Old powders

[dickttx]

I have several cans and canisters of powder from about the early 70's.  At today's prices there is probably $750 worth of powder.  Being by nature a tight wad, I really hate to just dump these.  Over the years these containers have been stored in practically ever weather condition that can occur in western Oklahoma and north Texas.
When I open the cans the contents don't smell any different than a new can.
Has anyone had any practical experience in using such old powders?

[calvon]

Pat yourself on the back for saving those old powders. If they are in their original containers, look like powder should look, i.e. no rust colored powder, if they smell a bit of ether, they are most likely ok to shoot. Gunpowder is chemically very stable and if kept in dry storage, not exposed to a lot of direct sunlight, not exposed to extremes of heat, it's most likely ok. Just work up your loads in small increments from minimum published figures and you'll be ok.

[oldandslow]

I'm currently working on a 3# can of Winchester 230. Bought it in the middle 70's and used a little of it and then got interested in other things and it got pushed to the back of the storage cabinet. I decided to use it up reloading 9 mm plinking ammo last year. It still smells, looks, and acts just like it did when new. I had to go back to a 1972 manual to find reloading data. At a little over 4 grains a pop it's going to take a while to use it up.

[southernutah]

the only thing i been told or read is to use manual of the same era as new stock may vary a little. Have some IMR 4895  loaded in  308 that the new books show min. and max. two grains more . Old book the new mins are max.....

[Catfish]

My rule is if it smells good load it, if it don`t burn it or put it on the garden.

[luckydawg13]

powder gits weeker as it git older not stronger if it smells good i would use it

[calvon]

I have some old military take-down H4895 that I bought for a dollar a pound in the mid 1960's. Most likely it was manufactured during the forties, in WWII. It still works like it always did.

[Keith1]

   I just opened my last can of surplus 4831. I doesn't have a smell but the grains look completely normal. I haven't tried it yet. I will be trying it soon in a 25/06 or a 270. Remember Jack O'conners old load? Any 130 grain bullet and 60 grains of surplus 4831.
   Regards, Keith

[dpe.ahoy]

Yep, trust yer nose, sounds like it was stored fine.  DP

[wncchester]

"Has anyone had any practical experience in using such old powders?"

Yes.  And much older.  If it looks and smells okay, it's okay.

I still have a few pounds of Hodgdon's original WWII surplus H-4831 and it works just fine.

The often seen comment, "Powders have changed over time" is web legend.  Old powders and new powders aren't made different, cannister powders have a small allowable difference in burn rate and that's it, no one deliberately changes the burn rate during manufactoring.  There is no reason to do so and it would open them up to some serious legal problems if they did.  So they don't.

[thejanitor]

I used to go by smell and look at the color and if it was rusty brown or "dusty" when poured I figured it was too old. The last two cans of H4350 I bought (this last winter) look browner than my 15 year old can I just used up. (that baffled me)
 So As the others here have said if it looks ok and lacks that old laquer type smell it should be fine.
I never heard to use a manual from the era of the powder before, I suppose there could be something to it. I just kind of figured the new manuals just had the data for the newest powders available. Hmmm Kind of makes one wonder. Just be careful, pinching pennies is not worth injury. thejanitor

[cybin]

I read somewhere that the older reloading manuals were a bit more on the conservative side than todays manuals. That seems to be a bit true on some calibers from what I have seen, but not all calibers.

cybin

[wncchester]

"I  read somewhere that the older reloading manuals were a bit more on the conservative side than todays manuals."

Cybin, if you read other sources you will see exactly the opposite.  Only meaning a lot of what we read is opinon supported by heaping quanites of gross ignorance.   Most, if not all, of the old:new data difference is due to different powder lots AND the use of different firearms in their testing. and ours is different from theirs.  That's why it's foolish in the extreme to consider any source as absoulute truth, the book makers know that and tell us so.  That's why they ALL tell  us to "start low and only work up to.. unless,...etc."

[oldandslow]

I totally agree with the "start low and work up to" philosophy. I never use max loads either. I get better accuracy using a little less than max in pistols and rifles both and I don't enjoy getting knocked around by recoil anymore. Enough parts hurt now just sitting around that I don't want to aggravate them much. 

[mrussel]

I'm currently working on a 3# can of Winchester 230. Bought it in the middle 70's and used a little of it and then got interested in other things and it got pushed to the back of the storage cabinet. I decided to use it up reloading 9 mm plinking ammo last year. It still smells, looks, and acts just like it did when new. I had to go back to a 1972 manual to find reloading data. At a little over 4 grains a pop it's going to take a while to use it up.

 There is a lesson you should be taking away from that. Apparently your not shooting often enough.   

[dickttx]

An update on my August question concerning old powders

Have been reloading 8gr Unique over Lee 255gr cast bullet in my Blackhawk .45 LC.  I am starting to run low on that can, to this morning I loaded 6 cartridges with 8gr of Unique from a 4# canister I bought about 1972.  It had been opened but very little, if any, had been used.
I chambered and shot these one at a time, primarily to make sure there was a hole in the target, i.e., the bullet was not still in the barrel.
I could not tell any difference in these from the new powder I had been using.  Nor was there a difference in extraction or primer.
The container for this 4#'s is a cardboard cylinder about 6" in diameter and about 12" tall, with metal top and bottom.  It was never near full.
I appreciate the replies to my question and I believe you have saved me several hundred dollars in powder cost!
Will still weed some out as some of the metal tops of the containers have rusted thru.
Thanks again.