shelf life of powders

[ryutzy]

Does anyone have experience with powders losing its effectiveness? I know that blackpowder loses its power after sitting on the shelf for a while. I know smokeless powder lasts longer, but how long? If my powder sits in a controlled environment (like my house with AC) will it still be as effective in 15 years?

[Rick in Oregon]

Cant' answer exactly, but I'll offer this: I'm still shooting some of my last batch of the old H-4831 marked "THIS IS WWII SURPLUS POWDER, SORAGE LIFE IS NOT GUARANTEED". My cans of the stuff still wear the 1971 price tags of $2.71. Ah, who ever thought at that time that it could ever now be called "The Good Old Days"? (I bought a nice Sako Vixen L461 in 222 Rem Mag that year for $200 too.)

This stuff has dropped more deer from my M70 .270 than you'd believe from British Columbia to Mexico, all with the same batch of powder. Probably 50% of the various powders I've got stashed here are more than 15 years old, and it always seems to work as advertised. If it's kept in a temperature-controlled environment (mine is), there's no reason to fret. BUT, you must keep temperature and humidity/moisture in mind always in regard to storing smokeless powder properly. JMO

[ryutzy]

wow that's impressive! Do you know if you have lost any fps with the old powder? According to your experience I wont have to worry about having too much powder sitting around. I have a decent amount of powder and some of it I dont currently have a load for or a rifle to shoot that powder with. I'll just hang on to it for use someday and I may buy an 8 pound tub of my favorite powders. Seems like the price is always going up so I may as well buy a lot of my favorite powders.

[Rick in Oregon]

Yup, if you can, buy it now, as prices are guaranteed to NEVER go down! I've actually still got cans of stuff purchased in the late 60's for working up loads in various rifles and handguns buried back deep on the powder shelves, and it all still goes "bang" when dug out for another experiment.

Some of the great VitaVuori stuff is now over $35/pound! I've chrono'd my favorite deer/antelope load using the old H-4831 and the 130gr bullet, and from what I can tell, it still clocks over 3,100 fps, and as I didn't own a chrono back in the late 60's when I first started loading for it, I'm guessing it hasn't lost much velocity if any, as the mulies still fall over when shot with it.......

Buy when you can, but don't "horde" (too much )

[ryutzy]

yeah I'm always trying to find that balance between having extra and what's called hoarding. I try to not be like my father who has more than enough tools etc for your grandkids and mine both. lol But I'd rather have a few extra pounds of powder for experimenting.

[K22]

I've had the same results as Rick. Some of my powder is over 30yrs. old and it still performs fine. I never thought to call, having more powder, primers, and bullets than I'll ever use, hoarding. I always called it being a good Boy Scout....."Be Prepared".

[ryutzy]

"being prepared" sounds like a good enough reason to make sure I have enough to load for quite sometime. Primers and Powder here I come!

[K22]

"being prepared" sounds like a good enough reason to make sure I have enough to load for quite sometime. Primers and Powder here I come!

Spoken like a true Boy Scout.

[the_right_reverend]

I have a can of HP 38 that was given to me at least 25 years ago and has a price tag of $2.29.

I used some to load roll your own .45 ACP shotshell in the 80's and they are still getting that occassional pest

as Rick said "Buy when you can, but don't "horde""....... My economy is good right now so my IRA is a few pounds of powder and a few thousand prime and Bullets when the price looks good

[tuck2]

I started reloading in 1953. I keep my powder in the orignal cans and store them in a cool dry cabnit. Over the years one can developed red dust in the powder which is a indication that the powder is breaking down and should not be used. I still have some powder that I purchased in the 60s which is still good.

[remy3424]

I grabbed a can of IMR 4227 from my father's stash a while back and did notice the "red dust", I just assumed it was from the metal can (rust). It seemed quite potent yet in the 44 Mag loads I used it with. I would guess the powder is about my age (46). What will the side effects likely be here?

[Rick in Oregon]

remy: Can't say with any degree of authority what side effects could be from using such deteriorated powder, but when I see "the red dust" on any old powder, it promptly gets the Deep Six. When we don't know what the effects will be with an explosive propellent that has broken down, my thought is that "no surprises" are the order of the day. It could have changed to a faster or slower burning rate.....dunno, and don't want to find out.......at least in any of MY guns.

[otter]

ryutzy - I'm not the "gun crank" or "technologist" that many of the guys here are, but I have not had any problems with using the older powders I have in my possession. They have all gone bang when the hammer has been dropped, but I didn't start loading my own until the early 90's, and my powders aren't really all that old. I will say this about BP, though - Black Powder substitutes (Pyrodex, 777 & etc) WILL lose "power" after being opened, the rate of that loss depends very much on storage practices - REAL Black Powder will be viable and effective long after you and I are long gone, even if it gets wet you just have to dry again and it's ready to go. Not trying to start anything, it's just that some folks really do not know that BP and BP subs are very different animals and I wanted to make the difference clearer. Yup, I know, TMI for the question you asked.

[Wrangler John]

I have had a few cans go bad. Some will take on a foul vinegary odor before developing the "red rust," which these did. One was a can of Hercules RL-21 in the old cubic metal can from the 1960's (best can ever for storage, you could really pack 'em together). They went into the burn lot and were disposed with all the small left over odd-lot cans that were lying about. I just follow federal guidelines and burn them in narrow shallow trails.

[Ahab]

Haven't had much go bad even though some was over 35 years old. Did have one can get "red". More often than not I discard powder for other reasons like not meeting my load criteria. It gets sprinkled in my wife's garden as it is an excellent fertilizer.