Powder gone bad?

[JDL]

Bob gave me several pounds of various powders last fall and I have been going through them to determine if they have began to deteriorate. I found one can of IMR-4198 that had red dust that accumulated on the container I poured it in and it could be seen as I poured. Chunked it! Now I find 3 1/2 pounds of IMR-4227 that is kind of a gray-brown color, unlike my H-4227, which is a dark grey-black color. There were no rusty dust fumes as I poured it into a bowl as it was with the 4198 and the bowl has the graphite gray residue left on it. Is this the normal color of IMR-4227 or should I dispose of it too? What about the containers that has had bad powder in them? Can they be reused, or will the residue left in them make good powder go bad? The inside of the can looks to be rusty.-JDL

[beagle]

I'll add my $.02 here. I bought 12 pounds of Reloader 7 about 5 years ago. It was pretty old when I bought it (the old paper cartons). I shot about 10 pounds of it and had one paper "can" and a new plastic container that sat for several years as I was shooting something else.

I got back to shooting it and the "paper can" was starting to have some red dust in it so I fertilized the yard with it.

I wouldn't reuse a container that had deteriorated powder in it. I just don't know what kind of chemical residue is left in there.

The IMR 4227 I have is gray and not gray brown. I'd shoot a bit and see how several rounds went. For sure, it's on the verge. Usually, IMR powders seem to go pretty quickly when they decide the jig is up./beagle

[carpetman]

I think I heard?????? that some of the surplus powder is over 100 years old and testing of the powder shows almost no deterioration. Seems i also heard that storing it that long has not required elaborate storage procedures.

[Scrounger]

If we're doing "I heards", I'll join in. I heard that Winchester had huge amounts of powder left over from the First World War and they stored it in Florida--Under Water!!!???. Then in the 60s they discovered a way to reprocess that powder (extruded? Cordite?) into ball powder, which they are selling now. True? I don't know...

[shooter2]

If we're doing "I heards", I'll join in. I heard that Winchester had huge amounts of powder left over from the First World War and they stored it in Florida--Under Water!!!???. Then in the 60s they discovered a way to reprocess that powder (extruded? Cordite?) into ball powder, which they are selling now. True? I don't know...

Powder can be stored in water and often is. Specifically distilled water . Somewhere in the last few years I recall reading that some of the original Hercules Bullseye was still available and was used as the control for the new batches. It was over a hundred years old at that time. They simply take it out of the water and dry it before putting it in the bomb for testing.

However, in uncontolled conditions I would discard that which obviously looks to be bad or smells bad. In reference to another thread, I am not even sure if a Nalgene bottle is the right thing for powder storage. They work great for water and I have a few of them. However, they just may not be compatible with powders or deterent coatings used in most double based powders. I just do not know. I doubt if anyone has tested it. The safest bet is to stick with the original container even if it is 90% empty. My second choice would be the cans that IMR powders come in. XXX out the old labels and paste on a sticky backed lable with the right information. Tape it over with package tape for extra insurance to prevent it from coming off.

[carpetman]

Storing powder in water is a surprise to me--who'd a thought it? But then again minnows are transported in salt and remain alive.

[Scrounger]

Storing powder in water is a surprise to me--who'd a thought it? But then again minnows are transported in salt and remain alive.
Here's a thought: Maybe you can store cats under water...

[Maven]

Why would you want to let alone under water? :lol:

[carpetman]

Scrounger--I do believe you are on to something there. Storing cats in water. Have to do extensive work and develop that.

[carpetman]

Maven ---Why would I want to be left alone under water? Most shark attack victims tend to have that preference.

[Edward429451]

Howdy guys.

I heard :roll: that the red dust is poisonous and be careful not to breath it.

I got about 18lbs of 30 yr old powder from a friend who's G-pa died awhile back and they were cleaning out his room. I went through it all looking for deterioration. Poured some of each out onto white paper and fertilized the ones with red dust or smelled funny. A lot of it was good though and I'm using it up.

Some of it didn't smell funny or have red dust, but still had an unusual amount of (powder colored) dust present when pouring it into the measure. It got chucked too.

Of course, I just had to make a batch of Elmer Keiths original load (22.0g 2400) with 30 yr old primers and a Lyman (Keith) 245g SWC. I couldn't tell the difference vs modern componants.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have occasionally used powder that had red rust mixed in with it. I sprinkled the powder on a sheet when the wind was blowing and the rust blew away. The rest of it (original 4831 that had been transferred to gallon cans maybe back in the '60's) seemed to be OK and shot as well as new 4831. It was still its original color after the rust was gone. There may have been a small amount of moisture that rusted through the tin plating on the inside. What I avoid is powder that looks moist, or is clumping together, or has a nitrous smell. Such stuff is definitely decomposing.