I use 9 grains of 4227 under a 45-grain soft point bullet lit off by a WW small pistol primer in my Zastava 22 Hornet. This load gets me an inch or slightly less at 100 yds(my fault not the rifles). Yesterday I was shooting some loads that had been loaded for at least five years and they were all shooting at least a foot low. I checked the scope and rings all were tight, Could that powder have degraded that much?
Or do I have another problem?

How long has it been since you last shot the rifle/load combination?

Is it shooting the same sized groups as before?


If so adjust the scope and keep shooting.

Would be interesting to chrono and compare to previous velocity.

DF

Now now don’t bring up a chronograph. We all know that it is just impossible that people could think about spending 100-150 bucks on one is just too damn expensive. Plus the fact if they did there wouldn’t be all these threads about why my load isn’t working, why the ejector marks or the biggy Is this load safe.

I don’t know about in loaded ammunition......but, one of the greatest traumatic events of my life was recently throwing away about 1/2 can of 4227 about 2 months ago! 🤬 memtb

Scopes do get bent. Does not take much to change POI 12" at 100 yards.

Why did you toss it?

Groups were crap more like a pattern than a group. One thing I left out was that I did carry them around in my truck and they were subject to some rough two-track type roads.
What is this chronograph of which you speak?

Here lies the keys to the kingdom!

Cheap but useful.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020438152

Are the guard screws tight? Scope might also be the problem.

To answer the original question. IMR 4227 is gunpowder. Gunpowder can "breakdown or degrade."

Bullets may have corroded to the case neck take your seating die and ever so slightly push them about a thousands deeper to break free of the corrosion and shoot them and see if this helps.

I started handloading in 1974.

In all that time I’ve ONLY had 1 (one) can (metal) to degrade and yield the
Red dust.

To the best of my ‘memory’ it was IMR 4831 in their yellow/white can.

NOTE- it was an OLD can of powder.

IMO powder properly stored lasts a LONG time.


** I have had one instance of ‘ neck weld ‘ so that can happen too.

Jerry

It was last used in the mid- ‘80’s. I opened it a while back......dusty, rust colored, and didn’t smell like “fresh” powder! I’m pretty sure it was history! memtb

I've had a few go bad.

I still have surplus H-4831 that I bought in the '60's. It came in paper bags. The bags got brittle and I transferred the powder to empty powder cans, relabeled with Magic Marker. It still smells good, shoots good. It was surplus when I got it. No telling how old it actually is. It's been in climate controlled storage, which probably helps.

DF

How long swears they in your truck? Exposed to temperature extremes? that would be my first guess to the issue.

PennDog

It would be extremely difficult to pull a bullet and have a look wouldn’t it

Yeah it would be hard to pull a bullet actually as I only had 8, to begin with and shot them all fiddling with the scope.

load some more with same can, don't drive them around, and shoot for group

Asan aside, H4227 seems to be one powder in that general category that seems pretty available right now.

Just poured out 1/3 # of IMR 4831 (metal can) yesterday due to the same affliction (More of an orange dust). Second can IIRC - both metal.

I've got some Reminton 243 that I bought as a kid in the 80s.
Before I loaded my own.

Gonna let the daughter shoot some
one day. Had a dud? Then another. Looked careful like,
There was corrosion around the primer and bullet on several.
New box, never touched before.

Pissed me off.
They were $8 back when I got paid 2 farming dollars per hour.

This^

Might be you just need to seat the bullet a little deeper. Hornet brass is fragile and bullets after time will sort of bond to brass creating accuracy issues.

Sometimes that dust is rust from the can. You can separate it by pouring the powder through the light breeze of a small fan into a large bowl a couple of times.

Smell it. Bad powder smells funky.

This was some H-4831 from 2019 I had purchased in the 1960's.