old powder

[47knuckle]

Been reloading for 50 years and found my first can of defective powder. A couple of years ago I bought the reloading equipment and supplies at an estate sale, including this can of Blue Dot. I had loaded some trial 38/44 loads, but had a hang fire (maybe 1/4 or 1/2 second delay)
A few rounds later only the primer detonated. Had to tap the bullet back into the case to open the cylinder. Pulled the bullet and the powder looked perfect. Oh well, there are other powders I can experiment with.

Yes, that price tag says $12.99.

 

[weatherby]

I'm not 100% sure that it is the powder having gone bad.
What primers were used ?

Could be not a hot enough spark to properly ignite it.

 

[imakmst]

smell and evaluate

 

[505Gibbs]

smell and evaluate

That's usually the 'gold' standard for powder eval.!

 

[6string]

I’m not sure there’s anything wrong with that powder.

One of the nice things about those old Hercules powder canisters is that they will clearly tell you if the contents have gone bad.
The bottom metal will badly rust, and possibly the top metal too. And, the cardboard tube will delaminate itself badly.

The mild freckles on the top of your can is normal for its age.

 

[Mark Pilcher]

Does it smell acrid? Does the powder look rusty? Do a test burn.
It should smell like ether and not be rusty looking. It should burn energetically.

 

[DWalt]

Powder does not go bad that way. If it looks and smells OK, it is OK. Deteriorated powder has an unmistakable appearance and smell.

 

[seasoldier85]

$12.99 is pretty good, but how about $3.40?

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

... found my first can of defective powder. A couple of years ago I bought the reloading equipment and supplies at an estate sale, including this can of Blue Dot.

It will be a good fertilizer.

 

[stansdds]

As others have stated, open the canister and sniff, does it smell "sweet", like ether or does it have a bitter odor? Second test is to look at the powder, is it gray-black or is there a reddish dust on it? Being Blue Dot, also expect to see some blue flakes, but no reddish dust on any of the flakes.

 

[AJ]

$12.99 is pretty good, but how about $3.40?

I have a couple of those cans on the shelf in my collection. If I ever run out of Bullseye, Unique or 2400, I may have to open them to find out if they are still good.

 

[David Sinko]

Powder that has gone bad has a horrendous and overpowering ammonia type smell. Be very careful when smelling it. I've had only one small batch of powder go sour and that was enough for me to learn my lesson.

 

[TAROMAN]

If it's indeed bad, it becomes an excellent fertilizer.

 

[Skeet 028]

Ya know.. I've smelled a lot of powder over the years..Sold well over 5000 pounds. A lot of Hercules Alliant powder by one pound bags from large kegs. None of the flake powders from Hercules had any smell like the Dupont powders(ether smell). Hercules flake powders are a different kind of powder. And powder really doesn't make good fertilizer. Takes too long to break down. There are some other fallacies not true about all powders. Some powders can be stored in water(distilled?)...dried out and used. Bullseye and I think Unique are two..many ball powders too. Dupont stick powders can not. I once had a fellow take a can of 4320? I think. It had rusted the inside of the can a bit. He ran it through a kitchen sieve to get the rust out...and used the powder with good results. I wouldn't but he did. The only powder I know that went bad on me was a powder sold as surplus by Hodgdon in the 60's, They only had one lot according to them. I still have a few cans of the powder(4797?can't remember the number but I'll check it today). I may burn it in the lane coming up to the farm. I do know that when I used Blue Dot in the past I had some hang fires even in shot shells (800X too). I used mag primers when I loaded Blue Dot in the 41 mag and it required a tight crimp. I recently burned about 25-30 pounds of surplus 4831 acquired in the 60s. The fellow put it in instan coffee and mayonnaise jars. It didn't really have much smell...burned right. I gave some to an old fellow who has used it in a 25-06. Free powder for him. I still have some I bought in 1967..about 4 lbs left of 200...since I no longer load it for anything I will probably give it to someone. I still have many pounds of Hercules powders in the little square metal cans Rl 7 10 11 21 RD UN Herco BE and HiVel #2...maybe others and they still work fine. The lot I use in the 30-30 is HV2 from a brown metal can. I still have Red Dot and I think some Herco in the small metal kegs...Bet they are still good

 

[pantannojack]

I had a no ignition in the 90's with Blue dot. I have not trusted it since. I also am wary of 800x. I have an old can ('94) of Unique which gave me hot/cold shots. I clued to size my bullets to .450 for use in a Uberti .45 Colt. Seems to work better. I have shied away from 45 colt for the oversized powder space with smokeless but found a deal I could not refuse. Wish I had got a 44 Spcl.

 

[diyj98]

I noticed some old powder I had didn't hit the same velocity as it did in the same loading years ago. This was with the same chronograph and same gun. I assumed it has lost some of it's "stuff" over the years. All the round went off though.

 

[Skeet 028]

Blue Dot and 800X problems for me were always in cold weather. In shotshell loads with Blue Dot I had to use CCI 209 Mag primers...never used 800X after the first can...you think Unique throws inconsistent charges?? Hah...try 800X

 

[47knuckle]

Thanks for all the input. I’ll load a few more with mag primers and take them and my chronograph to the range.
Probably be 1 1/2 - 2 weeks but I’ll report back.

 

[DWalt]

As stated in #14, the only experience I had with deteriorated powder was with Hodgdon, I think 4831. Which was WWII recycled military propellant. I bought it in the late 1960s for about a dollar per pound and didn’t use it for a long time. About 30 years ago, I finally got around to using it, and when Iopened it, as described, it was rusty in appearance and had an acrid smell. I poured it out in a line to burn it, and it burned very slowly, more like burning plastic or rubber. Smokeless powder DOES NOT make a good fertilizer as it is insoluble. No idea how that myth ever got started.

 

[desi2358]

The only reloading powder I've had go bad was a can of IMR 4895. I had about half a can that smelled funny and was full of rust when I went to use it again. Burnt it and it didn't even burn well. Also had 20 rounds of 7mm Mauser (the last stuff I'd loaded with it that hadn't been shot yet) that had green crud growing around the bullets and the powder turned into a lump inside the case. Similar to some lots of old ammo I've encountered over the years. All I could salvage was the bullets, cases were toast.