very long time to heat up the barrel, and Leverevolution does not seem to be any worse than most of the others.
That is just my experience from my own firearms and reloads.
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Re: Powder burn temps

Post by KWK »

AJMD429 wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:45 pmI find it amazing that there seems to be a huge difference in the amount of 'heat' producing the same velocity with the same bullet, just using a slightly different powder.

I will stay tuned to see if someone can 'splain to me why that is...
I've wondered the same thing. The powders with nitroglycerin are said to have a higher "flame temperature." I take it that at the surface of the kernels, some of the gases being emitted are much more energetic/hotter and the extra heating comes from them. Once the kernels have burned, the gases in bulk are following the usual pressure/temperature laws. Also, I recall the double base powders have a little more chemical energy per mass, so the gases will end up a little hotter (QuickLoad has some numbers for this).
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