Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Anybody ever have powder go bad?

Thread on how long powder will last. got me wondering if anybody has ever had it go bad. I have never had and a lot has not been stored in the best way.

I had some H322 go bad but I can't explain why. A bunch of other powder had been stored right along with it without deteriorating.

What did it do or not do?

I was given a variety of powders from a co worker who was leaving the state. Of the 1/2 dozen or so powders, only the IMR 7828 had gone bad and it appeared to be a full can. I have no idea how old the powder was or how it was stored. It had what appeared to be rust in the powder and an off odor, so I used it as fertilizer for the lawn.

On the flip side I've bought '80s vintage Hercules bullseye and unique from the gun shop that worked perfectly and I still have some rounds loaded up with those powders.

I might have had some go bad. I loaded up some 12 ga, 1 1/4 oz loads using Hercules Blue Dot powder before a pheasant hunt in 2016. It was left over from the 1970s when I used it in my 20 ga. I kept the powder in the plastic bottles as I was constantly reloading my stash of hulls. I had several shells that failed to operate a semiauto properly and were much dirtier than BD typically is.

I say "might" as the left overs worked fine when shooting crows. The temps in the first instance were below zero for the whole trip while temps in the 40s to 50s were the norm in the second. Blue Dot is known to have ignition issues in cold temps though I never experienced as poor of performance as I did then. I have a couple of new bottles I'm going to repeat the load and try the next time it gets cold.

A very long time ago I had some shotgun powder from the '30s. At least that's what I was told. It was just very weak and not very predictable. The fiber wads and the shot load always made it out of the barrel but sometimes no further than 30 feet. I may even have some of the loaded shells left.

I had the same thing happen with some old factory shells. I thought it was the result of deterioration of some or many components but it turned out to be gun related. The first gun I tried them in was my Citori which had 2.5" forcing cones and a .740" bore. Everything barely made it out the barrel. I next tried them in a Remington Model 10 pump gun with 3/4" forcing cone and .726" barrel and they worked fine. Tried a couple in the Citori again with the same initial results. A Beretta 390 with 1.5" forcing cones and .729" barrel had some off sounding reports. A Charles Daly imported Miroku and a Remington 1100 with 5/8"-3/4" forcing cones shot just fine with these shells.

It turned out the longer forcing cones allowed gas escape around the wads before they reached the barrel. In the case of the over bored Browning the wads didn't seal very well at all. Short forcing cones were designed for fiber and card wads and may not work well with newer barrel designs. It may even be that the fiber wads were to blame as they may have become compromised rather than the powder.

I finally finished up an eight pound can of H4831 that was my dad's from the 60's. It was stored correctly and was still good. But I still only loaded starting loads with it and frequently checked the brass for any signs of anything. No problems and had a lot of fun burning it up!

I had a can of IMR 4895 go bad. I bought it used, and was stored in an outside shed as far as I know as. It was old, metal can from when IMR powders were under the "DuPont" umbrella. the powder was full of what looked like a red rust dust, and had an awful smell, almost ammonia like and totally unlike the smell of good IMR powder. I just spread it on the lawn.

You do your best with raising them. You try to do it right. You live a life of good example and try to instill values in them that are good and true, and sometimes they just go bad no matter how hard you try. Fortunately, I have never had any go bad. This is interesting because I have adopted powders from many different countries over the years - U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway, Australia, Israel, and I don't know where all else. They live in peace and harmony in the same cabinet. I probably should point out that I have no experience introducing black powder into the group.

I had a can of IMR-4320 that i got from a guy.

I did not know how old it was but it had rust colored dust and the inside of the can was bright and shiny.

I did have a 10 lb.can of IMR-3031 that had not been opened,once again don't know how old.

The can had rust down the seam,the powder was cleaned and we used it all up.
It shot as well as the newer can did.

Can of IMR4831 and some IMR 4350 went bad. The 4831 had been left in a box in the garage over many summers and winters. Had red dust and an off smell. The 4350 just went bad. No idea why. It had been stored correctly. Both help my roses grow nice though.

Yes, military 4831 years ago. Likely because it was stored in a garage where it was exposed to very high summer temperatures.

A coupla years ago, I had the unique experience of having TWO totally different powders go bad on me at almost the same time. One was an old caddy of surplus 4831 I had obtained from an estate I'd handled. I used it for several years with excellent results, until I opened it one day and saw what appeared to be rust on the underside of the metal cap. There also was a red dust mixed in with the powder. The Hodgdon tech I contacted told me to fill the can with water immediately! Lost about 25 lbs in that deal.

The other was a partial 8 lb jug of AA3100, the last of 4 8lb jugs I bought really cheap back when Accurate first came on the market. Only lost about 3-4 lbs in that deal. Both of these powders gave excellent results before going bad. However, bth were surplus military powders and there was no telling how old they were before being repackaged and sold. I hated to lose them but didn't really have a lot of money in either. All the other many different powders I've used, both old and new, surplus and commercial, have performed well and are still going strong.

The H4831:

I had some H-4227 that completely turned into a red dust/powder, the above photo times 1000.

Just for the record, if you ever see anything remotely like this, neutralize it immediately! The Hodgdon guy said he normally read his emails while drinking his morning coffee. I'd sent mine over the weekend, and he read it about 5:30 Monday morning. He responded immediately asking me to call him ASAP. When I did, at about 6:30, he told me to get the canister out of the building and fill it with water....RIGHT THEN! He said that spontaneous combustion could occur at any time and that, if it did in that large a can, the resultant fire could easily cause the loss of the building. After I moved it out of my shop, I had several more email exchanges with him about things he'd seen in his decades long career with Hodgdon. One involved a large truck loaded with powder gone bad being taken out for destruction. It spontaneously combusted and the only thing left was a pile f molten metal. Pretty scary stuff.

Lesson for the day.....don't mess around with this stuff if it goes bad!

Hook, thanks good to know. This red dust, is it rust from the metal containers.

I have indeed witnessed spontaneous combustion at a friend's house! He had found powder that was going bad so he threw it into a big garbage can. I arrived on the scene shortly and found his garbage can melting.

Really don't know, driftless. Whatever it was, it was coating the inside of that caddy and also spread throughout the powder. Based on Joe's remark above, it was likely degraded powder. Could've been a mix of both.

When I'd disposed of both of them, I went through my reloads. Fortunately, all I found were some 280s loaded with the 3100. I pulled a couple apart and found corrosion on the bottom of the bullets and the inside of the brass. All those were disposed of. Had nothing in the stockpile loaded with the 4831 at that time.