my dad bought about 15 cans of IMR 4895 back in the 60's or 70's and i just opend one of them and when I pourd it into my powder measure it gave off a huge red plume of dust. I'm thinking this means it's deteriorated and needs to be discarded. what do you guys think?

I think you are correct, the red dust is a sign of bad powder. I have heard people recommend that bad powder can be sprinkled in the flower beds as a good fertilizer... Just do not smoke in the yard.

Red dust is a danger sign! Get rid of that powder, it has deteriorated.

Red color and smell of ammonia are the two danger signs for powder that has deteriorated. Powder is basically cellulose nitrate so it will add nitrogen to the soil . Powder can normally be burned but I wouldn't do ot with deteriorated powder.

I have IMR4895 surplus powder from pull downs of that vintage. I works well. One problem is keeping powder is sealing it from the air. Maybe some of the other cans were sealed better. Maybe IMR will exchange the bad ones for new.

If you are in Western Washington, I would pay you the cost of a new pound for the worst pound you have for experients in safety margin.

I have powders much older that are in perfectly good condition. Check each cannister carefully. Some may be of different lots, or may have been better sealed. There's a chance that some of your supply is still good.

I had the same thing with IMR4350 that my dad bought in the 70's. All cans were sealed and about 3 out of 10 were bad like yours. The others looked good, but I wasn't sure. When I called IMR, they said if it has a strong solvent smell, it's still good. If it has an acidic smell (whatever that smells like) it's bad. I've been using the 7 good lbs. and everything seems to be fine.

The red fumes are nitros oxide. The powder is deteriorating. It can spontiously light istelf in the the can. Get rid of it pronto.

thanks for the info guys, i opened every can and poured some out and every one gave off the red dust. I could see rust colored granules mixed in with normal looking ones. I decided to pour them out.

Absolutely use this stuff for fertilizer!! It has gone bad!!