Question about an old can of Bullseye.

[lrrifleman]

I have an old can of Bullseye that I think was given to me, I can't remember buying it. This particular can is a 1 pound metal cube, I would not even want to venture a guess as to when it was manufactured. It does have a small seam that has opened up about half an inch.

My question, if a small sample (pinch) will ignite when a match is put to it, would it still be usable for reloading?

Thanks for your advice.

[Double-O-Dave]

Wow - I'm old, and the first can of Bullseye I purchased was in the round cardboard can with metal lid and bottom. I'd be tempted to dump the powder and not use it, but I think I'd ask the factory first just to see what their recommendation is. If the can is still in good shape, it may have value to a collector, or it might be good for display.

Good luck,

Dave

[22shtur]

I have been lucky to find a few older 11oz metal cans of older Hercules Bullseye this year. I use it in my .38 spl loads. The older Bullseye load is 2.7 grains behind a 148gr HBWC, the newer Alliant Bullseye load is 3.2 grains with the 148gr HBWC.
If the powder doesn't look like coffer or rust, it's good to go.

[apollo99]

I've been using some really old powder. Mine came in the same type of square steel cans with a pop type lid. Mine were sealed , unopened with no gaps or openings in the seams. Out of the 10 cans of various powders only one was red rust color and dusty the rest were good to go. It also helps to have some older,(very much older)reloading manuals to go along with those powders. Since you have bullseye, and that has been around for a long time and still manufactured today the load data is available in modern books. The only issue will be the dryness of the powder you have in hand with that opened seam. I would start low on the charge and work up. From what I'm told powder get weaker with age , but the dryness equals less moisture weight ,that may be an issue with reloading some calibers.

[rockquarry]

Hercules powder came in those cans when I started handloading in the mid-'60s. I think Hercules continued their use until the early '70s and then went to the cylindrical cardboard container.

Some ultra-thrifty may not agree, but since the can hasn't been tightly sealed, I would throw it out. I'm no expert, but I'm not sure igniting the powder with a match really provides any worthwhile information as to the powder's fitness for handloading.

[arjay]

Dump it out and compare the odor and color to some new powder.If there's no difference,it's probably fine

[TomkinsSP]

On 10-18 I started a thread...

Historic Hercules 2400

On this forum (Reloading). There are 38 replies you may find of interest there. (My 2400 is of the same age and in same type of can.)

My (limited) understanding is that the Hercules type double base powders don't readily absorb moisture and unless they are stored in hot places they are pretty much ageless... So long as it looks and smells the same as newer BE I would load a cylinder full and try it out, while keeping a watch for decreased performance or a squib.

[hdwhit]

lrrifleman wrote:
I have an old can of Bullseye that I think was given to me, I can't remember buying it. This particular can is a 1 pound metal cube, I would not even want to venture a guess as to when it was manufactured.

1960's up through early to mid-1970's.

It does have a small seam that has opened up about half an inch.

When you say a seam has "opened up", is this a failure of the seam to stay bent together or has it opened up because the seam has rusted?

My question, if a small sample (pinch) will ignite when a match is put to it, would it still be usable for reloading?

The fact it will light won't tell you whether it is good.

The way to inspect powder is to:

• Open the can up and sniff the contents. If the powder is good, it will smell of solvents such as acetone or ether; a chemical smell, but definitely not something acrid.
• If the powder smells like acid or old aspirin, it is deteriorating and should be disposed of.
• If the powder smells okay, then dump it onto a large bowl or plate where you can spread it into a thin layer. If the powder is reddish or brown (or has a lot of specks the color of coffee) then it is deteriorating and should be disposed of.

If it is still good, go ahead and load it and use it up, quickly. In spite of what is commonly reported, powder is not immortal and once the antioxidants mixed in with it are exhausted it can become hazardous.

