I'm sure this has been discussed - but how long can you use powder.

I have a can of 7828 that has been opened and then sealed back tight several times. It's about 10 years old.

A friend of mine said to take a capful and set it on fire - it burned really bright and instantaneously.

Thanks,

Ad Infinitum; ten year old powder is like brand new to me. I have powders from WW2; still good. Smelling it is the key for IMR powders; if it smells like ether it is good. You should never see any brown powder or acid smell in IMR, or ball powder.
Don't listen to your friend; burning it tells you nothing.

10 years is still new.
If it isn't clumpy and stinking (and I don't mean that slight solvent smell all powder has) it's still good.

I agree with the above fellers, 10 years ain't too old. I bought some Bullseye in '87 and used about 1/4 lb. then began using W231 and other powders for my 38 Special loads. I recently used some of the "old" Bullseye in 9mm and 38 Special loads and it works just as good as new (I didn't have a chrony in '87, but I do now and the velocities are well within reason)...

Now, they did improve some powders over what I have from the 60s; most noticeably, Unique. The old stuff, which is still perfect, smokes like black powder, which I like. The new stuff, meaning made in the last 20 years, is far more smokeless. But for cowboy action shooting, it looks like you are almost shooting period loads.

Thanks very much too all!

quote:

Originally posted by Joe from So. Cal.:

It belongs to my pal who bought a bunch of stuff from his elderly father-in-law.

It doesn't smell bad at all. Still, I warned him to use it cautiously, if at all.

Gemco, $1.39 a pound. Amazing.
I thought I was getting H4831 cheap in the early 70s at $1.99 a pound. It was WWII surplus.

I bought my last surplus 4831 from a shop in So. Cal. that sold it by the pound. It came out of a large cardboard barrel that was sitting on the floor in the shop. I wonder what the fire guys would think of that today? You brought your own container and the owner would weigh the powder out on a postal scale, 1.00$/lb. I really cried when I used the last of that powder. As I recall it worked just fine right up to the end.
C.G.B.

$1.39?

A few years ago, I used up the last of a jug of IMR4895, at $3.99 Lb.

The good old days when money was worth something.

From a SAAMI publication here.


"Although modern smokeless powders contain stabilizers and are basically free from deterioration under proper storage conditions, safe practices require a recognition of the signs of deterioration and its possible effects."

I used the last of my old H4831 a couple of years ago. Bought the powder in 1962.

Dave

Temperature of the storage area is a major factor. The higher it is, the shorter the powder life span.

Federal has said , component 10 years.

Many different factors are involved, so no correct answer to the question.

this topic/thread is

quote:

Originally posted by 243winxb:
Temperature of the storage area is a major factor. The higher it is, the shorter the powder life span.

Federal has said , component 10 years.

Many different factors are involved, so no correct answer to the question.

I've wondered about that. Very interesting post.

Still working on the last 10 lbs of 4831, from Gopher's Shooter's Supply. Bought 50 lbs of it, and got 5k primers with it. $50 delivered. As noted by others, the power won't go bad if properly handled.

Hate to pee on your parade guys. Back in the late '50's and early 60's we bought powder locally for 50 cents a pound. I had 18#'s of 4831 left when I married a bambi lover and quit hunting for about 20yrs. Left my box of equip, powder and primers under Dad's work bench in the garage.

Around '90 he was renting a pasture with a seep and thought he'd blow it with some dynamite and maybe get a spring started. He hired a loader and they dug a hole, put 5 sticks in and "since the kid don't reload or hunt any longer that powder has to be old and no good" So he dumped that in too. Then covered it up and I think pressed it down with the bucket.

They hid under the bucket about 200yds away and set it off. When rocks the size of wash tubs stopped falling around them, they went to look. What they found was a dandy spring running nicely and a hole blown deep and big enough they didn't need to use the loader at all.

Two years later I got back to loading and no powder. When I bought some, then it was $15.50. That pond and spring I financed, I never got out there to see it.

We paid 25 and 35 cents for primers by the 100 those days too. I still have a few boxes of primers so old they're in the wooden trays with grooves cut in them. Very seldom have on fail. They're surely from the very early '60's.
I got started at 14, in '58.

George

quote:

I married a bambi lover and quit hunting for about 20yrs

Wow hope she was worth it.

I had some H4831 which I bought in the late 1960's. It was packaged in reinforced paper sacks, and one day I noticed that mice had been into the sacks, so I poured all of them into an empty eight pound canister. However, when I used some of the stuff some time later, I started getting misfires, and on inspection found that the powder in the canister had started to form clumps, so I discarded it. That is the only time I have ever had an issue with powder because of age, and the circumstances involved were definitely unusual.

I have had several lots of powder go bad, H870, RLR7 and IMR4007SSC come to mind. Every one of them I hastily shot up before they completely deteriorated. As others have said they have an acid odor, some have even emitted a puff of nitric oxide gas when I uncapped them. As they go bad the acid liberated will demolish the old time cardboard cans, when the can crumbles in your hand you can be all but sure the powder is deteriorating. Also, you will see brown powder in the powder and you will see it in your action as you shoot the stuff. Strangely the brown powder appears on the top of the can as though it escapes as a gas then condenses and deposits on the can though I can't imagine a condensation reaction involving nitrous oxides.

About 15 years ago I bought some 4831 from a local gunsmith - he got an unopened surplus keg.

I got very poor velocities in my 280 AI & 6.5X55 loads. My loads were 200 to 300 fps below max for max charge!

quote:

Originally posted by 243winxb:
Temperature of the storage area is a major factor. The higher it is, the shorter the powder life span.

Federal has said , component 10 years.

Many different factors are involved, so no correct answer to the question.

That chart makes sense to me as far as high temperatures degrading powder. That being said, wouldn't the same criteria apply to ammunition?

Note: The Rifleman once referred to some ammo made during the Spanish-American war that shot perfectly. Maybe it was stored all those years under ideal conditions.

quote:

quote:
I married a bambi lover and quit hunting for about 20yrs


Wow hope she was worth it.

my wife knew how i felt about deer hunting before we got married. she will cook it and eat it to..
she also knew how i felt about my firearms. i will always have my firearms..

Temperature should be the same for ammo?

Many different chemicals in powder. Look up the MSDS at Hodgdon and Alliant.

A good read. http://www.firearmsid.com/Feat...es/McCord_gunpowder/