Back in 2012 I posted some pictures of a jug of surplus 4895 which went bad. I thought I had gotten rid of all the powder and the rounds that I had loaded with it but a friend called the other day to say he was bringing me some brass that was corroding badly. He had some 243 and some 45-70 ammo that was in bad shape. In the past I have loaded both calibers for him, but this was just loose in a bag and I can't determine where it came from. Attachment 236388
I pulled some bullets and found that the powder was of two different types ( sizes of the kernels ) and neither matched the new lot of commercial 4895 that I have on hand. The powder was damp and would clump together and was difficult to remove from the brass. The 45-70 was a light green inside the entire case, the 243 had spots of corrosion, and the bases of all the bullets were corroded.Attachment 236389Attachment 236391
There was no color change and I couldn't detect an odor, so I am not really sure what went on, or even if it was from powder that I had loaded for him. One thing that I did notice after I had opened the 243 brass with some cutters was that the corrosion on the outside was not coming through from the inside. The corrosion spots were in different places.
The corrosion on the outside of almost all of the brass was confined to near the shoulder and a spot on the front and the back of the cases on the 243 and slightly below the neck of the 45-70. Both would correspond to where the brass would have been held while pouring powder through a funnel, so I am guessing that I ( or whoever loaded them ) got contamination on his fingers from handling the powder and transferred it to the brass.