A friend and longtime reloader moved away and gave me all of his powder. Some is obviously old with price tags of $3.95 etc. and some is more recent. Some cans have been opened and some are still sealed.

I started loading M1 carbine with IMR 4227 when, after about a hundred rounds I noticed a red dust in the powder. There is no unusual smell. The can isn’t rusty inside. Also it appears to be of ‘80s or ‘90s manufacture. Anyone have any idea what this red substance might be?

What are the effects of using old powder? Is it faster ignition i.e. will it blow up a gun? Or should I expect misfires?

What would you do? Throw it all out? Are there any powders that are more suspect or sensitive to age or improper storage?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.


Herb

That red dust is usually one of the first signs that the powder is decomposing. It does make great fertilizer though, and I would use it on the roses ASAP.

I have heard that decomposing powder is liable to spontaneous combustion, though I do NOT know if that is actually true.

Personally I would dump ALL of the already opened tins...one can never tell what is actually in there.

Half the guys will say dump it and the other half will say shoot it. For me, shoot it. I have had older IMR4227 with red dust as you describe. I went outside on windy day and poured it from one container to another. The wind blew the dust away. Shot just fine. If the powder has harsh odor or looks like it is oily then you should dump it. The red dust is a product of the natural decomposition of single base powder.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
That red dust is usually one of the first signs that the powder is decomposing. It does make great fertilizer though, and I would use it on the roses ASAP.

8 lbs of nitrous or nitric smelling 4895 was put into about 20 gals. of water and dumped on my lawn. The grass died and wouldn't grow in that area for two years.

The majority of the powder remained solid and was liberally spread over another portion of the lawn. That grass died too. That stuff was hoter than the tailings from a chicken coup. roger

My dad acquired a bunch of surplus H4831 years ago and I loaded a lot of .270's with that powder. All worked great. This was before affordable chronographs were available, so we just figured if it shot well and killed stuff, it was okay.

I had the same dilemma, I got a bunch of old cans of IMR powder that had been stored well and the previously opened cans had the red dust in them. I loaded and shot some, then I dumped out all the previously opened stuff in the gravel driveway and lit it off for the kids to watch burn. All of the cans that were sealed no matter how old they were contained perfect powder which I continued to shoot and it all acted fine. With the red dust powder I thought I noticed a change in accuracy.
If you shoot it I wouldn't trust it for my hunting loads, thats why I dumped mine.

No, I definitely wouldn't use it for hunting. I was hoping it might be okay for plinking loads. Although then I might have to worry about shelf life of the loaded ammo.

Thanks for the responses.

I've read that as powder deteriorates, it loses potency, like old firecrackers. Then again, if you believe everything you read, you'd believe that Bill Clinton feels our pain, and his lovely chipmunk-cheeked wife wants us to keep our guns. I'd call a powder company...you just might get a straight answer...well...30% probability.