reloaders estate

[Reloader Fred]

The only bad powder I've come across in 62 years of reloading had a strong acrid smell and had red dust on it when poured into the powder measure. I didn't use it, but it made good fertilizer when spread on the lawn.
Hope this helps.
Fred

 

[Reloader Fred]

The only bad powder I've come across in 62 years of reloading had a strong acrid smell and had red dust on it when poured into the powder measure. I didn't use it, but it made good fertilizer when spread on the lawn.
Hope this helps.
Fred

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

so if the granules are intact and smells normal you would think its viable?

If it smells like fertilizer it is now fertilizer.

I was looking at a friend’s father’s reloading gear and it was obviously not used in 25+ years. Nothing but a Lyman press was salvaged.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

6 lbs. of Bullseye goes a Looooonnng Way!

Unless you shoot PPC and that is 15,000 rounds of 38 Special (148 HBWC and 2.8 grains each) which is a few months of practice and competition.

 

[greenwellg]

I remember one shooter at the range where I was the officer had a German MG35 with some surplus ammo. I let that pass but he was getting hangfires of up to 5-6 seconds. When he put one through the roof of the range I called it quits. He didn't even try to argue.

 

[Sal1950]

I've had pretty good luck with "estate sale" finds

Where do you folks look to find these estate sales ?
TIA

 

[Dave Haynes]

The big ammo dump at Cam Ranh Bay was a huge place where they simply cut back vegetation in a spot and dumped the stuff in the cleared spot. It then just sat out there in the rain and tropical heat. Monsoon flood or 110 degrees. No attempt to shelter it or anything. The only protection was the 3 foot long Monitor lizards hiding in the jungle. There was enough bombs, mortar rounds, artillery and small arms ammo there to fight for another couple of decades. In 66-67 we were shooting 105 rounds that were made in 1944, toward the end of my tour they had moved to Korean war wrapped steel cased 105. Point being, if they were using all that stuff after how it was abused and stored and it worked fine, if you are being prudent and check I don't think you need to worry too much about how your powder/ammo was stored. How many of these "Suggestions" are sent out by companies who make this stuff? I know that the only local gun shop won't accept any ammunition that is maybe 10 years old which is ridiculous. I saw a you tube video where a guy shot off some Martini-Henry (paper wrapped) 100+ year old ammo and it worked fine 3 out of 4, no hang fires, no apparent loss of power and only one dud.

 

[Tommezgun]

I finished a can of Unique a year or so ago. I bought it in 1975 while I was in Idaho for the Navy. When I left Idaho to go to a ship, I bought it home to Oklahoma then after 4+ years on the ship I got out of the Navy and brought it to Maine. It was always stored in a metal US ammo can. I don't remember where it was when in Oklahoma but every time, I had it the powder was stored in climate-controlled conditions. Usually, basement so it was never real hot or cold. No problems.

 

[minconrevo]

I will admit to be leary of powder or ammo stored in a location where temps fluctuate to drastically hot and humid, then to cold and back again over the months. I've seen powder go bad that was stored in an outside not-so-dry shed; yes, it got wet. Took just over a year to do so. Constant dry cool is not a problem, as is storage for years in a temperature environment.

 

[Jimbo41]

6 lbs. of Bullseye goes a Looooonnng Way!

Lol. Some years ago I bought an estate. Everything was a jumbled mess, but I got all sorts of interesting stuff. On my 3rd trip I thought I’d gotten just about everything when the widow said that I’d better check the closet in his office. In it were 3 15lb barrels of bullseye dated 1979. Shoots great, but I’ll probably be buried with a bunch of it.

 

[JimW]

I’ve been shooting Bullseye and Unique that sat in a tool chest in my garage for twenty years. I forgot it was in there. Perfectly fine.

 

[Kal.38]

The big ammo dump at Cam Ranh Bay was a huge place where they simply cut back vegetation in a spot and dumped the stuff in the cleared spot. It then just sat out there in the rain and tropical heat. Monsoon flood or 110 degrees. No attempt to shelter it or anything. The only protection was the 3 foot long Monitor lizards hiding in the jungle. There was enough bombs, mortar rounds, artillery and small arms ammo there to fight for another couple of decades. In 66-67 we were shooting 105 rounds that were made in 1944, toward the end of my tour they had moved to Korean war wrapped steel cased 105. Point being, if they were using all that stuff after how it was abused and stored and it worked fine, if you are being prudent and check I don't think you need to worry too much about how your powder/ammo was stored. How many of these "Suggestions" are sent out by companies who make this stuff? I know that the only local gun shop won't accept any ammunition that is maybe 10 years old which is ridiculous. I saw a you tube video where a guy shot off some Martini-Henry (paper wrapped) 100+ year old ammo and it worked fine 3 out of 4, no hang fires, no apparent loss of power and only one dud.

