Old Powder?

[Mainehunter]

I picked up a few old canisters of DuPont & Hercules powder from an antique store while I was on vacation. They were in such great shape and the price I couldn't pass it up they will make great display pieces. I'm more interested in the cans than the powder even though a couple of them the seals are not even broken so I don't know what condition the powder is in. I'm just curious to know what to do with the powder? Leave it in the canisters or dispose of it? What's your thought?

Thanks,
Mainehunter

[jdad]

I had the same issue, with some 60+ year old cans. I just poured the powder into a pile, made a little fuse trail, and lit it off. 5' high blinding flame lit up the neighborhood.

[homefront]

Blasphemy!!!!!

Smell the powder... if it smells like chemicals and solvents, it's perfectly good and should be disposed of by igniting behind plumbous projectiles. If the seals were original, chances are that powder is fine.

If it smells like vinegar, It's oxidized and done with. Sprinkle it in your garden - it's great fertilizer.

[Tycer]

Blasphemy!!!!!

Smell the powder... if it smells like chemicals and solvents, it's perfectly good and should be disposed of by igniting behind plumbous projectiles. If the seals were original, chances are that powder is fine.

If it smells like vinegar, It's oxidized and done with. Sprinkle it in your garden - it's great fertilizer.

Yep yep.

[KirkD]

If the powder passes the smell test, and if you have a chronograph, load up a few cartridges with mild loads that you have already chronographed with new powder and compare. If you are still getting comparable velocities (they will not be exact), then that is another way of verifying the powder if it already smells good.

[jdad]

I should have been more clear. They were open, partial, cans that did not smell right. It was a perfect start to our Independance Day celebration.

[J Miller]

Waste Not, Want Not! If it passes the smell and visual tests use it or give it to someone who can use it. In this day of shortages it would be a sin to waste it.

Joe

[Wrangler John]

If'n you all are going to burn off powder, do not pile it up! The recommended way (SAMMI) is to pour it out in a trail no deeper than 3/8" and 1" to 2" wide as long as it needs to be. I wet a concrete walkway with a hose end sprayer and then make the trail, igniting it with a propane barbecue lighter. The water allows the residue to be washed away so there isn't an ugly brown burn mark. Always recap the powder container and remove it from the area before igniting the trail. Keep the hose nearby. Wear appropriate clothing and safety goggles.

I burned off about 50 pounds of outdated and discontinued powder, some producing the acrid acid odor and red dust of decomposition with no problems whatever. Please, be safe - burns are not fun.

Also, I gave away 12 UNOPENED new cans of powder at my gun club. It was stuff I didn't need, open cans were disposed of as above. I recommend that you never accept or load from a can someone else opened. There is no way of knowing what it is, if it had been mixed or contaminated accidentally.

[Mainehunter]

Thanks for the replies! So far all the powders that I have passed the smell test and they are:
DuPont 4198, 4227, 3031, 5066, 4759, No. 5, Hercules Bullseye & 2400. More than half of the powders that are listed I can use for reloading. No. 5, 4198 & 5066 I would need to do some research on.

[marlinman93]

I have no problem shooting old powder, or even partial cans of powder I get from friends, etc. I never load much of it up before shooting it and seeing how it shoots. I've never had any problems and will continue along the same path.
As for piling it up to burn; well if you have to burn it, then there's no fun in spreading it out thin!

[Sixgun]

Yep, the boys gave you good advice. Even if it smells funny, I have used it, but only after careful experimentation using chronographs and starting loads. Some old RL-7 I had looked really good, the container was great, but it lost it's chemical smell. I developed date that used 4% less powder by weight to equal velocities using fresh powder. Used up several pounds of it that way.

Yea, I play with fire from time to time, but I have never been one to "play by the rules"----------------------------Sixgun

[AJMD429]

As for piling it up to burn; well if you have to burn it, then there's no fun in spreading it out thin!

+1

[Sixgun]

As for piling it up to burn; well if you have to burn it, then there's no fun in spreading it out thin!

+1

You got that right Doc & Marlinman--- Pile that powder up! --------------Sixgun