Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ancient Powder

Unopened. Think it's any good?

img]

That will depend on how it was stored. I've shot up a pound of what I believe to be similar vintage 3031 and it did extremely well in my 308 loads with 165/168 grain bullets.

Open it up and find out. I'm curious what kind of shape it's in.

How much are ye askin' fer it?

Interesting that you ask. It was in a 1x1x3 foot steel powder magazine. There are two 4350s of that vintage, two in the current brown can, one 3031 as you see in the picture and two in the current reddish orange can, two three pound kegs (metal) of Green Dot (unopened) of the same vintage, a half pound of 4064, and - get this - five one pound cans of black powder, ffg and fffg. And there are a couple of odd half-empty cans of some other stuff. But here's the kicker: stuffed down amongst them were 500 209 shot-shell primers. Wow, talk about a bomb waiting to happen!

As for opening the cans to see if the powder is still any good, I'm not sure what I'd be looking for. Open the 4350 I have on hand (about six months old) and compare the smell? Pour a little of each out and see how they compare? Dunno. I thought about mixing the old with some new, but am not sure that's a good idea since my current loads have all been loaded with the new stuff.

Dunno. I sure hate to use it as plant fertilizer if it's any good.

Open a can..if the can is nice and shinny inside, , I`ll give you 2 bucks apiece for the whole deal.

If oxidation has not occured inside the can, it`s fine. Shoot it, and consider yourself lucky you found it.

Dust and smell.


Only ever found bad powder once, and it wasn't real old.



Funny thing about old powder,
Everyone worries if it's bad. "Will it blow up my gun?)
But they will shoot ancient loaded rounds?




I have had bad Remington 243 ammo from the 80s.
Misfires, on inspection, their was corrosion at the bullet and primer edges.
I bought it new, stored in the living area of my homes the whole time.

Thanks, all. I suppose that's the real question: Even if the can is rotted away, but the powder hasn't turned to dust, what's the worst that can happen? I assume erratic pressure, but that's just an assumption on my part. I have nothing to back that up.

Smell and rust colored dust.

That’s some cool stuff!

I’d give it a sniff. If it still has the sweet powder smell like new stuff has I’d give it a shot!

First, does is smell right? Second, pour some powder on to a sheet of white paper to check for rust dust or anything else that shouldn't be there. If OK, work up your load.

FWIW, I still have some cans of the same vintage as your 3031 and it's fine.

405wcf

Pour some on a sheet of paper.

Then if there is a rust colored powder it might be for the yard.

Look in the can and if there is rust on the inside it will be for the yard.

I have loaded some 3031 that had some rust colored powder and just added some graphite and it shot well.

Used it quick.

Have some fun with it. Just pour out a decorative design on your patio or driveway and light it off.

You will be reminded of your fun times for months

Best to leave the holy black out of that pyrotechnic exercise!

The condition of the lids on those cans might make getting them open for inspection difficult.

Let us know what you find, Parson.

Bad powder loses power, doesn't gain it.

Pappy, I'll certainly report back. If this stuff is still good I'd really like to move it to a different container. The outside of the cans have a light coat of surface rust on the top. I know moving from one container to another can be dangerous, but no one gets near my loading stuff but me, so I might get away with it.

Just in case anyone is curious, here's how I came by it. The father of one of the fellows on our hunting lease died not too long ago. My friend doesn't reload but his dad certainly did. But the stuff is really old. In addition to this old powder, I have an assortment of equally ancient CCI and Remington primers (score!), several sets of reloading dies and bullets for things I don't load. I'm going to keep the .223 stuff, but I don't own a .30-06 - there's even what looks like the precursor to the Lee Loader - or a .44 RM or .357 Mag anymore, and I don't plan to ever reload .30-30 or 9mm since that stuff isn't all that hard to come by and I don't shoot mine often enough to warrant hedging against the next ammo shortage. Oddly enough, while there was a box of 7x57 reloads there weren't any dies or bullets (no matter about that; I have plenty). There's even a set of .32-20 dies, some brass, and some bullets. Ironically there's an article in the current Handloader all about the .32-20, but who shoots one of those anymore? And there are some other odds and ends - mostly old loaded ammo - in some very, very old Peter's boxes. The entire time I was sorting through all of this I was thinking to myself, "I'm going to make sure that by the time I've squeezed my last trigger I've gotten rid of all my stuff so my wife and daughter don't have to say, 'What the heck are we going to do with all of this'" Anyway, that's how I wound up with it.

Back to the powder. I'm heading to the lease this afternoon, but this week I'll pour it all out on white paper as suggested - I think Nifty-Two-Fifty did a post on rust left in a funnel - and check things out. If it's still good I'll use it up before I break into my new jug of IMR4350. If it's not, it'll go into the compost pile. What to do with the black powder is another question. I'm a little stumped. Hey.....

RM

I'am using the last of a Keg of 700 X that was purchased in the 1960's plus pounds of other powder that work just fine....

Like others have said, the powder inside the cans will tell the tale. I've been tapping into a huge stash of handloading components accumulated (hoarded) by a child of The Depression who now spends his days reminiscing about his stint in the post-war Army and then working as a ranch hand in Wyoming right after WWII. Some of the powder cans looked exactly like the ones you pictured. Some of them, cans of 4064 made by DuPont in the 60's-70's looked worse. So far, no issues - I've shot a helluva lot of it and in the case of the 4064 I wish I had more of it, my .30-06's love it. There's even about a dozen unopened cans of various Herter's powders from the 60's that I'm very curious about but am a bit leery of only because data for that stuff is a little thin on the ground these days.

All of this hoard was stored in a decidedly un-climate controlled wooden garage, and has suffered three to six decades of wild fluctuations of temperature/humidity which only denizens here on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay will understand. "Store in a cool dry place" warnings were completely ignored by the old gentleman, but knock on wood I haven't encountered any components yet that have gone sour.

As for "who shoots .32-20 anymore?" Well, I do and would surely love to have more components for it. Please keep me in mind if you decide to dispose of it!

Side note: there must be at least half a ton of #9 shot piled out there, the canvas bags rotting and the shot acquiring a lot of oxidation. I've tried reclaiming it by vibratory tumbling with fresh graphite powder mixed in, and that works but is time consuming and I don't shoot skeet anymore. I think I'm better off melting it into ingots instead.

I have a friend that still has a supply of old surplus H-4831 and it is still good.

Has to be older than your powder

Do you have the April edition of Handloader?