Surplus powder shelf life vs. Canister

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I'm about to place an order for enough powder/primers to load up 2K .223 rounds. The difference between 8 lbs of WC844 and 8 lbs of H335 is around $47. Is the extra money worth going for the canister grade? The rounds will be used for plinking, a little pig hunting and stocking.

Here's what my two carts look like:

Powdervalleyinc.com -

2,000 Tulu primers for 5.56
8 lbs H335

$215.20 total ($241.90 if I get the CCI #41 primers)

Hitechammo.om -

2,000 CCI #41 primers
8 lbs WC844 pull down powder

$179.73 total


Which would you go with and why?
 
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I'd go with the WC844 with the caveat that I'd have to start low and work my way up knowing each lot of WC844 will have a different burn rate. I'd probably buy 32 pounds of the WC844 so I'd not have to work up new loads anytime soon.

I have about 16lbs. of pull down 4895 left from a 64lb. order I split up when I ran an M1 shooting club level high power. Different burn rates will drive you nuts if buying small quantities at a time. Back then, 4895 ran about $6/lb. Remember that powder will never go down in price.
 
Shelf Life?

I have some H110, Unique, and 2400 from 1979 and it still works great...Dan
 
I've used a lot of old powder with no problems except for a few cans of Dupont IMR. This was bought as a real deal from a closing gun shop. I became a bit wary when red dust drifted up when the can was opened. I store all my powder in an old uprite freezer. Never sniff the red dust!
 
After I added everything to the cart with shipping from two places (bullets bought separately) the savings would only be around 15-20 bucks. I figured I'll stick with canister.
 
When ordering powder and primers mailorder, you need to increase the quantity to spread out the hazmat and reg shipping charges. You are probably paying $45 to $50 bucks for shipping. For one can of powder, and 2k primers, I'd just go to a gunshow and pick them up.
 
Find a local store that stocks the surplus powder. I use a bunch from gibrass.com.

The surplus Unique is great stuff for my 45Colt and is super cheap. I use the WC820 for all of my magnum handgun loads, especially if they are going to be used in a carbine here in Indiana for deer hunting.
 
I really like WC844 in .223 and .223 Ackley Improved. I use the book max load for H335 as a starting load.

I compared both WC844 and H335 using my chronograph and get higher velocity from WC844. Both powders give me great groups, but not with the same bullets.

I also did an chronograph experiment with standard and magnum primers with both powders and found that I can use standard primers with H335, but I have to use magnum primers for best results with the WC844.
 
Fkimble said:
When ordering powder and primers mailorder, you need to increase the quantity to spread out the hazmat and reg shipping charges. You are probably paying $45 to $50 bucks for shipping. For one can of powder, and 2k primers, I'd just go to a gunshow and pick them up.
Click to expand...

There's a reason I bought 64lbs of pull down 4895. That was when haz-mat was about half of what it is today.
 
Skip Sackett said:
Find a local store that stocks the surplus powder. I use a bunch from gibrass.com.

The surplus Unique is great stuff for my 45Colt and is super cheap. I use the WC820 for all of my magnum handgun loads, especially if they are going to be used in a carbine here in Indiana for deer hunting.
Click to expand...

I went with H335 since the price difference was so little. No one local stocks surplus. The gun shows around here are a joke, waste of the $8 admission.

Grafs and Sons only has a $5 handling charge over a certain dollar amount for this month so I only had to pay haz mat. Total haz mat and handling charge was around $33, which isn't bad considering the weight and size of the package I'm expecting. Total damage was $396.97 to my door. I did call and ask that they have it held at the nearest UPS terminal though since it requires a signature. The UPS guys knock once, wait two seconds, slap a "We missed you" note on the door and leave. With the terminal only 1 mile away, its easier to have it held.
 
I'm not sure about the current situation but some years ago I thought
that Hogdons H335 was one of their repackaged surplus powders. Does
anyone know for sure about this?
 
I ue more unique, 2400 for my handguns and IMR4895, IMR4064 for my rifles. Store it in a cool dry place for ever.

I'm still shooting my 1978 45acp reloads and my 1937 turk 8mm mauser surplus ammo that all goes bang.
 
I have powder that is older than I am that is still good, and Im 50 years old. I recently got an old wooden 8 pound keg of black powder that was made sometime in the 1880s and guess what, yep, its still good. I have primers my dad and his friends never got around to using and they are at least 40 years old and they still work just fine. I have in my collection many boxes of nipple primers from the turn of the century and Ive been known to use them when I run out of the new stuff. Ive only had a couple not go bang. I don't know why all this talk of shelf life comes up so often. In my book if you keep your "powder dry" it will last probably hundreds of years. The same with primers. Our government is the only ones that would love to have some type of "shelf life" on powder and primers. Purchase what you like or what works for you and your rifle, maybe even stock pile a bunch of it for the future cause you never know what the government goons will try to come up with next. If you have any doubt about your powder just smell it, if it smells like rotten eggs your powder may be bad. I would certainly think that if you intend on using the materials within the next 30-50 years and you store it correctly you should not have any problems. Happy shooting.
 
alwslate said:
I'm not sure about the current situation but some years ago I thought
that Hogdons H335 was one of their repackaged surplus powders. Does
anyone know for sure about this?
Click to expand...

H335 is the commercial equivilent of surplus WC844. H335 from my understanding has a bit more quality controls in place for consistent burn rate while WC844 can vary quite a bit from lot to lot. The price difference after shipping was obsurdley low, so I went with the canister grade powder.
 
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