I had a pound of Triple 7, purchased about 25 years ago, that was no longer consistent in my black powder guns, so decided to dispose of it. You can't just toss that stuff in the garbage. But I have a nice track of exposed dirt due to constant foot traffic over the winter (in the spring, it grows back to grass), so I first made a fuse trail to where I was going to pile the bulk of it (no overhead trees or structures near it), then made a little hill of the stuff at the end of the fuse trail. I stepped back to the start of the fuse trail and lit it.

There was a nice little sparkler effect slowly moving towards the powder pile, then WHOOSH! It looked like Operation Mike on the Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands, LOL. Holy crap! Huge ball of flame and smoke forming a classic mushroom cloud that must have reached 20 feet up as a mushroom formation. Then on up into the sky, soon making what looked like just another large white cloud overhead that drifted on up towards the real clouds in the sky, gradually vanishing. Pretty spectacular.

Then the rake and garden hose, of course, to make sure no embers remained.

A pound of loose powder on open ground cannot create any explosive force, but it sure was visually entertaining. I thought about video recording it, but didn't want to be distracted.

Video?

Or as renegade says................it never happened?

Honestly, I do wish you'd filmed it. Would have been cool to watch.

Much better than the Kamala ones some folks are posting .

So it goes bad?

Pistol powder burns pretty fast. Rifle powder burns about like diesel fuel. Never burned any black powder substitute.

Yeah, Triple 7 has a shelf life. This was a factory sealed 1 lb container (FFFg) when I opened it recently to try in my cap and ball revolvers. Inconsistent and delayed ignition, so no good.

Wow. I'nm sure I have open containers that old. Have been perfect so far. Which might be a miracle now.

Shooting Dupont black from 64 mostly though.

Real black powder will last centuries, no problem.

-HINT-

DD

PS: Don’t use that method of disposal with Lord Black.

I dispose of real black powder by shooting it through my black powder guns. It never goes bad.

My understanding is black powder is an explosive. I’ve never seen the need to test that theory.

I’ve got some Pyrodex that’s knocking on 40 years old. Reckon it’s still good?

Might be inconsistent or delayed when shot in a black powder gun vs real black powder of any age.

777 and Pyrodex go hygroscopic once opened no matter how well you think it is sealed it expands from moisture in the air losing its density, think a kernal of popcorn popping slowly over time, breaks downs basically into sand like consistency when seating a bullet on it.

Big increase in burn rate and velocity.

Cost me a good buck in 44A about 10 or 11 years ago.
3yr old can longest I ever held onto a can up to then.
Shot right over his back going for a high shoulder break down shot with my old renegade 50 cal about a 75yd shot.
Got a new can of 2 f the next day.
New can granules small, hard, dense, and consistent in size.
Old can large granules and I could crush and grind em in my fingers and basically turn into basically 4f

I would seat bullets with my best geustimate of around 25 30 ft pds pressure on the ramrod.

I buy a new can every year since then.
Might shoot 20 25 shots a yr max....
Shoot 777 2f in my kodiak promag.
I just put water in the old can shake it up a little and toss it in the trash.
The dump police havent came knocking on my door either.

Captain Planet weeps.........🥴🥴🥴😄😄😄

We use old powder to split trees. Mostly old oaks that are blown down due to some disease. Drill a hole into the side of the log a few feet from the butt. Go down about ten inches. Insert several feet of cannon fuse so you have lots of time to get a safe distance away. Drop or pour the powder to one inch of the top of the hole. Pack with clay. Make sure as you do all this that the fuse stays in the bottom of the hole. Light the fuse and get to a safe location behind something. After the explosion wait a little bit. Then go cut your firewood rounds to length. Most of the time they will fall to the ground in pieces. You may have to split some of it. I would say don't waste your time on softwood. Just good firewood. Be well, RZ.

Sure you can. Just fill up the container with water first.

Yeah, I guess that would work. My way was more fun, though.

I wish it was as fun as Tannerite!