If you have to dispose of powder, you can:

• Spread it thinly across your lawn. Nitocellulose is, in effect, nitric acid bound into wood pulp so it will act like a nitrate fertilizer. Spread across a wide area because it can "burn".
• Alternatively, you can - check local laws - pour it out on a sidewalk, using some of the powder to create an ignition train (just like in the cartoons) and burn it.

Whichever you do, consider keeping the can as a collector's item.

[mtgianni]

Bullseye is stored underwater and AIUI, a sample of the original powder exists to periodically compare current production to. Good stuff. I have a round 6 lb metal keg I bought from an estate I still use.

[flyfishinjunkee]

Personally I'm not into throwing usable things away that are somewhat expensive and likely usable .. Last year I bought a whole box full of powder in old containers like you speak of for 5 bucks a pound. Many cans were open and most were the square 4 or 5lb can with pop out lid.. . After passing a visual inspection I have used much of the powder with no issues. Have not had a single issue and I wish he would have had more of it! . Id at least try it before throwing it away... No harm in doing that and you could have enough $ over to buy lunch (or maybe some bullets to load) ..



Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[TomkinsSP]

Originally Posted by flyfishinjunkee

Last year I bought a whole box full of powder in old containers like you speak of for 5 bucks a pound.

Just my opinion, but I would buy as many (2400, BE, Unique) as I could get my hands on at $5 can.

[flyfishinjunkee]

Originally Posted by TomkinsSP

Just my opinion, but I would buy as many (2400, BE, Unique) as I could get my hands on at $5 can.

Indeed! I picked these up during the middle of the Obama shortage and was very glad to get them. I ended up with like 6 lb of sr4756 which I had not previously used but works great in my 357s and also 44 with some lead target lower velocity loads! ...

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[RGVshooter]

Oh c'mon use it!

One of the guys that I shoot IDPA with used up a old can of powder he had since the 80's. They all went "bang" although we accused him of using musket powder cause it was very smokey

[Skeet 028]

I just finished up can of Unique that was older than that. The previous iteration had a large screw off top with a metal top under it that had a spout like the spout on a box of Morton salt. Maybe 1957. And it was still good and have a partial can of P-5066 from about 1960. And not long ago I used enough Dupont Bulk Smokeless to load 25 12 ga shells. It does sound a bit different than modern powder...but it always did. More like the boom of black powder. Most shotshell powder does not go bad. Some rifle will

[TripleLock]

I am still using Bullseye from a yellow-label rectangular can with a label date of 6-31. Of course it could have been refilled sometime in the last 86 years, but I've been personally close to this can for more than 50 of those years (it was on the shelf above my Dad's bench for all my life), and I've never known any powder to be added to the can... just a cylinder's worth of .38 Specials and .44 Specials loaded from it every year for comparison purposes.

I recently came into possession of an Ideal No.5 powder measure that was full of Bullseye, vintage unknown, but that had sat unused for at least the last 50 years. I've loaded a few cartridges with that powder also... with no problems encountered. It's my opinion that Bullseye has a virtually unlimited useful shelf-life.

[rwsmith]

Originally Posted by arjay

Dump it out and compare the odor and color to some new powder.If there's no difference,it's probably fine

If it's gone bad it will have a reddish, rusty looking coating on the powder and my smell acrid. It's so old though it might not smell like anything! Unless it has been poorly stored, I'd venture that it's still good. But if you have any doubt, toss it. Most likely it will perform poorly.

As far as indeterminate lifespan goes, people in the 70s were asking if WWII surplus was good. That powder was 30 years old. If you have some powder that was produced in the 60s the stuff is 50(!) years old. And I'd be scratching my head about whether it was still good or not. Plastic products from the early 60s are deteriorating badly (ex. Barbie Dolls) and smokeless powder is essentially, a plastic. Dang, but timee flies.

[DWalt]

If there are no obvious signs of deterioration, use it. A couple of old cans of duPont powder from the 1930s I got several weeks ago. Full cans, but it still shoots just fine, no signs of deterioration. Both are obsolete powders.