To the best of my knowledge, the last of the old surplus 4831 (made originally for the 20mm, I believe) was manufactured in the late years of WW II, or perhaps just a year or two thereafter. Bruce Hodgdon stored it in rail cars and grain elevators outside of Kansas City. My own sub-stash of it has been stored in cardboard drums, mostly in a non-climate controlled environment, since obtaining it in the late '60s. Chronographed velocity readings have not changed in 30 years (yeah, I had one of the original Model 10 Oehler's with the paper screens -- bought it from Doc Oehler himself at his house in Pflugerville, Texas), and shot-to-shot velocity variation is less than with any other powder I use.

It is rather quickly destroyed, however, when placed in front of an igniting primer.

I sure hope powder lasts over 20 yrs. I'm still using surplus 4831 that I got about 40years ago. If you see rust colors on powder don't use it, it tends to become more potent with age and when you see the rust colors or it looses it's acetone oder, throw it out.

As a first time user on this board it warms the heart to see so much movement on a forum by so many different users.
Please excuse me I do tend to yammer.
As to the longlife of powder,keep it cool, keep it dry and don't do too much loading and your grandchildren will be using it when they come of age.
A fellow I knew at work was retiring and moving to New York City, so he had to get rid of his reloading gear. I didn't need the shotshell loader but I did get a 8lb keg of red dot, in 1989. I don't know how old this powder is but the original price tag is still on the top, $38.59.

I'm pulling apart some "Den - 42" military 30-06 my neighbor brought over. I'll tumble the bullets & Brass till Shiney New after I De-cap the old primers. I figure they're Corrosive and I'm going to reload them right back to the same load of powder that was in them with the same bullets and a new Primer. The powder still smells sweet(Either smell)after 63 years and there's no sign of any rust. I figure they'll shoot just fine. Godsdog.

Powder seems to last longer than its owner, if it is stored right. When my father went off to WWII, he left a couple of boxes of 16 ga ammo in his father's garage. Ihe told me to check for them when I was pulling the garage apart in the early 90s, and they were still there. I took those shells out and (tried) to use them on grouse. Those grouse just wouldn't come down, and I know that I'm not that bad a shot, so I cut the top off of one of the shells. The shot had oxidized to the point that the #6s were about the size of nines, all laid in a bed of white powder. The shot wasn't any good, but the primers and powder never misfired.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Godsdog:
"I'm pulling apart some "Den - 42" military 30-06"

I use a lot of powder that I pull from Turkish ammo that was loaded more than 60 years ago. I treat it as if it were 4198 and haven't had any unusual experiences.In some of my more accurate rifles it performs quite accurately. It is a flake powder and meters just fine. roger

quote:

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Originally posted by butchloc:
it tends to become more potent with age

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Can you prove that to me soldier?
If old rounds don't chrono slower I'll be very
supprised. I don't know for sure but all the
impressions I can recall from my old brain don't
set off warning bells.
Imagin if you will, all our over max loads just
waiting to get us in our twilite years.

I've got some powders that seem to be older than the hills, and they still work well for me. Some are at least 25 years old. I'm not sure of this, but there's supposed to be a smell test by which if the powders smells acrid or foul it's no longer any good. I haven't had that happen yet. Maybe someone else can enlighten us on this. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

quote:

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Originally posted by Cal Sibley:
but there's supposed to be a smell test by which if the powders smells acrid or foul it's no longer any good.Cal - Montreal

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Definatly right, goes from eyther sweet to
acidid sour.
I shot some Nobles Revolver powder that was a
bit off, it seemed to work OK, but I noticed
quite a few unburnt powder granulations in the
barrel.
So, plenty of experts tell us how to tell it's
off, plenty of same tell us to "off" it when
it's bad.
But geepers, is there an inbetween period that
we can use it up and will there be a change in
pressure up or down. You can never find a
real expert when you want one.