I helped my neighbor repair his wife's Sport Track and he gave me some old Unique. One about 1/4 full and another full never been opened. This is quit old. Bought from Gibson's many moons ago. One partial can has $5.97 and the full one has $9.99 on it. My question is this stuff still good.

Attached Images

IMG_0130.JPG (243.9 KB, 136 views)

Properly stored, yes. Bad powder usually has bad color and odd smell.
I still have some of the old Unique that is good. Be sure and calibrate any volume measure with a scale for each batch.

__________________
Science plus Art

Shoot it and enjoy!

Randy

I would chance it. I have an old can of Unique myself. Shown here with a bunch of other contemporary items for a picture contest on another forum.

There is an outside chance the open container might be bad but like said, it will smell bad and might have rust dust in the powder. The unopened can is probably almost as good as the day it was made.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I'm reloading right now with powder that is in a can like the powder on the right!
Check for a rusty powder in the can....red dust . Smell can be tricky, but if it doesn't burn or irritate your nose...it should be just fine.
The red dust is my indicator of decomposition .
I remember the Gibson's stores....
Gary

I have some like the can on the left, bought ~40 years ago, sat partially used for ~35 of those years, and when loaded just 2 years ago, shot just fine.
FWIW, I had eight opened canisters of different powders from the early to mid 70's, and when ammo got scarce about three or four years ago, I resurrected my reloading stuff, and all eight tested just fine.
Try three light 38 loads in your strongest gun.

My guess is that it is good. Like the poster noted above, if the color is good with no acrid odor, I would load some light 38 Spl. loads and shoot them through a large frame .357 as a test. I have been using some old Herculese Unique, Bullseye and 2400 I bought back in the early 80s and it is just fine.

Just me, I would not use the powder. Save the can as a collector's item.

I just used up the last of my RedDot powder that I purchased from a place called John and Al's Sporting goods located on Broadway Brooklyn NY in the late 1970s, and it shoots fine, looked and smelled fine.

The reason I brought up the name of the store is there is quite a history attached to it. Back then, a siege took place there by a radical group that attempted to steal firearms for their "army" It ended in a three day stand off with police and I don't remember if there was an actual shootout. After that John & Als divested themselves of all things firearms and I took advantage of reloading supplies at half price since I worked nearby. The can of Red Dot still has the stamp with the stores name.

I'm still using cannisters like that. If you keep it in the old 'cool and dry' it can last indefinitely. If it has red dust on it, or smells acrid, don't use it. In the 1970s surplus bulk powder from WWII was still popular and available. It's still available but I don't know the vintage.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Dump a spoonful or two from each container out on a clean, white piece of paper. They should smell the same and look the same, without the older batch having a bunch or reddish-grayish colored dust in it. I am down to my last partial pound of old Unique. I bought it, and a bunch more powders, and every .44 caliber bullet they had in the store, about 35 years ago when my friend who worked at a sporting good store's gun counter was having his "I'm being fired tomorrow!" sale. It is in the canister-shaped Hercules brand cardboard can. I opened it last fall and it smelled like fresh old Unique ought to look and loaded and shot fine.

I am going to have to buy either some New Unique and work up my loads again or break open the newish keg of W-231.

It's sure good to have some choices of components aqain.

I did as was suggested and compared the two powders. I loaded some 9 mm and some 40's with a light load and they shot fine. Kicked them up a little and still good. Sense these will be shot at paper I don't load them hot so I think they are good. I keep 2 mags with some really mean factory rounds for anything else.

Speaking of NEW Alliant Unigue, why would I have to work up new loads for it? Did something change? My 'old' Unigue is about 5-6 years old and the 'new' Unigue I just bought in a black 1 lb. plastic container.

I have 3 of the cans that Wyatt Burp shows, acquired during the recent component shortage. My son found it in some little shop in Manhattan Kansas. The purchase dates penciled on the cans are from '61 to '63 and I would have no qualms about using it given it looks and smells right. Unless I get really hard up I will probably just keep as collectables since seals are unbroken. I had a partially used 5 pound metal keg given to me maybe 30 years ago that Lord only knows how old it was then. I am still using the powder.

To old time reloaders like myself, that's the exact same stuff I have on my bench. Works fine.

Yep.
I am still using a can from the 1990's.
I obviously don't shoot enough!

To the best of my knowledge all Hercules/Alliant powders are or were double based.
When DuPont was split way back when, they (IMR) retained the single based stuff and Hercules got the rest.
The only powder I have had go bad was an almost empty can of IMR 4198.
Sat for like 20 years and it was obvious.
The unopened one next to it smelled, looked, and shot like new.
These were the metal cans.

My point is that double based powders are more stable than the single, cellulose, based ones.
Almost immortal.
Like this stuff: (purchased when Gander Mt. only had the one store in Wilmot. I used to go by there for "work")

Attached Images

W-296-3lb-Can-Lot-296083B-21B.jpg (268.2 KB, 21 views)

__________________
NEMO
"Everything 44"

Powder properly stored (or maybe even improperly stored) will be good for a very long time. I still have powders from the early 1960s (duPont, Hercules, and Hodgdon), with no obvious signs of deterioration, and it still shoots fine. I doubt there is any significant ballistic difference between the old Hercules powders and the new Alliant powders of the same name. Don't believe the old myth about pouring old smokeless powder in your garden as fertilizer.

The only deteriorated smokeless powder I have ever personally seen is some WWII-era surplus 4831 sold very cheaply during the 1950s and 1960s. It had an acidic vinegar smell and contains a fine rusty-looking powder. And it burns very slowly.

Yes, duPont and IMR powders are single base, Hercules and ATK powders are double base, at least those sold to reloaders. I think all ball powders will be double base.

I'm still loading from a can just like that and it's twin bullseye. I bought in the 80's. I only use it for some 44 Special loads from time to time. No question, it's still good.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

You can say that again. However, the shortage did force me to 'branch out' and try out different powders.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I've bought older powder and other reloading supplies at estate sales over the years. So far everything I've bought has loaded useable ammo just fine. Chrono results didn't indicate any degradation in the powders ability to deliver the velocities in the range expected for the load.

When I've been suspicious of the powders quality mostly due to the appearance of the canister I just put a small amount on top of a non flamable surface and touch it off with a match. Smokeless powder burns a little faster than paper and you should see some sparks similar to a small 4th of July sparkler as the nitro component burns. Try a few grains of newer powder to see what it looks like and then try the older powder. If they're similar then they old powder is good.

I would also suggest trying a few rounds to see if it works. You really have nothing to loose except some time pounding out a stuck bullet if its not good.

I too have powders going back to the 70s, including an 8 pound canister of Unique. It all works just fine.

In 2008, a Virginia Civil War buff uncovered a live, 8" 44-pound mortar shell from a national park. He was attempting to de-activate the 150 year old projectile when it exploded, killing him and riddling his neighborhood with shrapnel. I mention this because even though it involves black powder, it is evidence that gun powder can last indefinitely depending on storage. Virginia Man Killed In Civil War Cannonball Blast | Fox News

So yes, use the powder. If anything, smokeless powder weakens with time. The only downside is that you may not achieve the velocities you're expecting.