I can see how myths in the shooting community have been occurred due to the lack of technical knowledge in the shooting community . The primary problem is most of the information the shooting community receives is from the popular print press. And gunwriters, unfortunately, have the tallest pulpit, and yet are the most ignorant of creatures. There are no educational or background requirements to be a Gunwriter. The most educated had Journalism degrees, most are simply men who carried a gun on their hip and killed things for a living. The greater the death toll, the higher their credibility within the shooting community. It is a simple matter for Gunwriters to philosophize on issues great and small about which, they are totally clueless and have no understanding , because none of them have an education or background in chemistry or physics. Each Gunwriter can add his favorite embellishment to the story, and in the process, intentionally or otherwise, the community of Gunwriters build an entirely false narrative around the fantastical worlds they weave in print. Over time, many of their falsehoods, repeated and reprinted ad infinitum, morph into “physical fact” for the shooting community. Their stories acquire a life of their own and become part of the popular culture; their factual foundation is no longer questioned, much less critically evaluated.
First of all, understand that gunpowder has a shelf life. This is contrary to expectations of shooters who assume that they and their hoard of ammunition will last forever, but unfortunately, all things come to an end. Gunpowder is a high energy compound that is breaking down to a low energy compound. Gunpowder is breaking down from the day it leaves the factory. Our gunpowders are either nitrocellulose or nitrocellulose & nitroglycerine. The nitroglycerine is there basically for the energy boast. Because nitroglycerine attacks the double bonds on nitrocellulose the lifetime of double based powders is less than half that of single based. Stabilizers are mixed with the nitrocellulose/nitroglycerine as a sacrificial compound: stabilizers soak up the nitric acid gas that is created when nitrocellulose deteriorates. When the stabilizer gets low , gunpowder is extremely unstable and unsafe. In quantity it will auto combust and the burn rate is irregular. Burn rate instability has and will blow up firearms.
A good rule of thumb is that single base powders will last 45 years and double based 20 years. Like all rules of thumb this is wrong more often than it is right.
Federal says their ammunition has a ten year shelf life:
Federal Ammunition :
http://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx
If you think this is BS, buy Vista Outdoors, and warrant your ammunition for as long as you want. This will probably cost you around $1 Billion, and if you had $1 Billion in pocket change rolling around, you probably can afford advisors who would tell you what a stupid thing you were doing.
Gunpowder only gets worse with age. Some of it goes bad in less than a decade:
I have written extensively on the lifetime of gunpowder, and let me say, the short version, is that it is very unpredictable, but it is not infinite.
Saw an interesting CETME malfunction at the range today
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6234108#post6234108
August 1993 reloads. Anyone shooting older.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6146123#post6146123
Pulling some 30.06 M2 1940
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5443961#post5443961
How long will smokeless powder keep?
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5860901&postcount=26
Loading gunpowder in the case in some attempt to make it last longer is based on fallicious ideas and will cause more expense in the long run. I think it is better not to load cases with gunpowder and have them sit on the shelf for years or decades, because when the gunpowder goes bad, and it will, it will ruin the case. Gunpowder outgasses nitric acid gas and that will attack your brass.
This was loaded in Nov 2002 with surplus AA2520 and fired in 2015, almost all of the cases loaded experienced case neck separations or cracks.
Deteriorating gunpowder caused malfunctions in my Garand. The previous case ejected but left the case neck in the chamber. The next round ran into the case neck left in the chamber.
This is ammunition I loaded about 10 years ago with mid nineties N140. Lots of cracks in the cases due to nitric acid gas attacking the brass.
You will read posts by shooters who believe that unsealed gunpowder won't go bad. This is false. Gunpowder is deteriorating in the case or can whether or not the seal is broken or the bullet removed. Refreshing the humidity in the case or can is probably not the best, after all, water is polar covalent and attacks gunpowder, but still I think it is best practice to sniff your gunpowder hoard, and sniff at least every year. You want to detect the point at which the gunpowder goes from that nice ether smell to a neutral smell. And you want to detect the bitter smell of red nitric acid gas. You want to inspect your stocks for deterioration. You should shoot up your gunpowder, shoot it up before it is decades old, and shoot up the oldest stuff first. You do not want to have gunpowder in your house that fumes red nitric acid gas, and then, autocombusts and burns your house down!
Old Powder Caused Fire!
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=788841
________________________________________
First of all, understand that gunpowder has a shelf life. This is contrary to expectations of shooters who assume that they and their hoard of ammunition will last forever, but unfortunately, all things come to an end. Gunpowder is a high energy compound that is breaking down to a low energy compound. Gunpowder is breaking down from the day it leaves the factory. Our gunpowders are either nitrocellulose or nitrocellulose & nitroglycerine. The nitroglycerine is there basically for the energy boast. Because nitroglycerine attacks the double bonds on nitrocellulose the lifetime of double based powders is less than half that of single based. Stabilizers are mixed with the nitrocellulose/nitroglycerine as a sacrificial compound: stabilizers soak up the nitric acid gas that is created when nitrocellulose deteriorates. When the stabilizer gets low , gunpowder is extremely unstable and unsafe. In quantity it will auto combust and the burn rate is irregular. Burn rate instability has and will blow up firearms.
A good rule of thumb is that single base powders will last 45 years and double based 20 years. Like all rules of thumb this is wrong more often than it is right.
Federal says their ammunition has a ten year shelf life:
Federal Ammunition :
http://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx
If you think this is BS, buy Vista Outdoors, and warrant your ammunition for as long as you want. This will probably cost you around $1 Billion, and if you had $1 Billion in pocket change rolling around, you probably can afford advisors who would tell you what a stupid thing you were doing.
Gunpowder only gets worse with age. Some of it goes bad in less than a decade:
I have written extensively on the lifetime of gunpowder, and let me say, the short version, is that it is very unpredictable, but it is not infinite.
Saw an interesting CETME malfunction at the range today
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6234108#post6234108
August 1993 reloads. Anyone shooting older.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6146123#post6146123
Pulling some 30.06 M2 1940
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5443961#post5443961
How long will smokeless powder keep?
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5860901&postcount=26
Loading gunpowder in the case in some attempt to make it last longer is based on fallicious ideas and will cause more expense in the long run. I think it is better not to load cases with gunpowder and have them sit on the shelf for years or decades, because when the gunpowder goes bad, and it will, it will ruin the case. Gunpowder outgasses nitric acid gas and that will attack your brass.
This was loaded in Nov 2002 with surplus AA2520 and fired in 2015, almost all of the cases loaded experienced case neck separations or cracks.
Deteriorating gunpowder caused malfunctions in my Garand. The previous case ejected but left the case neck in the chamber. The next round ran into the case neck left in the chamber.
This is ammunition I loaded about 10 years ago with mid nineties N140. Lots of cracks in the cases due to nitric acid gas attacking the brass.
You will read posts by shooters who believe that unsealed gunpowder won't go bad. This is false. Gunpowder is deteriorating in the case or can whether or not the seal is broken or the bullet removed. Refreshing the humidity in the case or can is probably not the best, after all, water is polar covalent and attacks gunpowder, but still I think it is best practice to sniff your gunpowder hoard, and sniff at least every year. You want to detect the point at which the gunpowder goes from that nice ether smell to a neutral smell. And you want to detect the bitter smell of red nitric acid gas. You want to inspect your stocks for deterioration. You should shoot up your gunpowder, shoot it up before it is decades old, and shoot up the oldest stuff first. You do not want to have gunpowder in your house that fumes red nitric acid gas, and then, autocombusts and burns your house down!
Old Powder Caused Fire!
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=788841
________________________________________