How Old Does Everyone Think This Is?

[Beau Cassidy]

Looking thru some antique stores yesterday I came across this. It was in a locked case. I was foaming to get it but just couldn't bring myself to pay $100 for it. Looks pretty old to me. My guess is 20's.

[gnoahhh]

Bulk Smokeless ended in 1949, as I recall. (Pretty sure.) I remember old guys using old lots of it back in the 60's right out of the can for shotgun shells, and straining it for use in pistols and rifles. It was a soft powder and the granules broke down easily, which is why the old timers sifted it. That's about the extent of my knowledge of it.

Was this a full can?

[3006guns]

I had several of the old Dupont cans years ago......gave most of them away. Like you, I think they make great décor, but THEY'RE STILL JUST A CAN. Antique shops think too highly of their wares for my taste.

[Artful]

But Wow, what a piece of history. I've never seen that one that old.

[mold maker]

High prices paid to "antique" dealers is an incredible waste of money.
Heck I'm 71 and no longer worth a darn.

[1Shirt]

Would probably put it pre WW2!
1Shirt

Probably pre WW2
1Shirt!

[Beau Cassidy]

I don't know if it had any powder in it or not as I didn't handle it. In a place just outside of Chattanooga a few months ago I saw a really old Unique can- couldn't get a clear picture of it. It was $75.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
My first observation with items is "lack of zipcode". Then it worth looking at.
A carefull investigation of all surfaces to include inside the cap may reveal a date of manufacture.
Mike in Peru

[Duckiller]

Bulk powder did not end in 1949! My father bought a case of it from Herter's and My brother and I reloaded a bunch of shell with it. I Still have a couple of cans of it. My cans are rectangular not circular. I would guess that we bought the powder in about 1955. I would have been 12 and old enough to reload on my own. Also have some small diameter Remington primers before they went to 209 size.

[starnbar]

Does that can have a screw on lid? It might be pre wwll.

[JIMinPHX]

Bulk powder??? The can is marked 7oz. What qualifies it as being "bulk powder"? I'm not familiar with bulk powders.

I think that zip codes started in the early 60's, maybe around 63 or so.

Below is a paragraph from a Wiki page. It would tend to suggest that Dupont was making smokeless shotgun powder from around the turn of the century.


In 1897, United States Navy Lieutenant John Bernadou patented a nitrocellulose powder colloided with ether-alcohol.[13] The Navy licensed or sold patents for this formulation to DuPont and the California Powder Works while retaining manufacturing rights for the Naval Powder Factory, Indian Head, Maryland constructed in 1900. The United States Army adopted the Navy single-base formulation in 1908 and began manufacture at Picatinny Arsenal.[3] By that time Laflin & Rand had taken over the American Powder Company to protect their investment, and Laflin & Rand had been purchased by DuPont in 1902.[14] Upon securing a 99-year lease of the Explosives Company in 1903, DuPont enjoyed use of all significant smokeless powder patents in the United States, and was able to optimize production of smokeless powder.[3] When government anti-trust action forced divestiture in 1912, DuPont retained the nitrocellulose smokeless powder formulations used by the United States military and released the double-base formulations used in sporting ammunition to the reorganized Hercules Powder Company. These newer propellants were more stable and thus safer to handle than Poudre B, and also more powerful.

Dupont has been in Wilmington since 1802 & they are still there today, so the address isn't going to help narrow things down at all.

[starnbar]

They also had a plant in Canada too.

[leadman]

Bulk powder was the name. A replacement for the black powder in loading shotgun shells. Think of it as similar to what Hodgdon did with Trail Boss.

[ACrowe25]

That would be a nice decor I agree, but I just keep thinking about the 8lb jug (plus a few dollars) I could have of w231 instead.