Okay, now I know this has "bad idea" written all over it, but here's the deal.

I have come into a substantial amount of powder that is circa 1950'ish. Most are in one pound canisters. Most are "rusting" on the outside. The few that I have uncapped, are MINT on the inside. Smells good, it is dry, and most are unopened.

I have already worked up some -06 loads with a smidge of the nearly 10 lbs of H414 and a .22-250 load with a rediculous amount of IMR3031. Results have been identical to powder that I have on the shelf that is less than a year old.

My question is this. I won't be able to burn through this powder within this decade. I don't want to let it sit in these original canisters for another 10-20 years, worrying that the oxidization will burn through the container. Anybody have recommendations for transfering it to a new "safe" container?

I am a pharmacist and was highly schooled in chemistry - if it aint labeled, trash it. I expect no one else to use these supplies, as they won't be in their original container. However, I am very confident in my own abilities. So, please forgo the reasons on why I shouldn't do this, and just give me some ideas on what I can put this stuff into to guarentee its effectiveness for another 20 years (estimated time it is going to take me to use this stash).

Anybody else ran across a situation like this?

Yes it's a bad practice .IF you use a different container it should carefully be labeled with brand, powder type , date. You could get metal containers [new] from something like a paint store I think. There is one problem with plastics .Certain types of plastic will react with the powder.Not being a chemist I couldn't tell you which ones !! Not all since powders now come in plastic containers.

Gather some empty powder containers. Surely someone on here has a couple empty 8 pounders.

I've gotten some surplus military powders lableed IMR 4895....stuff came in a white bleach bottle, 1 gallon size....

seem AA 2200 packaged the same way...

In my younger life I used LBs of surplus 4831, 4895 and 3100 that I had purchased in 1 gal milk jugs. Never had an issue. Just wish I had bought more at the time.

use polyethylene.....nothing else....it's as inert as it can be!.....and yes....label it clearly with a Magic marker that won't wear off.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
use polyethylene.....nothing else....it's as inert as it can be!.....and yes....label it clearly with a Magic marker that won't wear off.

The food grade containers are made from a plastic that utilizes a different tailing process to make them non-reactive. The production process uses hydrogen rather than a chemical cocktail to complete the polymerization as the finished plastic hardens.

I wouldn't open the sealed containers that aren't corroded. If the exterior rust is surface only, not originating from inside of the container (seams, etc.), you might consider treating it with a brush-on rust neutralizer, available from your hardware store.
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Win 69, are you suggesting that the food grade containers are the way to go? That would indicate that ramrod's recommendation of the milk jug is the way to go. Something that I hadn't thought of. Seems obvious, but I had not considered it. I think I'd go one step further and protect it from light. Maybe wrap the jug in an opaque tape.

Few, if any of the containers are not corroded. The few that I have opened are strictly external corrosion. The powder really seems fresh as a daisy. I hesitate to apply any neutralizer to the exterior of the containers. I don't want to initiate another chemical reaction. I just want to transfer it to a safe environment.

Yes, I will label it, and then relabel it. Again. I will be the only person using this powder.

NimrodRX

As long as you put the powder into a container that will not react with the powder, and label it I see no problems.

Just had another thought. Glass.

Very inert.

We go through a bottle of whisky about ever 2-3 wks. Wash it out, dry it, add powder, and cap. Handle with care.

What do you think?

Since at some point I would inevitably knock one or two off a shelf, I'd rather have a plastic jug.

I stored powder I had bought in the mid 60's in bulk in the original metal coffee cans that it was weighed out in back then. Not used till the late 90's it was as good as new. The cans had been wrapped in plastic bags to keep moisture out in the several locations they had been stored in. I would imagine anything safe for food storage would be OK for the powder storage. Milk jugs would be my choice now if I was to store some. They cap tightly & they certainly wouldn't have the bomb effect if a fire consumed them.

either put in in old milk jars or other plastic containers, or better yet - send it to me and I'll make sure it goes off OK

I'd NEVER transfer gunpowder into whiskey bottles, no matter how drunk I was!

I think I'd send off an email to some place like Powder Valley Inc.com that repackages surplus and pulled powder. Ask them to sell me empty, virgin plastic jugs.

Or ask on AR's buy\sell board for used empties from our members.

I knew I could count on you guys.

I'm going to contact Powder Valley.

Thanks!

Am sure I will hear at least 30 reasons my view is wrong, but,if it was my powder I would only repackage it in 1-lb containers.

Why? Well here's a few reasons, none really likely, but perhaps none totally excludable either.

1. Smokeless powders will generally not detonate when burned relatively uncontained, though they CAN. Some experiments run in the early 1960s have apparently shown that 8 pounds of some powders provides enough containment by its own mass to sometimes detonate if a strong ignition source is applied. I don't know for sure which powders are described by that (though I do recall IMR 3031 was one of them), nor if a house-fire is a strong ignition source within that use of the term, but not knowing means I wouldn't personally do it.

2. I would not mix older cans of powder together into an 8 pound jug also because one or more can's contents MAY be starting to deteriorate, just not quite visibly yet. Doesn't strike me as desirable to mix some powder which MAY be starting to go bad with some that is perfectly okay.

3. Being sort of a natural-born klutz, I find it much handier to use smaller containers on my sometimes cluttered benches. I could probably endure knocking over and spilling a 1 lb. container without yanking out my last few snowy locks. On the other hand, the thought of spilling an 8 lb. container gives me the heebie-jeebies.

A precaution if you do repack your powder(s). I believe they are all subject to more rapid deterioration if stored exposed to light. So I would try to make sure my new packages prevented light from playing directly on the powder.

You could use a Cheerios box or maybe an old Campbell's soup can.

If food containers will work then get yourself some 1 qt. plastic chinese food containers. The kind that soup comes in.

I have a link at home for some metal containers that are like canisters.

Rich

why are you struggling with this use milk jugs or rubbermaid food containers, if you have a vaccume sealer fill up qt bags and seal.