The army was still using that ammo when I was there. I fired plenty of linked 7.62 between 11/03~2/05. Had a can of LC71 once, worked just fine. I joked telling the guys my dad, your grandpa, and our first sergeant should have burned this up on Charlie.

 

[Lance Boyle]

The big ammo dump at Cam Ranh Bay was a huge place where they simply cut back vegetation in a spot and dumped the stuff in the cleared spot. It then just sat out there in the rain and tropical heat. Monsoon flood or 110 degrees. No attempt to shelter it or anything. The only protection was the 3 foot long Monitor lizards hiding in the jungle. There was enough bombs, mortar rounds, artillery and small arms ammo there to fight for another couple of decades. In 66-67 we were shooting 105 rounds that were made in 1944, toward the end of my tour they had moved to Korean war wrapped steel cased 105. Point being, if they were using all that stuff after how it was abused and stored and it worked fine, if you are being prudent and check I don't think you need to worry too much about how your powder/ammo was stored. How many of these "Suggestions" are sent out by companies who make this stuff? I know that the only local gun shop won't accept any ammunition that is maybe 10 years old which is ridiculous. I saw a you tube video where a guy shot off some Martini-Henry (paper wrapped) 100+ year old ammo and it worked fine 3 out of 4, no hang fires, no apparent loss of power and only one dud.

A lot of the old ammo I shot was in wooden crates, each round in a cardboard can that was coated with cloth and dipped in a beeswax like coating. Other than the heat I don’t think anything would have harmed the 4.2” HE mortar rounds. Hell they could probably be ok underwater for a few weeks.

 

[Lance Boyle]

The army was still using that ammo when I was there. I fired plenty of linked 7.62 between 11/03~2/05. Had a can of LC71 once, worked just fine. I joked telling the guys my dad, your grandpa, and our first sergeant should have burned this up on Charlie.

I was shooting early 1950’s .50 cal in the 80’s and 90’s. It had been inspected and repacked iirc, iirc the 1950’s cans aren’t the same as the current cans which is what we got it in.

 

[kadams]

I went ahead and picked up the powder I got bullets and brass that more than covered what i paid for it, along with 4,000 primers and 20lbs of smokeless powder also got 10lbs of FFFg powder. the smokeless still smells right. the black powder smells kind of flat im gonna try some small piles with a match in a min. Thanks for all the info

 

[Marcruger]

A really good trick is to put cans of powder in a gallon or two gallon ZipLoc baggie, and squeeze the air out before sealing. If the can lid is not sealing perfectly, at least varying humidity won't be attacking the powder.
I inherited my dad's ammo when he died. Most of it was from handloads by various people and companies. No way I was going to shoot any of that. I put the ammo in a tub, and put a sign on the side saying "FREE. For components only. Do not shoot." I left it at my range and the member(s) had taken it by the following day.

 

[A-300 Dave]

I bought at an estate sale a lot of .270 & .45 APC components that were approximately 30 yrs old. Thus far I have not experienced any powder or primer failures. I think that as long as moisture doesn't get to them you're Ok.

 

[Dave Haynes]

A friend who was an EOD in the Corps told me that the explosives in bombs and mortars? was like Styrofoam, you could cut it with a saw or knife like birthday cake. Seems like it wouldn't be affected by moisture too much. The ammo cans we had were very high quality, rubber gaskets and sealed really well.
Watching our battery do a fire mission was something to remember. US had the finest artillery personnel and training in the world by far. One shoots, the other two mimic everything the shooting one does until it gets where they want it then all three open up within seconds it's over, now do that for 6-7 hours straight. In one of those 1944 crates was a handwritten note "Kill a Jap for me" signed by some girl working in the plant.

 

[rockquarry]

A really good trick is to put cans of powder in a gallon or two gallon ZipLoc baggie, and squeeze the air out before sealing. If the can lid is not sealing perfectly, at least varying humidity won't be attacking the powder.
I inherited my dad's ammo when he died. Most of it was from handloads by various people and companies. No way I was going to shoot any of that. I put the ammo in a tub, and put a sign on the side saying "FREE. For components only. Do not shoot." I left it at my range and the member(s) had taken it by the following day.

The metal in the cans is better at keeping out moisture than a Zip Loc bag. I've not seen a metal lid yet that didn't seal well, but there are exceptions to everything, hence the Zip Loc, I guess.

 

[kadams]

Nothing wrong with the powder that i can see, threw a match on a finger tip sized pile of powder from the opened cans everything flashed, The black powder is just about scentless but it burns in a fraction of second to a very fine residue, unfortunately i have no use for FFFG, Nor do i know anyone that does, maybe ill pick up a Black powder replica revolver at some point.