How long will smokeless powder keep?

S

Steady52

New member
I am looking for information and advice on how long smokeless powder can be kept before its properties begin to change. Here's why I ask:

I first became involved in handloading in the 1970's, loading for various rifle and pistol cartridges, so ended up with about 10 different powders. After I finished up college in the 1980's, I was going to move away for an extended period and didn't want to store the powder in the house (in case of a fire), so moved it out to the hayloft of the barn.

Fast forward 20 years, the kids are mostly grown now and I'm getting back into shooting and reloading again. So my question concerns how much life my powder has remaining, and has it's properties changed any in the 30 years that I've had it? According to what I read on the Alliant website, powder undergoing deterioration will have an irritating acidic odor. My powder still smells like it did 30 years ago, as near as I remember it smelling. So if now stored back in my cool dry basement will it be good for another 10 or 20 years, or should it be used up as quickly as possible, or should it be disposed of properly and then start over with new? Being a true conservative, I don't want to waste anything that is still perfectly good. Most cans are half full or better, and a couple have never been opened.
 
When powder goes bad it will have that smell. It can also look rusty. If it smells the same and you intend to keep it in a more stable environment it will be good to hand down to your grand kids. I would keep an eye on it for a while but I surmise your good to go.
 
I’m in the process of burning up some 2400 that a friend gave me. It was unopened in those metal containers I haven’t seen since the sixties, and it still works as good as it always did. The cans don’t have any real rust or other signs of neglect other than faded paint, so I think it was stored pretty well. If you call parked on a shelf in an Arizona garage as being stored well. I think as long as powder doesn’t show any of the classic signs of deterioration it’s good to go.
 
Bullseye from 1947 still worked great in the '80's. I think the single base powders spoil fastest. Don't store in hot attic. Even loaded ammo will go bad there. Not unsafe, they just keyholed! :D
Gascheck
 
Thanks guys. That is what I wanted to hear. I have to admit that it feels real good to be doing this again after so many years.
 
I too had a metal can of Bullseye I got from a guy I worked with in the early 60's (61 or 62). I never used much of it and moved it from one damp basement to anothe to a garage in Tucson and back to NY. I finally burned it up in some shotshells, just to test it and get rid of it. The stuff smelled fine and the shells worked perfectly. So I know powder kept under terrible conditions can last at least 45 years.
 
when i was really young, my dad got a bunch of shotgun shells and different types of ammo from a guy who died down the road (via his wife). The old man had it stashed away in his backyard shed for 40 years probably, his wife told us. it had just sat, not being rotated or anything. about a quarter of the shotgun shells worked, and 2/3 of the rest of the ammo fired. it was pretty funny, i remembered wondering if the next shell would go off. My dad had dug a hole in our sand box and was pitching the ones that didn't go off in there. a little excitement for a child.
 
The Bullseye cans were REALLY old. They were square cornered had the tiny metal screw cap, and if I remember right, they were yellow and red with black lettering. My wifes uncle used to load .38's for the local police dept. on their Star machine. I even got a few bucks for the empty cans at a gun show! :D
Gascheck
 
I have a couple of sealed cans of old Hercules powder. I opened an open can of Red Dot from that era, and it smelled just like the can of Unique from the 80s. I have no doubt that the Reloder 11 and Hi Vel #2 are just as good. Does anyone have data for the HiVel#2 and a .222?
 
Okay, you forced me to dig out my old Lyman 43rd edition (bought new in '65).

Hi-Vel2, for .222:

bullet wt: Start: Max: Projected Max Vel:
50 gr. 20.0 23.0 3275
55 gr. 20.0 22.5 3160

HiVel2 was a good, versatile powder. I miss it.

'Luck!
 
Most (all?) of the comments indicated that the old powder worked "just fine" or something along those lines. Granted, the tell tale signs of powder going "bad" were stated and these are dead give aways that the powder has gone bad....but is powder perfect one day and the next, it has gone bad....or does it degrade over time? If it does degrade, it would seem that judging it "bad" would be more of a challenge. How bad does it have to get before it is officially bad?

Using the same brand of powder, same charge, same bullet, same firearm, etc., has anyone actually checked velocities between cartridges loaded with new and 30 year old powder?
 
Alliant/Hercules used to have a container of powder that was made in the 1800s or early 1900s and had to be stored under water because the stabilizers hadn't been invented then. They claim to take some out and dry it out and load it from time to time and the results are just like they were originally. You have to decide if the powder you have is usable. Only the nose knows, and if you store powder in a cool dark dry place it will keep almost forever. If the container is sealed and no air has gotten in, it may well still be good for decades after manufacture.
 
Years as long as the canisters are kept sealed good, and they haven't been subjected to temperature and humidity extremes.
 
I recently used some 30 year old Unique (a partial 1# container left over from my reloading days back in the 70s) in some .45ACP loads. At the same time, using a pound of Unique purchased just las month, I assembled the same 230 FMJ load and then took a trip to the range.

Using my chronograph, I shot both loads from a XD45 4".

The 30 year old Unique: 735 FPS, 26.2 standard deviation.

The 1 month old Unique: 830 FPS, 16.2 standard deviation.

The powder never saw much in the way of humidity as it spent the last 22 years sitting on a shelf in Arizona. The shelf was in my garage and so did see temp swings much wider than had it been sitting on a shelf in the hall closet.

I can only assume one of two things....either the recipe for Unique has changed in the past 30 years and so it is "hotter" than it use to be (not likely, in my opinion), or the performance of the powder did in fact degrade over the 30 years.

YMMV
 
Thank you, Arizona, for taking the time to compare 30 year old Unique to a new batch. 30-year-old Unique is what I have too, along with Bullseye, Green Dot, 2400 and a half dozen others, all 30+ years old.

Like you said, the velocity increase must be due to either a change in formulation over the years, or because the old powder has degraded slightly, or perhaps both to some extent. But even your 30 year old powder still gets the job done, so mine should still be usable for a while yet since it still smells ok, and it gives me an excuse to shoot it up and replace it with fresh.

Thanks.
 
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