Being a long time hand loader, about 45 years, I have had a couple of previous run ins with powder going bad.
The first was a large batch of WWII surplus bulk packaged 4831. I had it stored in a hall closet in an air conditioned house. I noticed the faint acid smell and investigated. The container gave off that faint purple to brown iridescent haze of nitric acid fumes when opened. The powder grains were wet. The container was PETE plastic and was not affected by the acid. It was sad to burn 3 lbs of old powder. There was nothing much in that closet and nothing else was affected by the fumes. That was about 1985 or so. If you have any of that powder you need to check on it regularly. Mine was most likely damaged by storage in a garage. The previous owner died and his widow sold it. I also found a batch of .303 British ammo loaded with this powder that went bad. About 10 out of 20 loaded rounds had the case neck crack due to stress corrosion cracking. Most were cracked around the neck at the base of the bullet. It took me a while to connect it to the larger batch of 4831, but I had ran into similar issues with stress corrosion cracking at work.
I moved to another house. About 20 years goes by and during a routine check of one of the metal IMR cans I found an almost unused 1lb can of 4320 rusted on the inside and was venting fumes. This one was also burned. I had remembered seeing a number of similar rusty cans of 4320 for sale at gun shows.
This time I found a little pile of brown dust on a shelf when I had my powder stored - again in a closet in a air conditioned house. The rust came from a tool box next to the powder. I had recently moved my powders around and I examined each one. This time it was from a plastic container (with metal lid) of H4227. This is the made in Australia powder. This powder came from a friend that died. The price on it is $18.50 from a shop that sold at full MSRP. I am guessing it is at least 20 years old and there is only 15% to 20% of the powder left which may account for the slow out gassing symptoms. There is only a moderate amount of corrosion on the steel lid and a slight discoloring of one edge of the label. However the adjacent tool box has a dime size spot corroded where the paint blistered and came off. The tool box can be cleaned up and painted over.
I took a few minutes to look around and did not like what I saw.
I also store rifles that I am currently assembling ammo for the first time in that closet. I had several nice rifles that could have been attacked by acid fumes had the volume been very high. I was certainly glad I stay active in and out of my powder storage areas.
When examining all my stored powders I found that my habit of marking the date of purchase with a permanent marker handy. In the case of the H4227 I have nothing but the origin of the powder - my friend's name on it.
Keep an eye on your powder and how you store it and what is stored near it.
You may not burn your house down but you can certainly damage anything made of steel stored near it if you have a large volume of acid fumes out gassing from a container.
If anyone knows how to read the date off of a Hodgdon lot number I would like to hear from you.
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Originally Posted by Junior1942
