Laugh at my pain and solve this problem for me.
 

Smokeless gunpowder used in modern firearms comes in all shapes and sizes. From a few feet away it just looks like sand, but when you get closer, they actually have "shapes". There are a few primary shapes that they come in, and here we have "flake" and "stick". Not only are they different shapes, but different sizes and even colors. These are 2 very popular powders for small-caliber centerfire rifle.

A buddy showed up this afternoon while I was cleaning up after loading up some ammo and we got to bullshitting about stuff... and I broke a cardinal rule: "ONLY ONE BOTTLE OF POWDER ON THE TABLE AT A TIME". I poured all my excess from the scale into the wrong bottle, and now I've got a mess.

It's only $40 worth of powder and I could always scatter it in the yard as fertilizer, but I'm willing to do a spoonful every night (for the next year) with some tweezers just because I hate to waste it. I am all ears if you've got a solution on how I can mechanically separate these easier. Sifting, sieve, sluice box, filter... I will try anything.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1427338554
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1427338554
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1427338554

?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1427346881

They're pretty clearly different sizes, so if you got a sieve that's just the right size it should work. No idea where you'd get that, though, and it's probably cheaper to just buy more.

Ask the manufacturer?

--Ian

Don't waste it, blow up a caravan?

Easy. Find a sifter that will clear the small grains, but not the large.

When I say "easy" I really mean "probably a bitch", but there you go.

Oh, come on. Powder isn't that expensive. Just burn it and get new. Why go to the trouble of reloading if there's a possibility it won't be right?

I'm not sure what the composition of either of those powders is, but you could see if one is slightly magnetic.

make a pipe bomb out of both?

I like this one.

So far we have Dimitris, Vladimir and Scotty that want to have you get arrested. :lol:

Burn a Satanic effigy in front of your neighbors home?

This is exactly what I was going to recommend.
Those little c02 cylinders for pellet guns work pretty good.

Blow something up and go buy new powder.

That way
* it isn't wasted, you get to blow something up
* you don't spend a thousand hours with tweezers
* you support the economy
* you get to blow something up

Use it to rob a bank and buy another miata

I was going to say this might be considered a first world problem, but then I thought NO, gun powder issues are definitely within the bailiwick of the third world. :giggle:

You poor, poor bastard :giggle:

Time to make some homemade fireworks!

Perhaps you should experiment with gunpowder injection in the intake manifold.

--Ian

McMaster-Carr

how big are your grains?

^Dood, that stuff would be worth a try if I could find a small square of it locally in various sizes... good thought. I'm thinking I could get a set of tiny drill bits and make my own out of plastic and rig up something on my tumbler to vibrate it.

The "burn it" option is always there... but I'm 100% sure there's an easy and quick solution out there to accomplish this task.