comparing 'earlier' powder charges?
 

I have some 'old' 30 Mauser cartridges...though not sure exactly how old! I pulled the bullet with an inertia puller and measured the powder on my scale. Given a few flakes 'escaped', I estimate the grains to be between 8.8 and 9 grains. Most reload data shows measures of nearly half that, Bullseye, Red Dot, etc. I'm sure a lot of this is accounting for shooting old guns as a safety measure. The real question goes to whether or not these newer powders are signifigantly more powerful? Any experience with this? Bill

Not necessarily...all powders have a different burning rate, which determines the amount used for a given velocity within a certain case capacity....study a few loading manuals and you'll see the pattern. One .30 Mauser load might use 4-5grains of a faster powder like Red Dot or Bullseye to achieve 1300fps where it would take 7-8 grains of a slower powder like Blue Dot or AA#7 to achieve the same. Simply measuring the charge of a unknown powder in a factory loading tells you very little.