Get an anvil next time:

I had some Cleanshot BP substitute that really degraded from year 1 to year 2.
I poured a line out in the garden and lit it. It just burned. Had an unopened bottle and poured it out the same way. I lit it and it was a little more exciting.No mushroom cloud though.

That was high.

One of these days you might wish you had that powder.

You likely need to have a main charge like I did (a singular pile), with a trail of powder acting like the fuse so you have some distance from it when it goes.

I have lots of real black powder. I even have a bunch of smokeless from when I used to reload.

Looks like that would be fun.

It would make for a good show for the Fourth of July. Buy a pound from Bass Pro Shop and try it out

No doubt. I would've burned it too. In fact, I have some I should get rid of....

Lol, reminds me TRH, many moons ago probably around 1996 or so my Dad and I were out in his garage and he had found the hiding place for my black powder I used for fishing when I was a kid and he asked me what i wanted with it. I figured it wasn't much good anymore so we decided to pour it out in the driveway and light it off, we made a pile of it with 2 lbs and I put a 2 foot fuse into the pile, I lit it and walked back to the garage......WOOF! it was spectacular!

We didn't know it but my Mom was looking out the kitchen window when it went off and she came running out to the garage threw the door open and yelled ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT!

the look on her face was one of pure terror and fright, my Dad and I looked at each other and started laughing our asses off, Mom stood there dumbfounded, pretty soon she says "It ain't funny you dumb sonsabitches!"

She shut the door and locked the deadbolt, We just continued to laugh, we couldn't help it. Good times.

Bwahahahaha! That's awesome!

I did that when I was a pup. My plan was to make the fuse trail and light it and run. The reality was that running wasn't an option.....blinking wasn't an option.

Cannon fuse, PVC pipe and caps, canning wax. Enjoy.

Bullshit.

You would have started a warranty claim....

I pulled a stunt like that about 48 yrs ago. I was about 19. My brother and I cleaned out my grandfathers basement of all kinds of reloading stuff and had 2 paper grocery bags of powder that had clumped up from moisture and some old tins of powder that had rusted through, along with a bunch of 45 auto ammo that had gotten wet and corroded and several thousand corroded primers. We took it out in the desert and set it on fire. Wholly crap we though we were going to start a brush fire when that went off.

Then just last year my son and I tried some tannerite at a gravel pit that I shoot at. Thought we were plenty far from the pine trees.... Wholly crap I though we were going to start a forest fire.

I had thought about putting a bag of the tannerite behind the paper target we were shooting on my 2x4 target frame and not tell them about it, good thing I didnt or it would have demolished my target frame.

Some boys just never learn I guess.

Dad had a cannon when I was a boy, and myself and my older brother got into his black powder one time when we were about 10-12 years old.

We had a sawdust pile in the back yard, and made it into a "volcano" by putting a family sized soup can full of powder on the top.

What a SITE when it ignited! We must have had flames 10 feet high and the "mushroom" cloud of smoke must have been 20 feet around!

Thank goodness none of the neighbors called the cops!

Fun times!!!! Virgil B.

So, I guess that 777 pellets will go bad also?

I went to the range last October to shoot the muzzle loaders and the first round that I shot with the inline just went POP and I completely missed a 50 yard target. I've never had that happen before. I shot about 10 more rounds that day and they all acted fine. Then, in December during muzzle loader season, I had a little chip shot from about 30 yards at a doe and had the same thing happen. The deer was so close that I can't imagine that I missed her, but there was no sign of hair or blood. I hope I missed. I'm not sure how old it is, but I might want to throw it in the fire pit. I've got another unopened box that I think is only a couple of years old.

This is pretty much my experience with the one[and only] bottle of Pyrodex I bought, and straight out of the freshly opened bottle.
Back to FFG and never looking back.

Wayne Mayes the greatest skeet shooter ever died after being burned badly disposing old powder. This happened right after a good friend of mine was seriously burned working on reloads. He survived but is scared. Point is handle with care, accidents can and do happen even to experienced people.

Yep, I'm an adult with many years of experience and accumulated knowledge, so all precautions were taken.