Red Dot age

[Battis]

Any ideas as to how old this can of Red Dot is? It's half full.

[CastingFool]

Just looked at my empty can of bullseye. No date on it. Only indication is a lot number. I do have a cardboard container of BE and that one has a date stamp of 1994

[Battis]

I bought it at an antique shop (pretty sure they're not legally supposed to be selling gunpowder). It's at least half full and doesn't smell bad. Should be usable. I like the can (keg).

[Winger Ed.]

I bought one of those type cans of Bullseye a couple years ago for $40. from a guy.
He didn't know exactly how old it is, but I'm guessing it is from the 1970s.
I bought the big 4 lb. cans of Unique in the 80s and it was in a cardboard containers by then.
I transferred it to empty plastic bottles at the time.
It is still good and I was loading .38s with it last night.

[35 Rem]

The 1st powder I ever bought was Red Dot in 1976 and it was in the round cardboard container - 1 pound size. I still have it and the label looks just like the paper label on your metal keg. I've never seen one of those metal containers in my life except in pictures. I shot the powder long ago as I was shooting more than a pound a week for several years in shotshells. But I would expect the powder to be good assuming it hasn't been stored in a barn with a leaky roof.

[fc60]

Greetings,

I also have a can of similar vintage Red Dot.

The old stuff chronographs slower than the new stuff.

However, the velocities of the old stuff compare closely with the old Speer and Lyman reloading books from the 1970's.

Be safe, dust off your chronograph.

Cheers,

Dave

[Battis]

It's marked 3 lbs (faded black letters). I'd say there's still about 2 lbs in it now. There's a similar empty can on ebay marked 1965.

[imashooter2]

They had that type of snap lid in the 60s.

[TurnipEaterDown]

Last few months I picked up about 8 pounds of old Hercules powders in the snap cap metal cans - both 1 pound and the larger red keg. BE & RD.
As long as it looked good, it shot good (and does).
As noted - metal cans I also could find no lot numbers.

Check the condition and shoot it.
I like using about 1 cent of powder to push a cast down a rifle, or 0.6 cent in a pistol - I paid $6-$8 a pound...

Do find my powders varied substantially at times can to can for accuracy & velocity.

I don't seem to smell things so well now, so I dump some from the can onto a white sheet of paper and shuffle back and forth for a bit, and then check the paper color -- light grey, make go bang, tan or brown, fertilize the apple trees in the yard. At $6-8 a can for these old Hercules powders, or $10-20 on Hodgdon & IMR rifle powders, seems like a decent risk - I have only pitched 10-15% on any lot I have purchased.
I have also gotten Hodgdon in cylindrical paper cans. Works fine, as it should if properly stored.

[mtgrs737]

A friend bought and gave one of those old red metal cans of Red Dot that he got at an auction a few months ago. He said nobody wanted to bid on it. I haven't weighed the powder in it but there might be a pound in it. The powder smells fine but the red dots are faded. I was given some old green dot from another friend and the green dots were faded but it shot just fine. As long as it smells ok I would just shoot it.

[quack1]

My dad and I went through a bunch of those red metal red dot cans in the 60's. We shot a lot of trap and skeet. A few years ago I was given a partly full cardboard drum of red dot, unknown age. The flakes looked like RD but there were no red dots visible, so I emailed Alliant and they said the coloring did fade with age. I loaded a few light loads with that RD and some fresh RD and ran them over the chronograph. No difference in velocity.

[curiousgeorge]

I have a 4 lb can of Red Dot in the same type of metal cannister the op pictured. A very good friend of mine was cleaning out his dad's garage about 10 yrs ago and found it. The dad had been a trap shooter back in the 1960's. It smelled good and shoots the same as my current production Red Dot. Switched my .45 Colt and .44 Mag loads from Unique to the Red Dot.

[jsizemore]

I found a can of Bullseye that looks like yours and some factory primed brass at the flea market. I loaded some in my regular primed brass on my star. It has a fixed slide but it's a load for shooting wadcutters in my model 19. It was a bit snappy compared to some fresh Bullseye. The same volume of the older Bullseye was @ 100 fps faster over the chronograph than the new Bullseye. I went back to shooting the new powder since the powder slide is fixed and my adjustable slide doesn't go that low. I would suggest that you start low and work your load up just like you do when you get a new can of powder.

[AZ Pete]

I have a similar can, acquired new a d full in the early 1970's. I am still shooting red dot I bought in 1978...

[Daver7]

I bought it at an antique shop (pretty sure they're not legally supposed to be selling gunpowder). It's at least half full and doesn't smell bad. Should be usable. I like the can (keg).

I didn’t know there were laws about selling powder!

[blackhawk44]

Had a minor partnership in a shop in the late '60s/early'70s and by that time the Hercules powder 4lb canisters were the cardboard and tin type. The first cardboard had a slip top. The pull up spout came a bit later. Still have a slip top Green Dot and spout type 2400 on my shelf. Don't remember seeing a new metal 4lb canister at that time. Used, yes, but not new.

[35 Rem]

Had a minor partnership in a shop in the late '60s/early'70s and by that time the Hercules powder 4lb canisters were the cardboard and tin type. The first cardboard had a slip top. The pull up spout came a bit later. Still have a slip top Green Dot and spout type 2400 on my shelf. Don't remember seeing a new metal 4lb canister at that time. Used, yes, but not new.

Based on my experience the slip-top and pull-up spout cans were produced at the same time for a number of years. All the 1lb and 4lb cans I bought beginning in the mid 1970's were the pull-up spout style while the 8lb cans were the slip-top all cardboard style. I don't recall when they went to the all-plastic present style because I bought enough of the old styles that I didn't need any for a lot of years. I still have about 9lbs of Red Dot in the old slip-top containers, one of which still has the brown factory tape seal intact. Not being one to wait until the last minute to replenish components I also have 2 of the modern 8lb Red Dots sitting by.

[sargenv]

Actually I think anyone can sell powder, it doesn't have any special hazmat issue for storage other than states can mandate how much can be displayed. There are restrictions on shipping but other than that, there are no laws (besides maybe local laws) that prohibit who gets to sell smokeless powder. It is likely the shop had no idea what was in it.

[Battis]

I didn’t know there were laws about selling powder!

The antique store where I bought the powder is in MA - I think you need a permit for a staple gun. Many big name stores won't ship new, unprimed brass to MA because they don't want to deal with the frigged up laws.

[Shanghai Jack]

Mid to late sixties I'd say. I had kegs like that as a teenager.