How long can powder last if stored properly?

[aggunner]

I was given a butt load of older HP38, red dot, bulls eye, and unique. I went through and looked at samples of each and there was no oxidation and they didn't smell of amonia. The powder has been stored in a cool and relatively dry area. How long should this powder last?

Also anyone using these powders for 9mm these days?

Edited July 15, 2007 by aggunner

[Kingman]

Not really for 9

The one thing bullseye is wonderful in is .45

I have some powder that aged a bit, 3 years and it was ok.

[George]

15-20 years in not an issue if stored dry and at stable temp

[L9X25]

15-20 years in not an issue if stored dry and at stable temp

+1

When I started shooting there was an old guy at work that claimed to have been a reloader "back in the day". He brought me an unopened cardboard "keg" of 540 that, at the time, he claimed it was about 10 years old. It smelled slightly sweet and I purchased it from him at a bargain. 15 years later I was looking for some powder to make some warm 9's and found the container of 540. It has lost most of the sweet smell but does not smell bitter or acidic. I loaded it up and it worked pefectly, just as it had years earlier. This powder is likey 25 years old and is still fine.

[sargenv]

To give an idea of "perfect conditions".... Alliant apparently still has a small supply of Red Dot I think from the late 1800's that every once in a while they supposedly take out of storage to do a test to compare the old and the new. With proper storage, I dare say it may outlast you.

[XRe]

When my grandfather passed away, I nosed around his reloading stuff some. He hadn't loaded for at least 30-ish years, so everything he had was old. He had partial containers of several powders, including a half used 25# keg of Red Dot (and a full one... the man liked Red Dot for 12 gauge, apparently). The only container that had gone over was a non-factory container that had Bullseye in it - and was maybe 1/8 full (so, lots of air volume). When powder goes over, it gets a strong odor as others have said...

The concern would be finding good load data for that lot of powder - the formulations have changed over the years, and they aren't quite the same as they were back then, in some (most?) cases. Basically, start low and work up carefully....

[revchuck]

I tried both Bullseye and Unique in 9x19 with 147 grain lead bullets, and they worked well. I haven't tried the others.

[lneel]

I loaded a few rounds for a shooting buddy of mine who gave me all the components. He gave me some brass in a coffee can, Winchester Primers in a white Winchester box and a sqaure can of Herco. I didn't much pay attention to it until I had to figure out how to open the can. It had a pop-in pop-top to open it. Looked inside and everything looked good, smelled good so I loaded them up. When I was done, I looked down at the can and it had 11-28-69 written on the can! I asked my buddy and he said it sure did come from 1969! Next time I saw him he was shooting those rounds just fine. I thought my IMR 4895 from 1985 was old.

[Patrick Sweeney]

Sargenv, that is a supply of Bullseye, made in 1899, stored under water to keep oxygen away from it. It works fine every time they test it.

[sargenv]

I knew it was one of them...

I have a can of Winchester HS500 and another bigger cam of Alcan AL-8 in my "collectbles" corner of where I store my powder. HS500 was an older ball powder that either 540 or 571 superceded. AL-8 isa square cut flake powder probably not imported since the 70's.

[Carmoney]

Sargenv, that is a supply of Bullseye, made in 1899, stored under water to keep oxygen away from it. It works fine every time they test it.

Exactly right. I defended a terrible burn case a couple years ago in which I deposed the now-retired fella from Hercules who was responsible for testing the old Bullseye sample. Nice guy, used to do some competitive shooting years ago. I learned a lot about smokeless powder and its incredibly stable, non-hygroscopic qualities. He made it sound like the underwater storage is mainly a safety thing--guess it makes sense, no oxygen no fire.....

[wide45]

Smokeless powder contains the oxidizer. It might be harder to light underwater, but I suspect it will burn.

[GentlemanJim]

An old friend of my dad gave me some surplus military powder many years ago, I used it in 3006 for DCM.

He had purchased a large ammount of it in the 1950s...100s of pounds, he used it in hipower competition.

A couple years ago I sold the remainder to other hipower shooters at the gun show.

This powder was made in the 1940s for WW2.

The old guys know exactly what it is ...just by the smell, its just as good as the day they made it.

It will keep a long long time.

Jim

[L9X25]

How about a new twist on this topic. THis weekend a buddy brought me a partial container of VV N-350 that was about 7-10 years old. I opened the lid and there was a definite bitter smell similar to chlorine or possibly even ammonia. It has been stored in a sealed container in a non-airconditioned garage in Florida. That has to be the fastest that I have ever known a powder to go bad and would not have believed it had I not seen it for myself.

As stated earlier, I have some W-540 that is 25 years old and is still fine, although my powder is stored in temperature controlled space.

[Miranda]

I use HP-38 in my 9mm.

loaded as per the label.

it seems much the same as my store bought...

miranda

[Ron Brooks]

As long as the container is unopend and the powder looks and smells good I would use it. Be very leery of opend cans of powder, you never know FOR SURE if the powdere in the cannister is what the label on it says.