PC powder shelf life? Expires at all?

[psychbiker]

Considering PC powder was stored correctly, whats the shelf life? Does it expire?

I’m not a volume shooter yet, hoping to do more USPSA stuff. I was going to order a few pounds of ‘open box’ powder that was inexpensive. I’m thinking about the age of the powder and how long it would take me to use.

[retread]

I believe if it is stored in a airtight container is should remain good indefinitely. Others may have more experience than I but I have some that is close to ten years old and still works as good as new stock.

[jcren]

Moisture is the enemy of power, especially if you shake-n-bake. I haven't found a way to keep it completly dry, so I just order sample packs from smoke so I can use it up faster. A little goes a long way and I still have powder left from my first pound purchased several years ago.

[GARD72977]

I am using some Eastwood powder that I bought for my car In 1999( give or take a year. It's been a while....)

It works great for shake and bake

[Conditor22]

I traded for some PC from a commercial coater.

I found that age wasn't a determining factor. out of 41 boxes of PC, 31 worked well for ASBBDT

Many of the Sherwin Williams colors didn't work, mostly shades of white but there were 3 different boxes of Lacroy Medium Blue of different ages that di absolutely nothing.
the whites at least tried to stick and cover.

These were all in original factory bags in original boxes. All of the bags were twisted closed and most of them had removable zip ties on them.

The zip ties didn't seem to have a bearing on how well the PC performed.

[Onebad06vtx]

I had a ten year old bag dry moister and turned it into a brick.
I rubbed it on screen mesh and turned it back into powder,sprayed it and it worked great!
I was told that it will last for ever,just keep moister out of it.

[Smoke4320]

Yes moisture is the killer of pc especially if doing shake and bake

[Traffer]

I don't know for sure but I bought a big bunch of those desiccant packs that you find in pill bottles. I put them in with my Powder. Then I keep them air tight. I like using glass jars with good lids. Again, don't know how good that is, I just figured it can't hurt.

[bmortell]

in theory is there a good way to dry it

[tomme boy]

Don't let sunlight get to it. The UV rays will make it go bad before a little moisture will. Let it sit in front of a dehumidifier if it does get a little moisture.

[midnight]

I wonder if you can dry powder paint that you feel has absorbed moisture. I thought if you wait til you have very low humidity like when it is below zero and the furnace is running like crazy, you could put the powder in what they call a powder paint fluid bed. Using a little air pump like from a fish tank, you slowely bubble the dry air through the powder. Just google "powder paint fluid bed" and there are many vidios showing how to make one cheaply or you could buy one from Netcraft for $100. They are used for powder painting jig heads. It gives you great coverage and uses less powder. If you had a supply of dry air you could do it anywhere & any time of year. I'll try it next winter.

Bob

[cwlongshot]

I double bag all of mine. I also remove all excess air from the bags. Use good bags too. HD bags are found on amazon and ebay commercial freezer bags are better then “sandwich” style.

I have had good luck.

CW

[Tripplebeards]

Yes moisture is the killer of pc especially if doing shake and bake

I bugged you on this subject a few months ago and ordered more powder. The clear was the only real winner of the fresh batch. I have decided not to PC until it’s below thirty degrees outside to try to eliminate any moisture.

Storing in a canning jar didn’t work for me because as soon as it’s taken out the moisture in the air is absorbed into my powder imo.

[Moparformances]

store mine in Gatorade bottle's.. keep it dry.. i store min in the garage (no climate control there)

I got some 9mm pink from a semi local pc shop, he keeps his in a freezer. (your mileage will very)

[Tripplebeards]

I was told freezing it isn’t good either because when you take it out what ever container that it’s kept in sweats when it hits room temp defeating the purpose. Just as when you thaw out a steak.

[Moparformances]

I was told freezing it isn’t good either because when you take it out what ever container that it’s kept in sweats when it hits room temp defeating the purpose. Just as when you thaw out a steak.

good point

[Smoke4320]

Tripplebeards the heating of the bullets is something I have had to start doing as of this year. We are in an extended very hot and very humid summer. After some experimentation I found that it helped some of my batches to coat much better. ( now that is/was getting nice smooth almost sprayed look . Without heating I still got good coverage but some had lumpy texture) So it is something that came out of a new problem for me based on environmental changes..
NOW I caution everyone you need to have an accurate thermometer for this.. 140 or so is perfect for me in central NC a little to hot and you have a mass of stuck together useless junk
so do a few small batches to find where you need to be temp wise ...go slow in temp rises.. Too low hurts nothing … to much and you wasted a lot of time and bullets.

[Conditor22]

IF you can't touch the warmed boolits barehanded, they are too hot!

I have found that setting them on a tray on top of my oven will get them to a good temperature ( on one of my ovens I needed to put an oven rack under the tray otherwise they were too hot to touch comfortably.

I just grab a handful (with clean dry hands) and drop them in the bowl to PC.

Keep your powder dry. if it gets damp it won't DT worth a darn. so either put the open PC container in front of a dehumidifier, in an AC'd room, put desiccant packs in it or????

Close the PC bag immediately after dipping PC into the bowl.

As with al PC, some work better in humid conditions than others

I did these (45/70 385 & 400) cold with silver PC when the humidity was near 65%



1/2 had a little chrome mixed in with the silver

[Tripplebeards]

Smoke....I tried several times in the past and obviously heated above 140 because I get clumps and still bare spots.



I always think the bare spots have some sort of grease or something on the PB. How about washing the boolits in acetone or similar and letting them dry first. Never tried it but Just a thought. Anyways clear ALWAYS works any time I PC no matter how humid it is so it’s my go to powder now.

[Smoke4320]

yes you can wash in acetone first.. let them air dry at least 20 to 30 minutes and Then heat to 140..
if you don't heat you run the risk of acetone trapped in the bullet outgassing and causing blisters in the coating
Don't ask me how I know